Sunday, May 26, 2019

By Royal Decree, the Yankees are Awesome!...

Photo Credit: Jamie Squire, Getty Images
Yanks Take Two from the KC Royals…

The Yankees made Saturday quite the enjoyable day with two wins in the day/night doubleheader although they had to hold on for dear life in the second game after building an early five-run lead. No matter, a 6-5 win counts the same as 6-1. The Yankees won the first game, 7-3, which had represented a comeback after the Royals had tied the game at 3 in the sixth inning with, surprise, a three-run homer off J.A. Happ. Actually, to Happ’s defense, he pitched better than that and was able to walk away from the game with a win thanks to the power of Luke Voit and good ‘penmanship’ by Adam Ottavino and Luis Cessa.

At 34-17, the Yankees are one game better than they were last year after 51 games. A year ago, at 33-18, they trailed the Boston Red Sox by 2 1/2 games after dropping a 5-1 game to Justin Verlander and the Houston Astros. Their lone run was a homer off the bat of the legendary Greg Bird. The loser that day was Domingo German. He was still in search of his first win as his record fell to 0-3 to go with his 5.45 ERA. What a difference a year makes. This year, the Yankees lead the AL East by 3 games over the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays won yesterday but the Yankees were able to gain ground, thanks to the doubleheader sweep. Meanwhile, it was the Boston Red Sox losing to the Astros this year. After a two-run single by Christian Vasquez to tie the game for Boston in the top of the ninth inning, the Astros walked it off in the bottom of the ninth, courtesy of a bases-loaded single by Carlos Correa. The Red Sox are 27-25, and 7 1/2 games behind the Yankees. 

Nice two-run bomb by Luke Voit in the seventh inning of the first game to break the tie. After the ball had landed beyond left field fence, YES Network announcer David Cone called the distance, 470 feet, after commenting that former Royals outfielder Bo Jackson had once hit one into the same area. For the Yankees, it was the longest team home run since Aaron Judge (remember him?) hit one 471 feet in Texas against the Rangers on May 23, 2018. Well, Louis Linwood Voit III is a Missouri native and the state’s motto is “Show-Me”. There’s no question he showed us.

Photo Credit: Charlie Riedel, AP
I was impressed with the job done by Chance Adams in the second game in relief of “opener” Chad Green. While the final line for Adams was not impressive due to defensive miscues in the outfield that were surprisingly not called errors, he held his own and did not buckle under pressure. He gave the Yankees four solid innings despite the three ‘earned’ (yeah, right) runs. Often criticized during his minor league career for a lack of control, he walked only one batter, throwing 45 strikes in 66 pitches. He was attacking the strike zone. It was enough to give Adams his first Major League win. I should add a much deserved win. Up only as the 26-man for the doubleheader, Adams has to return to Triple A. He was previously optioned to Triple A on May 19th so he has a few more days until he is eligible for recall to the big league roster. In my opinion, he should be recalled as soon as he is eligible. He’s earned the right to be on the Major League roster.

Photo Credit: Anthony J Causi, The New York Post
Listening to the Royals announcers talk, I think the one thing that bothered me was their comments the Yankees “paid” for their depth. That makes it sound like they went out and paid millions for replacement players, grabbing an All-Star at every turn. It could not be further from the truth.

Based on the active 25-man roster as it stands right now, these are the currently active so-called “replacement” players. The adjusted salaries are provided by spotrac.com

PITCHERS

Jake Barrett
Barrett signed a one-year deal for $555,000 guaranteed (MLB’s minimum salary for 2019) with the Pittsburgh Pirates in March 2019 after he had been claimed off waivers from the San Francisco Giants. The Yankees claimed him on waivers from the Pirates on April 4, 2019. His adjusted salary for the Yankees is $411,792. 

Nestor Cortes Jr
Cortes Jr was originally drafted by the Yankees in the 36th round of the 2013 amateur draft. He is also signed for a one-year, minimum salary deal. His adjusted salary with the big league club is $420,744.

David Hale
Hale re-signed with the Yankees in January 2019 for the minimum one-year, $555,000 in guaranteed money. He had played in South Korea following his release by the Yankees in May 2018. His adjusted salary with the big league club is $393,888.

INFIELD

Thairo Estrada
Estrada was signed as an international amateur free agent on August 2, 2012. Signed to a one-year minimum salary contract, his adjusted salary with the big league club is $489,376.

Gio Urshela
Urshela was originally acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays on August 4, 2018 for cash and spent the duration of the 2018 season in Triple A. He was re-signed by the Yankees as a minor league free agent in the off-season and is currently working under the one-year minimum salary contract. His adjusted salary for the Yankees is $528,168.  

OUTFIELD

Clint Frazier
I am only calling Frazier a replacement player because he wasn’t on the Opening Day roster, but he’s obviously more than just a replacement. Frazier was acquired, along with J.P. Feyereisen, Ben Heller, and Justus Sheffield, on July 31, 2016 in the deadline deal that sent Andrew Miller to the Cleveland Indians. Frazier had been picked in the first round, fifth choice overall, of the 2013 MLB Draft by the Indians. For this season, he signed a one-year, $563,300 deal with the Yankees. His adjusted salary for the big league club is $551,096.

Cameron Maybin
Maybin is playing with his third team this year alone. He was signed for the MLB minimum salary by the San Francisco Giants in March 2019. He was released by the Giants about a week before the end of Spring Training, and subsequently signed with the Cleveland Indians where he was toiling in the minor leagues when the Yankees acquired him for cash on April 25, 2019. His adjusted salary with the Yankees is $471,472.

DH

Kendrys Morales
Morales is in the last year of a three-year deal originally signed with the Toronto Blue Jays. When he was acquired by the Oakland A’s on March 27, 2019, the Blue Jays agreed to pay all but $2 million of the $12 million he was owed for the final year of the contract. When the A’s dealt Morales, after designating him for assignment, to the Yankees on May 13th, they included an undisclosed amount of cash which covers the majority of the $9 million is owed for the remainder of the year. According to Spotrac, Morales’s adjusted salary with the Yankees is $1,494,624.

According to my math, that’s a total of $4,761,160. If the Royals announcers want to say the Yankees paid for their depth, I guess you could say the Yankees made a helluva investment for barely more than the Royals are paying Reds castoff Billy Hamilton ($4.25 million). Even with the money being paid to Kendrys Morales, the average adjusted salary for the above listed replacements is $595,145.  What were the Yankees supposed to do when the truckload of Yankee stars were sent to the Injured List? Call up a bunch of Single A players to cover? I take exception to the comments that the Yankees paid their way to this success. They are winning despite NOT foolishly throwing money away. With no offense to this blog’s name, there’s nothing greedy about the Yankees’ approach to treading water until the big boys return. They are doing more than just treading water, they are lapping the pool with smart, economical decisions. 

After I finished writing the above section, it was announced that Jake Barrett had been optioned to Triple A and placed on the Injured List with right elbow inflammation. His spot on the active roster was taken by reliever Joe Harvey who carries an adjusted salary of $477,440 which doesn't really change the scope of my analysis, except the total payout increases to $4,826,808 when you drop Barrett and add Harvey, or an average of $603,351. Regardless of how you look at it, the Yankees are not spending an overabundance of cash to find fill-in players.

It was great to see the clips of Didi Gregorius playing for the Single-A Tampa Tarpons last night. He may have been 0-for-3, but he made a few sparkling defensive plays. At the plate, he had a couple of groundouts and a fly out but it was so great to see a bat in his hands again. I can’t wait for him to get his timing down.  All hail Sir Didi! Soon, very soon, we’ll see #18 in Pinstripes again. I can’t wait.

Photo Credit: Chris O'Meara, AP
Hopefully the Yankees can sweep the KC series today with a win as Domingo German goes for his tenth win (it’s still May, by the way). Some great KC barbecue and a trio of wins would make for a fantastic weekend in the Greater Kansas City Area for the Bronx Bombers. Get a win and head for Yankee Stadium. Sounds like a wonderful plan to me.

As always, Go Yankees!

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