It’s been another fortnight since we last checked in with the New York Yankees.  It’s another Monday off day and there’s a lot going on right now so let’s head back down to Yankee Land and see what’s happening with the Bronx Bombers.  Since we last checked in the Yankees have gone 13-6 and are now 50-24 on the season.  Baltimore refuses to lose baseball games and has moved back into a tie for first place after the Yankees went into Boston and dropped two of three.  The Yankees are tied with Baltimore and the Dodgers for the best record in baseball (the Yanks have played and won 3 more games than the others two) but things are getting a bit shaky for the Boys in Pinstripes.  Let’s dive in.

There were two big injuries for the Yankees this weekend.  Let’s start there and get them out of the way.  Though as I am writing this both players are undergoing testing so I could get new info at any point.  I fully expect half of what I write to be moot by the time I am finished writing it.

First, Jasson Dominguez, whom the Yankees activated off the IL this week and officially sent to AAA Scranton, felt a twinge in his side during a check swing.  The Yankees immediately put him on the 7-day IL.  That’s not a good sign.  Hopefully they were just being overly precautious but you would think it was pretty bad for them to not even wait until the preliminary testing was done.  You can always retro activate (I think I just made that term up) IL stints so they lose nothing by waiting.  My guess, and it’s purely a guess, is that it’s going to be another long stint for the Martian.

The other injury was to Anthony Rizzo.  He was injured due to another collision at first base.  This time he was the base runner and was hip checked by the Red Sox pitcher trying to cover first base.  Rizzo put out his hands to protect himself as he fell to the ground and hurt his right arm.  Boone said he has pain in a couple of places and will get further testing. 

Here is my thing with the Rizzo injury.  It may be a blessing in disguise.  I am a big Rizzo fan but he simply has not produced this season.  Even his defense has been below his usual gold glove standards.  People in the national sports media have even mentioned first base as a position of need for the Yankees at the trade deadline.  If Rizzo is injured and has to go on the IL, this would be a perfect opportunity for the Yankees to call up one of their first base prospects.  With a month and a half until the trade deadline, this would allow them to see if said prospect can help them this season, is the future at first base, or if they need to try someone else.  The Yankees have three options they could give a shot to. 

If you read my “Down on the Farm” column then you know all about Ben Rice and Agustin Ramirez.  They are both splitting time at first base and catcher and are both raking in the minors.  Rice is at .275 with 15 homers, 12 doubles, and a .532 OBP in Triple A.  Ramirez is in Double A hitting .290 with 16 dingers, 13 doubles, and a .374 OBP.  Either guy is a potential replacement for Rizzo if they decide to move on from him next season (he has a club option for next year).  I think this would be a great opportunity to give one of them a chance to see if they can translate their games to the Major Leagues.  If their defense as part time first basemen scares the Yankees in a really tight pennant race, they could go with TJ Rumfield.  TJ is a natural 1^st baseman so I am assuming he is better in the field than the two converted catchers (reminder, I have no way of watching these kids play and am simply going off of stats and reports).  The 24-year-old is in Triple A and is hitting .305 with 14 doubles.  He doesn’t have the power of the other two candidates with only 5 round trippers but as I said, he might be the more confident fielder.  And the Yankees don’t really need more power but can use more guys who can hit for average and get on base.

The Yankees could also bring up a third base replacement and move DJ LeMahieu to first base.  I don’t know who that would be as no one else is really hitting in triple A right now.  They know Oswald Peraza can play MLB defense but he is hitting .173.  I really think that if Rizzo has to miss time with an injury the Yankees should really take this opportunity to see what one of their prospects can do in the Majors.  This will give them a better view of what they need to do at the deadline and in the future. 

With that out of the way, let’s talk about the guys who are actually playing in the Bronx these days.  We shall start with the pitching.  Basically, the starting pitching has come back to reality.  The month of June has not been kind to the Yankees rotation.  Even Luis Gil’s ERA has ballooned to 2.16 in June.  Ok, maybe he still has it going.  But the rest of the rotation have struggled since the calendar flipped from May.  In June, Cortez, Rodon, and Strowman have ERAs of 4.86, 4.00, and 5.26 respectively.  That’s not really getting it done.  Especially on the level they were to begin the season.  Cortez hasn’t been dominant all season and one has to wonder how much longer he will keep his spot in the rotation.  Gerrit Cole is due back either this time through the rotation or definitely the next time through.  Clarke Schmidt is still out for a while but his replacement, Cody Poteet, has pitched very well in his place.  At some point the Yankees are going to have to decide if they want to put their best five guys out there and simply put, Nasty Nester isn’t one of them. 

Rodon has been really good.  The shelling he took in Boston just ballooned his ERA.  Hopefully he got the sliders right down the middle out of his system and will go back to pitching like the guy the Yankees paid for.  Strowman has been up and down all season.  He had a beautiful 4 game stretch in May but two of his three starts in June have been OK at best.  He is basically their 5^th best starter, still ahead of Nester.  Cole, Gil, Rodon, Poteet/Schmidt, and Strowman should be their rotation.  My guess is Poteet finds himself back in Scranton and Nester keeps starting at least until Schmidt gets back.  But who knows what can happen between now and then. 

The Yankee offense has slowed down a bit as well. The good news is Juan Soto and Aaron Judge continue to dominate and the Yankees big three are still mashing and have combined for 61 home runs, which is more than 5 teams.  The problem is the bottom of the line up isn’t producing and with Volpe in another slump (apparently, he is going to be a very streaky hitter this season), there isn’t a lot of opportunities for the big three to produce runs.  They need guys to get on base ahead of them to give them opportunities and to put pressure on the opposing pitchers.  That’s not happening.  Since his return DJ is hitting .188.  In June Volpe is hitting .214, Gleyber is at .196, and Rizzo is at .104.  That is pitiful.  Wells is actually having his best month hitting .227.  On Wells, I understand not hitting for a high average but where has his power gone.  He has two home runs this season.  If he had 10 or so homers you could live with the .208 average.  It would be the same as Volpe was last season.  Travino is not only batting much higher at .271 but he has 4 times as many long balls.  And with him being a November 28ther to boot, it’s hard to argue he shouldn’t be the number 1 catcher (assuming what happened on the basepaths in Fenway doesn’t become a thing). 

I keep referring to the Yankees big three because Judge, Soto, and Stanton keep mashing tape measure blasts but I think Verdugo has to be included in their, man do I hate using this term, Core Four.  Doogie has been consistently productive all season.  It’s really been the 4 of them who have carried the offense.  When someone else gets going is when the offense truly takes off but it’s really just Stanton, Judge, Soto and Verdugo.  The Yankees need to find someone else who will hit consistently.  Again, maybe they can find a first baseman who can hit if Rizzo is down for a while.  But aside from that, I feel they are going to ride it out with who they have.  My guess is LeMahieu moves to first and Oswaldo plays third if Rizzo misses any time. That’s not helping the offense.

I will take this moment to double down on my “trade Gleyber” take.  Again, assuming he is not in their long-term plans, it is time to move on from him.  The problem is the best guy to replace him, Caleb Durbin, is still injured.  He’s been out for about a month now so even f he came back tomorrow it would take him time to get back into the swing of things.  So I don’t know who his replacement would be but it can’t be too hard to find someone at least as good as he has been this season. and this way the Yanks would get something in return for Gleyber rather than just letting him walk at the end of the year. 

So far June has not been the best month for the Bronx Bombers but they are still one of the top teams in the Majors.  They just set a really high standard. They are still first in the Majors in runs scored, Tied for first in runs against, and obviously, tops in scoring differential.  We will see if they are able to keep it up as they finish off the month with a huge 3 game series against Baltimore, 3 against Atlanta, 2 games in Queens and 4 north of the boarder.  Hopefully Cole’s return will give them a shot in the arm and they will finish out the month strong.