OK so I was going to write my next installment of Down on the Farm but I decided to make this an all-encumbering Yankee post instead. It’s for two reasons. 1) There is a lot of stuff going on with the Yankees right now that I want to talk about. And 2) Out of the 7 guys I have been following in the minors, 2 of them are hurt and one of them was called up to the Majors. So I really only had 4 guys to write about. I will do that at then end of this column after I cover what else there is to cover. So, let’s dive in.
This last week was a disaster for the Bronx Bombers as they dropped 7 of their last 10 games, 4 of them to Boston and Baltimore. The last game against the Orioles saw their young stud get absolutely lit up for 7 runs in 1.1 innings. For the love of Yogi Berra I hope they didn’t find something out on him and that was just a aberration. Somehow they have managed to stay even with Baltimore in the standings despite the bad play and rash of injuries. Speaking of which…
The big news coming out of the Bronx is that Giancarlo Stanton yanked his hammy and is going to be out a good 4 weeks. I don’t think people realize how big of a deal this is. This is a huge blow to the Yankees. Giancarlo has been great this season. I don’t know why people were calling for him to be benched for the Martian when he is having a complete resurgent year. He was hitting .246 with 18 home runs and 45 RBIs. The 18 home runs are tied for second most on the Yankees with Juan Soto and ranked him 9th in all of Major League Baseball. 7th in the AL. 9th most home runs in the Majors and people wanted to bench his ass. In June he was hitting .304, Three-O-Four!!!, with 5 dingers and 16 RBIs. All second on the Yankees behind Judge. The man was raking.
Losing his production is going to really hurt the Yankees for a couple of reasons. The first being that their line up is struggling, to say the least. The Big Three (Stanton, Judge, and Soto) have been carrying them all season long and much more so in June. Volpe and Verdugo have contributed but Volpe has been very streaky this season and Verdugo is in a slump (hitting .225 in June). No one else has really hit all season and in June things have gotten worse. Since coming back from injury DJ LeMahieu has hit .185 with no extra base hits. Gleyber is hitting .218 on the season and .186 in June. Wells is at .205, Grisham is at .138 (he’s actually hitting a .269 in June), Travino is at .247 overall but is hitting .190 in June, and Rizzo in June was batting .104 before getting hurt. This team was not hitting at all except for the big guys. Taking Stanton out of this line up is going to be devastating.
The second reason losing Giancarlo hurts is because the Yankees do not have anything that even resembles a replacement. In an ideal world this would have been the Martian’s opportunity to prove himself as a true Major League ball player but he is injured again and is out for 8 weeks. No one on the bench is a good hitter and I can’t imagine any big trade until the deadline, by which time Stanton will be back. The Yankees did trade for JD Davis but this guy is not the answer. He was cut by the Oakland Athletics. The 29-51 Oakland Athletics. In 39 games this season Davis is hitting .236 with 4 homers and 5 (FIVE!!) RBIs. He’ll fit right in. The man has had one good season and it was for the Mets 7 years ago.
My guess is he was cheap and readily available (again, he was DFA’d by the A’s) and that the Yankees wanted a veteran rather than going with another kid. I think this is a bad idea. If they could get a good vet, that would be one thing, however, Davis isn’t really going to help so why not give another kid a chance like they did with Rice? Rice is doing OK for himself so far in his first stint in the Majors. It’s only been 6 games but he is hitting .294. He only has one hit in his 9 at bats against lefties but he is hitting .500 against righties. He hasn’t shown any power yet but again, it’s been 6 games. With the Yankees being off today, I hope he will be able to settle into New York a bit and be more comfortable in his new surroundings and we shall se how he does on the road, though the Mets are really “on the road”. The point being, things are working out for Rice, why not give another prospect a chance? I haven’t talk much, if at all, about the future of the Yankees after this season but I suspect if it’s going to include Soto, it’s going to have to include a bunch of young guys. Here is a chance to see if any of them can be the guys they are looking for. Why not see if they can give this black cloud a silver lining.
You know the usual suspect. Because Stanton was just a DH they can call up anyone to replace him. Why not give Rumfield, or Ramirez a chance. Guys like Peraza, who they called up for Sunday’s game then immediately sent him back down, and Spencer Jones are not really hitting in the minors this year so I doubt they want to rush them up. But still, there has to be someone they can give an opportunity to rather than JD Davis. We know he sucks.
With Stanton out and there being no suitable replacement, the Yankees offense is going to struggle mightily while they await the big guys return. To make matters worse, the Yankees’ pitching staff has come crashing back down to Earth and does not look like it will be able to carry the team over the next four weeks. As good as the staff was in the first couple of months (so good I pointed out I wouldn’t be surprised if they were cheating), they have struggled of late. I already mentioned Gil’s last outing. Rodon got roughed up his last 2 times out and Strowman and Cortez have been average at best. And that may be stretching it. The Bullpen has become a real issue for them. I always say it’s the one area of the team I have confidence in Cashman figuring out. Well, it’s time for him to figure it out. They made a couple of moves for some average bullpen arms but nothing that feels like it’s going to make a huge impact. Hopefully these are guys the Yankees think they can retool into great relievers as they have done in the past and they just need some time to do it. Hopefully it doesn’t take that long.
The trade deadline is over a month away (July 30th). By then Baltimore could have run away with the division if the Yankees can’t figure things out. Luckily the Bronx Bombers have a 9-game lead over KC for a playoff spot. So they have a little cushion there. With all that said, let’s look at some prospects.
Ben Rice—Catcher/First Base—AAA Scranton—As we know, Rice was called up to the Show. Hopefully he will play well enough to stay there and will no longer be a part of our prospect watch.
Caleb Durbin—Infielder—AAA Scranton—Durbin is still injured. I wish I could give you more on his injury but being a minor leaguer, there is no more info to give out.
Jasson Dominguez—Outfield—AAA Scranton—The Martin has an oblique strain and will miss 8 weeks. Basically another lost season for the Yankees top prospect.
Spencer Jones—Outfielder–AA Somerset—Jones has continued to turn his season around. He has hit safely in 10 of the 13 games since our last check in and is hitting .333 in his last 6 games. The power, however has disappeared again as he has not hit a long ball and has only 2 doubles in the past 13 games. It amazes me that someone that big can go so long without crushing a ball yet both he and Austin Wells have done it so far this season. Jones has his average up to .242 with 6 homers, 8 doubles, 2 triples and 33 RBIs so far on the season.
Brock Selvidge—Pitcher—AA Somerset—Selvidge has struggled in his last 2 starts. The 21-year-old lefty gave up a respectable 3 runs in 5 innings in his first start since last time but his second start was an ugly 7 runs in 4.2 inning outing. While the SeaWolves are in first place, 7 runs in 4 plus innings is not what you want to see. His numbers are getting worse and worse as the season moves on. I really liked the mental make up of this kid that I saw in spring training. Let’s hope he can fine tune the skills to match it.
George Lombard—Shortstop—A Tampa—Lombard has turned it on of late. He has hit safely in 10 of his last 12 games and is hitting .291 in that stretch. He has 4 doubles, a triple, and hit his first homer as well. The 19-year-old first rounder may be finding his game. He is up to .228 with the 1 dinger, 11 doubles and 2 triples with 25 RBIs and 18 stolen bases. Here’s a cool stat, in 22 at bats with 2 outs and runners in scoring position, Lombard is hitting .409. Apparently, the kid likes to hit in big spots.
Agustin Ramirez—Catcher/1st Base—AA Somerset—Well, I just lied to you. Ramirez is no longer in AA. With Rice being promoted to the Majors, Ramirez was promoted to AAA Scranton to replace him. He is off to a slow start at his new level with only 1 hit in 16 at bats but he did drive in a run. Before the call up, Ramirez was raking. In his last 7 games in AA he hit .375 with 4 doubles, a dinger, and 8 RBIs. On the season he is at .275 with 16 homer runs, 14 doubles, and a triple. He has 50 RBIs and is hitting .310 against lefties. I know the Yankees like to have guys “conquer” each level before moving them up, and I am all for that, but would it kill him to get a month in the Bigs to see if he can help this year?
Jack Neely—RP—AAA Srcanton—Ramirez wasn’t the only one recently promoted to triple A. Our new guy Neely was also moved up. I mentioned how bad the bullpen has been of late. Add to it how over worked it is and Neely could be on a short audition for an even bigger role in the organization. He has pitched twice in AAA. Both times were in the 9th inning of blow out wins. He wasn’t too impressive but he did not allow a run and struck out a batter in each outing. I don’t know if Jack is going to remain in the prospect watch. I just though it was interesting that after I mentioned him, he was moved to AAA. We will see how he does at this level.
So there you have it. Everything going on with the Yankees right now. This is one of the many reasons I love baseball, there is always so much going on with a team. They play every day and there is always something to talk about.
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