Judge hit two more. He not only has Babe Ruth's old job - he's actually doing it. Gardy had two more tonight, himself, and Aaron Hicks hit another one. These games are a blast. And Gary Sanchez homered and doubled in what may be his only AAA appearance since Austin Romine pulled a groin and we only have 3 catchers on the 40 man roster. So Sanchez is probably back tomorrow. And what Judge is doing, he can also do. Good time to be a Yankee fan. Tanaka got the win but wasn't sharp. He was able to hold it together through five though. Unfortunately, Tyler Clippard once again could not come in and shut the door and had to burn Betances. So middle relief probably still needs to refirgured a bit.
Earlier, Bird went on the 10 Day DL after an MRI revealed no healing had taken place from his earlier ankle injury. So it was something.
Also, Gleyber Torres and Clint Frazier and heating up and will be knocking soon.
20 Comments:
Let's talk a second about Aaron Hicks.
Despite our protests — which were honestly tied more to not wanting Judge's playing time limited by Hicks than anything — he's actually hitting so far, and he's doing it with irregular playing time. Could it be the team's analytics department was right, and we were wrong? It's a small sample size to be sure, but I'd have no problem giving him regular work by rotation him in the outfield spots and perhaps DH to find out if there's something to this. (Yes, even ***occasionally*** letting him give Judge a breather for a day.) Props to Hicks for seemingly not getting sour about losing the starting RF job and letting it affect his performance.
Something of note: Cashman once stated his belief that Hicks could be the next Jackie Bradley Jr. I felt last year that Jackie Bradley Jr. may not, in fact, be the Jackie Bradley Jr. he was showing early on thanks to an unsustainably high BABIP. His second half last year? .233/.315/.412/.727. So far this year? .184/.268/.286/.554 with a .222 BABIP — which means he'll likely improve, but maybe not show himself to be the monster he was pre-ASB 2016.
Hicks, by contrast, is doing what he's doing with a .263 BABIP.
True, any player has to be evaluated over multiple seasons, but the early indications from this season are positive for Hicks.
If they really believe in him, they should move Gardner now, and as RAB has already suggested, the Nationals may be the place.
As for any Judge and Hicks comparison, Judge is showing early signs of being generational, Hicks, at best, is a nice player.
Looking at fangraphs, I noticed that Hick is swinging at 10% fewer pitches out of the zone than last season.
Hick's career ML BABIP is .266.
Hicks is off pitches down in the zone and doing damage to pitches up in the zone:
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/theres-another-yankee-taking-off/
With Hicks, it wasn't just the maddening AB's, but the odd routes he was taking to fly balls. That said, maybe this is the real him. There've been plenty of late bloomers in baseball, all sports and life.
As much as I don't want to trade prospects this year and really don't want Quintana, CC's steep regression will force it given Hal's baseball world view.
Chase Adams should be the next man up.
Robots will undoubtedly disrupt a lot of jobs, including umpires.
Thinking about Hicks's below league average career BABIP, it could be a by product of bad contact resulting from poor plate discipline, because fast players like him tend to have higher BABIP due to infield hits. That may be changing. If so, it should normalize.
Some talk about the Yankees trading for a stater, perhaps Gerrit Cole. If they remain in contention and do go after a starter, it will be e big test for them. Whoever it is would preferably be under team control for several years to help offset the likely exodus of the starting rotation this offseason. Further, the Yankees need to ID who is trade bait and who are keepers. (I wouldn't send away Torres or Rutherford, but that's just me.)
Those two are untouchable and I really don't want to trade Frazier.
Great win!
@ESPNStatsInfo
Cubs were 152-0 over last 3 seasons when entering 9th with 2+-run lead; were only team without a loss in such situations since start of 2015
-Mike K. at work
This team is exciting, but I really hope they take the long view
Right. No rentals unless an extension can be worked out or it doesn't cost a fortune.
RAB
MLB.com released their top 30 prospects for the 2017-18 international signing period earlier this week, and according to the write-ups, the Yankees are expected to sign three of those top 30 players: Venezuelan OF Everson Pereira (No. 4 on the top 30), Dominican 2B Ronny Rojas (No. 11), and Venezuelan OF Roberto Chirinos (No. 16). You can read the scouting reports for free at the MLB.com link. We’ve heard the Yankees connected to Pereira before. The international signing period opens July 2nd, as always.
Would signing them affect how much money can be offered to Otani?
Gerrit Cole lied to the Yanks. No thanks.
Think about it. If they remain patient, the core could be Judge, Sanchez, Bird, Torres, and Frazier just to start before any free agents. Why mess with that?
Alderson did a great job building the Met's rotation, but they are showing how fragile pitchers are.
So I don't want to invest much in pitchers.
I have to give Hicks credit. Even if like JB, Jr. he is JB, Jr. for one year, that's pretty good. Of course, maybe next year the Sawx will say JB, Jr. can be Aaron Hicks.
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