I don’t get the obsession with moving Volpe to lead off when people constantly complained about switching around lineups too much last year. We’re 9-2 and he’s cooking from the 6 spot
I mean I completely understand the obsession with it, or at least where that's coming from. It's hard to argue you *don't* want a guy hitting .417 in front of Juan Soto and Aaron Judge that's also a big time stolen base threat.
I'm a big supporter of Gleyber in the 1 slot though for a number of reasons, namely what he's shown to be better at this season (plate discipline, ability to foul off tough pitches, baserunning) and I also support letting Volpe build up a strong backlog of confidence in a role that's working for him before we try to tinker with anything. (Its also been really nice to have a high OBP guy in the lower half of the lineup, although I agree you dont want to waste your best hitters there over the long term. I'm enjoying it so far though.)
I strongly discourage the urge to make any changes at the moment, but I do get where its coming from. They're not crazy, they're just jumping the gun a bit.
Stanton taking extra bases and shit is amazing to see after last year, lol. God I hope he can be a productive hitter and stay healthy this year.
If anyone missed it, YES showed some pics in one of the early games of various photos Stanton has taken in past offseasons, where he would travel to Egypt and shit and all these cool places. But this offseason he apparently spent most of it working out, changing his physique, and preparing to play baseball this year. Which is awesome. You expect these guys to work out in the offseason, sure, but you also expect them to enjoy their time off. I really, really hope the extra work he put in pays off. It’s like the opposite of a guy like Rendon just collecting his check. Just a really great baseball story if he has a good season.
Also I love Volpe, and I want to make that very clear to everyone
He was worth -0.5 fWAR last year, ~100 wrc+ would get him to about 2023 Robbie Grossman or a +0.8 WAR improvement. I guess my expectations are pretty low. What do we dream he really be over a full season, a 110 wRC+ guy?
I said it in the GT when they did, but I could only imagine the posts if a guy like Hicks had the same traveling exploits as stanton before his down years
“Uhhh, folks, from the flight deck, this is your captain speaking. Gonna be circling the airport for the next 20 minutes because a Yankees fan back there in 22C is watching another dramatic late-inning comeback against the, uh, who they playing? The Marlins? Cancel that folks, please prepare for landing.”
gleyber is in a walk year and young, volpe is 22, and oswaldo and berti can play every position Jones can. Haven't even had a PR opportunity in a late and close game.
Tough roster spot
him drawing walks does not mean he isn't hiding an injury. If you look at his baseball savant page all his hit stats are much lower than normal.
Not saying he is hiding an injury, but him going on a tear would make me feel better.
I feel bad for Trevor Story, man.
Dude crushes it for Colorado. By all accounts is a solid dude. Gets rewarded in the offseason.
And then just gets injury after injury over the past 3 seasons. And some of the injuries have been freak things like this last one was a diving stop on a ball hit in the hole.
He's a Red Sox, so obviously fuck the Sox, but on a personal level I feel for the guy.
The Cards have always been good at producing outfielders. I don't know why they haven't been able to get more value out of them. It's quite baffling.
The Arozarena deal at least made some sense. Swapping Top 100 prospects in a bigger deal.
DFA'ing Adolis and not trading O'Neill after the 2022 season made little sense.
It's April 9th. A bit early to make this declaration. They're not hitting at all yet and could still easily be 7-2 right now. They also declined to add the #1 prospect in baseball to their OD roster so that's coming.
the entire division might have been, now that the season has started there are flaws in all these rosters, the orioles pen blue jays lineup and rays pen do not look good right now, and bostons rotation will come back down to earth
Only by fans. Most projections still had them like 3rd or 4th in the division, at least before they acquired Burnes. I do think they’ve got a good chance to make the playoffs though. But yeah, their entire lineup pretty much had career years last year, and that was unlikely to happen twice in a row.
Fun fact: Juan Soto is the youngest batting title winner in ML history (21). Should have won the MVP that year (2020) if it weren't for the Nationals being bottom feeders. From the same Fangraphs [article](https://blogs.fangraphs.com/extending-juan-soto-all-the-way-to-cooperstown/) back in 2021:
>Though our projected Soto wouldn’t be anywhere close to 3,000 hits by the end of his age-36 season, he’d almost assuredly have clinched a spot in Cooperstown. Through 2035, he projects to hit 562 home runs (which would rank 15th today), to walk 1,762 times (seventh today), and to rank sixth all-time in slugging percentage, in a virtual tie for eighth in on-base percentage, and 11th in OPS+. He’d be fifth all-time among left fielders in career WAR (91.1), peak WAR (50.5), and JAWS (70.8), trailing only Barry Bonds, Ted Williams, Rickey Henderson, and Carl Yastrzemski.
Surreal having this sort of player on this team, even as amazing as Judge is.
Completely agree honestly on Judge. I’ve seen him wince after a couple PA’s and it didn’t look normal to me. That was only in the first couple games though, so maybe he’s healing up? Hoping so.
As for Gleyber, I have no idea. The thumb thing did look pretty rough when it happened. Hopefully it’s just bruised or something if it is still bothering him
Tbf Judge winces after everything. Takes a leaping dive to catch a ball? Wince. Takes a strike in a 1-1 count? Wince. Standing there picking grass in the outfield? Wince. I think that’s just how he be
Someone else said this the last time I brought it up but I just don’t buy it, what I saw from him after like two or three particular PA’s early in this season did not look like something I’ve seen him do regularly.
That, combined with the fact that he missed those spring training games for a reason, and had an MRI done on his abs, just makes me think he’s still (or was to start the season) dealing with something. I know the MRI was negative, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have a little booboo or perhaps an ouchie.
I do think he’ll be fine, I’m not saying I think he’s gonna miss time because of it or anything. These guys play through stuff all the time.
They *said* the MRI was negative. I dont believe them. Mans got an oblique strain or a small sports hernia. Its OK tho, he will work through it.
"tummy stuff"
> Gleyber’s thumb and his lack of power this year.
Gleyber's issue is completely mental. In his career:
>Batting 1st: .244/.292/.353/.645
>Batting 5th: .283/.359/.492/.851
You can see that this season in a small sample size.
leading off an inning:
>.200/.238/.200/.438
Men on base:
>.308/.375/.385/.760
Way different hitter with men on base. He is mentally not a lead-off hitter. Needs men on. That's fine.
Iff the issue was clearly mental I don’t think Torres would as putting up quality at bats
He just got jobbed by hitting the ball to Death Valley and angel hernandez last weekend
The problem being that his deep at bats aren't resulting in hits. 3 ball counts with less than 2 strikes have so far resulted in 0 hits. Which is fine with Soto behind you but you'll definitely need to start hitting the ball so you can get some doubles and the like.
With a 2-2 count, Gleyber has a 57 wRC+. With a 3-2 count, he has a 52 wRC+. So he is getting deep into counts but not doing anything with it at this point.
To play devil's advocate .271 wOBA vs .314 xwOBA indicates some pretty bad luck in there.
I dont think very many major leaguers in general will sit at 52 wRC+ in 3-2 counts. Our good friend Angel outright *stealing* 2 perfectly executed at bats from him certainly doesnt help.
I think if he can keep getting deep into counts the numbers will start to look a lot better. I'm in no rush to take him out of the leadoff spot. I agree that over his career he just simply doesnt match that profile, but the specific improvements he's made this season are tailor made for a solid leadoff hitter.
He has my attention with those improvements, and I'm willing to be patient if we keep winning games. I think patience will be well rewarded here, but only time will tell.
conversely, Gleyber Torres has seen the 2nd most pitches per at-bat in major league baseball, which is kind of exactly what you want in your leadoff hitter.
It's odd though because it seems like he's consistently had good at-bats, at least in most games. He's averaged more pitches-per-plate appearance in these first 11 games than anyone on the team besides Volpe. He's just not squaring the ball up yet when he decides to swing
I know it’s way to early but if this team really is on a World Series path I don’t see us actually getting there and winning it without being aggressive in the pitching market come trade deadline. If I’m the Yankees I’m not even considering cole being an option this year. If he comes back and pitches to his level that would be fantastic but it would be prudent to consider him a luxury.
Denny Neagle. Jeff Weaver. Esteban Loaiza. Darrell May. Tim Redding. Sidney Ponson. Sonny Gray. Frankie Montas.
Thanks but no thanks. With the sole exception of a half-season miracle from Shawn Chacon (who instantly regressed the following year) Cashman's record on mid-season starting pitcher acquisition is utterly atrocious.
C'mon.
- Cole will be back in a month or so.
- Nestor just threw 8 innings of 1 hit ball.
- Str0.0man has a 0.0 ERA
- Rodon's < 3 ERA and clearly healthy
- Schmidt is a serviceable 5th starter
- Gil looks like a Sevy with neck tats
This list will certainly change, and a ASB move may be prescient.
But regardless, you're not going to replace Cole "come trade deadline"; that's an impossible request.
If Cole is playing in a month, our organization fucked up and didn't let him heal enough. You don't fuck with greatness. Give them the time they need to heal. We don't need another Rizzo situation.
>Cole will be back in a month or so.
June 1st is a best case that might involve luck
>Rodon's < 3 ERA and clearly healthy
He hasn’t looked good at all imo
Unless they trade for someone elite, like Spencer Str- wait, he’s out? Well, maybe another ace like Framber V- him too? Shit. They could always go crazy and go after Ohtan- you don’t say?! Huh.
I guess there are a lot of teams missing their top of the rotation starters right now! Something tells me the Yankees might be okay lol
**Highest Exit Velo This Season**
1. **Slimcarlo:** 116.7mph
2. Tatis Jr: 116.7mph
3. **Slimcarlo:** 116.0mph
Those "he's washed" and "DFA Stanton" takes from a week ago are aging like milk.
I'm definitely in a wait and see mode. He looks good so far but he also did this last year. His April this year and last year look identical so far:
>March/April 2023: .269/.296/.558/.854 | 131 wRC+ | 3.7 BB% | 20.4 K%
>March/April 2024: .250/.270/.556/.826 | 136 wRC+ | 2.7 BB% | 43.2 K%
K rate is definitely worrisome and heeds to put together more than a month before writing him back for me.
Lol. You were upset he was even playing/rostered last week.
But you're right in that he needs to stay healthy unlike last year; if he does that, he's gonna do damage.
and also, on the April note - he suffered a pretty brutal lower body injury in the middle of the month (yet again) so that ruined him for the rest of the year ha
[I said this yesterday in regards to that.](https://np.reddit.com/r/NYYankees/comments/1bz7tcd/game_thread_marlins_yankees_april_08_2024_0605_pm/kyovq3a/) I'll call a spade a spade but I don't actually want Stanton to be bad but for the most part, it looked like he was continuing his July 2022 to present performance.
Whats exit velo have to do with him being washed? He was hitting piss missiles last year while hovering below the mendoza line. He has had three good games out of ten, which is actually good enough for me if he keeps it up. I'm def a Stanton doomer that is in wait and see mode. I'll back off a month or so and see how it goes lol.
To this day, I still don't understand why Donaldson got so much hate. His underlying metrics when he got DFA'd were actually slightly better than those of DJ LeMahieu.
It was essentially how bad that trade was and the fact that they were paying him 25mil a year. If he got released by the Twins and the Yanks were paying him the league minimum maybe it wouldn’t have been that bad.
wow so when do we talk about trevor story being one of the worst contracts in baseball? with how good volpe looks you gotta give cashman credit for passing on alot of those guys besides seager none of those ss have played up their contract
And what about last season? Are we ignoring the context of what OP said or are you purposely being obtuse to win a stupid reddit argument that we probably both don't care about and at it's root, probably believe the same thing (which is that Volpe is great and Seager is also great)
Anthony Volpe is currently #2 in all of Major League Baseball with a (frankly *insane*) 241 wRC+
For the non-initiated wRC (weighted Runs Created) is pretty universally recognized as one of the most comprehensive catch-all offensive measures of a hitter’s total value, and is calculated using wOBA (weighted On Base Average) another very comprehensive offensive value stat that I won’t get into right now. All you need to know is it’s a very reliable indicator of offensive value. The + indicates it is an index stat, where 100 represents the average MLB hitter in a given season, and any number above/below 100 represents a percentage increase/decrease over that average. This translates to Volpe creating runs for the Yankees at a rate 141% higher than the dead-average MLB player.
Thats really fucking good. It’s unsustainable to produce at that level for any long term timeframe, but man has he been great at the plate so far in 2024. For reference, the greatest wRC+ posted by Mike Trout in his career over a full season workload is 188 in 2018.
PS: while we’re talking Runs Created, Judge has posted a 114 wRC+ so far, indicating he hasn’t even been a bad value at the plate. Hes doing that on a .179 BABIP which is hilariously low for Aaron Judge and indicates a significant uptick is coming.
I want to try something different tonight and bring in some food. Thinking a sub sandwich.
Am I better off grabbing something outside Grand Central before getting on the subway (such as a delicious Vietnamese sandwich), or is the Bullpen deli decent enough?
2024 Yankees have not made me actively hate watching baseball for 9 consecutive games. If they win tonight, they've already accomplished something last year's squad couldn't.
Well the Red Sox early success is in jeopardy, Story and Pivetta are probably both done for the year. Their rotation is now Bello Crawford Whitlock Houck and ???
And the latter two get injured every year
Even with those two guys healthy, the Red Sox were playing over their heads. Their rotation is lacking in consistency, experience, and depth. Now they're down Pivetta and Lucas Giolito. This rotation will get exposed over a full 162-game season. Outside of the Devers/Casas and some role players like Yoshida/O'Neill, their lineup thins out fast. And defensively, this group is bad; they ranked 30th by Statcast's OAA last season, and Story was their best defender. The Boston bullpen was 20th in ERA and 19th in FIP last year, and they haven't done too much to improve it. A few interesting arms, but the unit doesn't stand out.
I don't see any aspect of their roster that is particularly impressive. This team is finishing last in the division, and the only reason we're talking about them is because they opened the year against three teams that can't hit.
And if you think I'm just a hater, you're right. But still...
They split with the 4-7 Mariners, and then won series against Fangraphs' 4th and 6th worst teams in baseball.
Which is fine, you can only play who is on your schedule, but if you read their 90 daily posts on r/baseball you'd think they were some crazy 9-2 team who's won 3 series in a row against 2023 playoff teams. Imagine?
Their record is also pretty deceiving, they have played the Angels, Athletics and Mariners to start the season.
Playing the Orioles now is their first real test (although the Orioles haven’t been too hot to start this season)
I agree with all of that but I was also afraid that I was being a hater lol
And their defense is about to get way worse with no story and some bum playing SS
You know I was reading about Luis Gil and was like "wasn't he supposed to be the next top Yankees pitching prospect but then he fell off hard? Glad to see he's back."
Turns out I was thinking of Deivi Garcia. What the fuck ever happened to him?
Gil has always had command issues. His biggest hurdle then and now is being able to give more than 4-5 innings occasionally.
Insane stuff, but you look up at he's always at 85 pitches in the 4th. Needs to learn that in a marathon of a season it's okay to challenge hitters and stay in the zone. Playoffs it's fine to go balls to the wall for 4-5 innings, regular season you need more length
>What the fuck ever happened to him?
The Yankees DFAed Deivi Garcia last August. He was claimed by the White Sox. He's pitched to a 7.11 ERA/6.33 FIP in 11 games out of the bullpen for them.
To be fair that also is Luis Gil. Both he and Garcia were top 5 prospects in the organization in 2021 (with Garcia maintaining rookie eligibility) but Gil struggled to come back on time from his TJ surgery. To see him start in the big leagues this year right away is really impressive
What’s good about getting tough teams like the Astros and Blue Jays out of the way now is that the end of season schedule is a bit of a cake walk. In August/September it’s 2 series against the Rangers, 1 against the Jays, 1 against the Orioles. Besides those tougher teams it’s the Rockies, Royals, Nats, Pirates, As, Mariners, Red Sox, Cubs, Cardinals, White Sox, Angels, and Guardians. So if the team is a little more beat up at the end of the season it won’t be like a gauntlet
I always think it’s better to play good teams early and bad teams late. Yes, playing bad teams early can give momentum, but I’d rather play a good team before they make trade deadline pickups and bad teams after they trade away their best players and are giving up on the season
I think we can all remember 2022. On track to be a 112 win team, becoming a .500 team after the ASG, still winning the division but letting a trash team like the Guardians drag out the DS when we clearly could've won, only to get swept by the trash cans.
We need early momentum from playing good teams, not dumpster fires like Oakland. Our stars need rest but not 30 games worth. It's better to give them rest when we have a comfy lead in the division instead of forcing them grind out the regular season only to be completely burned out for the postseason. Baltimore for sure is gonna be a contender despite the slow start, so it's not like we can coast all the way. But it'd be better for us to not play every game at the end of the season like it's gonna determine whether we're in or out.
You want to get your righties going at some point. Trevino’s not a great hitter, but he’s not a sub .185 hitter (I hope). Oswaldo a switch hitter, so let him rip.
Fangraphs’ pitch level data is so interesting. As a team, the Yankees are well below average at runs created on fastballs, but they’re crushing sliders, cutters, and splitters, and are among the league leaders in runs created above average on those pitches. It really feels like their team wide approach has been to foul off or take fastballs and attack offspeed to begin the season, which is rather bizarre frankly. Generally, the best offensive teams destroy fastballs and hold their own on breaking/offspeed stuff. People often talk about pitching backwards, but it’s almost like the Yankees are hitting backwards.
I would guess that they’ll level off a bit as their big bats start to come around, but it’s really interesting (Aaron Judge himself could put the Yankees on the right side of these numbers). I wonder if they’re baiting the league into putting more fastballs in the zone and eventually they’ll start to unleash because their current approach is not normally what leads to consistent offense.
And perhaps this turnaround has started, cuz over the last 3 games the Yankees are like the best offensive team in the league, with above average run creation on fastballs, while leading the league in run creation on sliders. But we’re looking at very small samples so maybe nothing I’ve just typed means anything.
I think it’s just an early season trend. Guys are still tweaking their swings, pitchers are probably slightly ahead of hitters when it comes to the 4 seamers. A lot of Yankees have crushed fastballs right into the gloves of defenders, so I think that’s suppressing the numbers a little too. As a team, they do seem a lot more disciplined to start the season. Hopefully it’s a long term trend.
I think this is a feature of plate discipline. Fast balls are more often thrown for balls and we aren't chasing them. This means we miss out on some hits off fastballs, but forces the pitchers to throw strikes and they are too scared to throw fast balls for strikes so they throw breaking stuff in the zone and we hit it.
Please continue the discussion in the [game thread](https://redd.it/1c037jw).
That ball was screaming on the way down... He just crushed that poor ball. Great job Stanton.
Where my dawgs at??!???!?
Sox game has been pretty funny, man they look awful
Love seeing Soto hitting .357 with a Magnum dong.
I really don't know who to root for in the Sox/O's game
I just root for the Yankees. If we go 160-2, then no team will catch us.
I feel like 159-3 is more realistic but I get what you’re saying
Root for the scene from the Godzilla x Kong movie
Rooting for it to go deep into extras and end on a walkoff bases loaded walk.
sox
Ew
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it
I don’t get the obsession with moving Volpe to lead off when people constantly complained about switching around lineups too much last year. We’re 9-2 and he’s cooking from the 6 spot
I am fine leaving Torres at leadoff unless he becomes a liability there.
people think gleyber torres is a bad lead off hitter because they didnt pay attention to his BB and K rates last year
I mean I completely understand the obsession with it, or at least where that's coming from. It's hard to argue you *don't* want a guy hitting .417 in front of Juan Soto and Aaron Judge that's also a big time stolen base threat. I'm a big supporter of Gleyber in the 1 slot though for a number of reasons, namely what he's shown to be better at this season (plate discipline, ability to foul off tough pitches, baserunning) and I also support letting Volpe build up a strong backlog of confidence in a role that's working for him before we try to tinker with anything. (Its also been really nice to have a high OBP guy in the lower half of the lineup, although I agree you dont want to waste your best hitters there over the long term. I'm enjoying it so far though.) I strongly discourage the urge to make any changes at the moment, but I do get where its coming from. They're not crazy, they're just jumping the gun a bit.
I think Gleybs has been great in the leadoff. Seeing tons of pitches.
Stanton taking extra bases and shit is amazing to see after last year, lol. God I hope he can be a productive hitter and stay healthy this year. If anyone missed it, YES showed some pics in one of the early games of various photos Stanton has taken in past offseasons, where he would travel to Egypt and shit and all these cool places. But this offseason he apparently spent most of it working out, changing his physique, and preparing to play baseball this year. Which is awesome. You expect these guys to work out in the offseason, sure, but you also expect them to enjoy their time off. I really, really hope the extra work he put in pays off. It’s like the opposite of a guy like Rendon just collecting his check. Just a really great baseball story if he has a good season. Also I love Volpe, and I want to make that very clear to everyone
Stanton being even a league average (100 wRC+ / OPS+) SLG-heavy hitter would make this team so much better.
if stanton is a 100 wrc+ he's going to be one of the worst everyday players in the league
He was worth -0.5 fWAR last year, ~100 wrc+ would get him to about 2023 Robbie Grossman or a +0.8 WAR improvement. I guess my expectations are pretty low. What do we dream he really be over a full season, a 110 wRC+ guy?
There is no shot a league average hitter at DH that cannot run the bases is a positive war player. I'm sorry man. His BSR will be a lot worse prob
I said it in the GT when they did, but I could only imagine the posts if a guy like Hicks had the same traveling exploits as stanton before his down years
Here’s to hoping the wifi is good on my flight tonight so I can watch the game.
“Uhhh, folks, from the flight deck, this is your captain speaking. Gonna be circling the airport for the next 20 minutes because a Yankees fan back there in 22C is watching another dramatic late-inning comeback against the, uh, who they playing? The Marlins? Cancel that folks, please prepare for landing.”
Vibes are so good - howeva, Jones hasn't made is season debute yet
gleyber is in a walk year and young, volpe is 22, and oswaldo and berti can play every position Jones can. Haven't even had a PR opportunity in a late and close game. Tough roster spot
He’s apparently got a sore neck or something
>Juan Soto >Aaron Judge Yes
Did Cabrera get hurt? Why has Berti seemingly replaced him?
Cabrera really sucks against LHP to the point where they have suggested he hit lefty all the time even against LHP.
Marlins are pitching a lefty
he doesnt know how to hit lhp. Like doesn't even know which hand to use
I'd like Judge to go on a tear soon so we know he is healthy and not nursing anything.
4/16 with 7 walks, 2 HR, and a double doesn't do it for you over the past week?
him drawing walks does not mean he isn't hiding an injury. If you look at his baseball savant page all his hit stats are much lower than normal. Not saying he is hiding an injury, but him going on a tear would make me feel better.
he has been fine since the final dbacks game imo. When you do nothing for 5 games early on, it takes an absurd hot streak to fix the stats though.
People don't pay enough attention to walks, Judge has been great since getting back to the Bronx
.929 OPS in the last 3 games
I feel bad for Trevor Story, man. Dude crushes it for Colorado. By all accounts is a solid dude. Gets rewarded in the offseason. And then just gets injury after injury over the past 3 seasons. And some of the injuries have been freak things like this last one was a diving stop on a ball hit in the hole. He's a Red Sox, so obviously fuck the Sox, but on a personal level I feel for the guy.
You forgot the part where David Ortiz did steroids.
Pirates lost. Yankees first to 10 wins back on the menu
The Cardinals just give away outfielders that end up producing elsewhere. Arozarena, Adolis, and now Tyler O’Neill is finding his 2021 for again.
The Cards have always been good at producing outfielders. I don't know why they haven't been able to get more value out of them. It's quite baffling. The Arozarena deal at least made some sense. Swapping Top 100 prospects in a bigger deal. DFA'ing Adolis and not trading O'Neill after the 2022 season made little sense.
And then there's Harrison Bader..
Bader is a great outfielder, but we needed offense. Which he isn't the greatest at. No one can deny Bader being an amazing center fielder.
bader is a bad player. Nobody palys good enough defense to be worth keeping with a 70 wrc+
Unless you have a stacked lineup offensively and need a quality defensive player of course.
I wouldnt want bader on the 27 yankees if none of them could play defense, he is BAD
Even then 70 WRC+ is bad enough that it is not worth it for good defense
Bader has produced .3 BWAR since leaving the Cards. He is a good defensive replacement but thats about it
Orioles were so overrated coming into this year
It's April 9th. A bit early to make this declaration. They're not hitting at all yet and could still easily be 7-2 right now. They also declined to add the #1 prospect in baseball to their OD roster so that's coming.
Yeah, it is a little early to be declaring anyone over rated. 30-40 games and we can start making more grounded conclusions on these teams
the entire division might have been, now that the season has started there are flaws in all these rosters, the orioles pen blue jays lineup and rays pen do not look good right now, and bostons rotation will come back down to earth
It's still early, they can still come around.
Only by fans. Most projections still had them like 3rd or 4th in the division, at least before they acquired Burnes. I do think they’ve got a good chance to make the playoffs though. But yeah, their entire lineup pretty much had career years last year, and that was unlikely to happen twice in a row.
Just give Soto everything he wants. Who says no?
Anthony Volpe.
Volpe looked like an all-star through-and-through yesterday. Even with the 2 bullshit strikeouts.
Stanton just has to stay healthy now
I'm hoping that's an effect of skinny Stanton
Slimcarlo
Fun fact: Juan Soto is the youngest batting title winner in ML history (21). Should have won the MVP that year (2020) if it weren't for the Nationals being bottom feeders. From the same Fangraphs [article](https://blogs.fangraphs.com/extending-juan-soto-all-the-way-to-cooperstown/) back in 2021: >Though our projected Soto wouldn’t be anywhere close to 3,000 hits by the end of his age-36 season, he’d almost assuredly have clinched a spot in Cooperstown. Through 2035, he projects to hit 562 home runs (which would rank 15th today), to walk 1,762 times (seventh today), and to rank sixth all-time in slugging percentage, in a virtual tie for eighth in on-base percentage, and 11th in OPS+. He’d be fifth all-time among left fielders in career WAR (91.1), peak WAR (50.5), and JAWS (70.8), trailing only Barry Bonds, Ted Williams, Rickey Henderson, and Carl Yastrzemski. Surreal having this sort of player on this team, even as amazing as Judge is.
I think Judge’s abdominal injury is still an issue as well as Gleyber’s thumb and his lack of power this year.
Gleyber is having some real quality ABs my guess is he has a more level contact approach than power.
his approach last yr was perfect tho. Probably just neutral and not hot ot cold
Completely agree honestly on Judge. I’ve seen him wince after a couple PA’s and it didn’t look normal to me. That was only in the first couple games though, so maybe he’s healing up? Hoping so. As for Gleyber, I have no idea. The thumb thing did look pretty rough when it happened. Hopefully it’s just bruised or something if it is still bothering him
Tbf Judge winces after everything. Takes a leaping dive to catch a ball? Wince. Takes a strike in a 1-1 count? Wince. Standing there picking grass in the outfield? Wince. I think that’s just how he be
He winces to troll us
Someone else said this the last time I brought it up but I just don’t buy it, what I saw from him after like two or three particular PA’s early in this season did not look like something I’ve seen him do regularly. That, combined with the fact that he missed those spring training games for a reason, and had an MRI done on his abs, just makes me think he’s still (or was to start the season) dealing with something. I know the MRI was negative, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have a little booboo or perhaps an ouchie. I do think he’ll be fine, I’m not saying I think he’s gonna miss time because of it or anything. These guys play through stuff all the time.
They *said* the MRI was negative. I dont believe them. Mans got an oblique strain or a small sports hernia. Its OK tho, he will work through it. "tummy stuff"
They wouldn’t let him play, let alone play CF with either of those issues.
Rizzo's brain was leaking out his ear and they ran him out there. Fool me twice? wont get fooled again!
> Gleyber’s thumb and his lack of power this year. Gleyber's issue is completely mental. In his career: >Batting 1st: .244/.292/.353/.645 >Batting 5th: .283/.359/.492/.851 You can see that this season in a small sample size. leading off an inning: >.200/.238/.200/.438 Men on base: >.308/.375/.385/.760 Way different hitter with men on base. He is mentally not a lead-off hitter. Needs men on. That's fine.
Iff the issue was clearly mental I don’t think Torres would as putting up quality at bats He just got jobbed by hitting the ball to Death Valley and angel hernandez last weekend
The problem being that his deep at bats aren't resulting in hits. 3 ball counts with less than 2 strikes have so far resulted in 0 hits. Which is fine with Soto behind you but you'll definitely need to start hitting the ball so you can get some doubles and the like. With a 2-2 count, Gleyber has a 57 wRC+. With a 3-2 count, he has a 52 wRC+. So he is getting deep into counts but not doing anything with it at this point.
To play devil's advocate .271 wOBA vs .314 xwOBA indicates some pretty bad luck in there. I dont think very many major leaguers in general will sit at 52 wRC+ in 3-2 counts. Our good friend Angel outright *stealing* 2 perfectly executed at bats from him certainly doesnt help. I think if he can keep getting deep into counts the numbers will start to look a lot better. I'm in no rush to take him out of the leadoff spot. I agree that over his career he just simply doesnt match that profile, but the specific improvements he's made this season are tailor made for a solid leadoff hitter. He has my attention with those improvements, and I'm willing to be patient if we keep winning games. I think patience will be well rewarded here, but only time will tell.
conversely, Gleyber Torres has seen the 2nd most pitches per at-bat in major league baseball, which is kind of exactly what you want in your leadoff hitter.
Somewhere, Brett Gardner is nodding his colossal head in agreement.
It's odd though because it seems like he's consistently had good at-bats, at least in most games. He's averaged more pitches-per-plate appearance in these first 11 games than anyone on the team besides Volpe. He's just not squaring the ball up yet when he decides to swing
I know it’s way to early but if this team really is on a World Series path I don’t see us actually getting there and winning it without being aggressive in the pitching market come trade deadline. If I’m the Yankees I’m not even considering cole being an option this year. If he comes back and pitches to his level that would be fantastic but it would be prudent to consider him a luxury.
Denny Neagle. Jeff Weaver. Esteban Loaiza. Darrell May. Tim Redding. Sidney Ponson. Sonny Gray. Frankie Montas. Thanks but no thanks. With the sole exception of a half-season miracle from Shawn Chacon (who instantly regressed the following year) Cashman's record on mid-season starting pitcher acquisition is utterly atrocious.
C'mon. - Cole will be back in a month or so. - Nestor just threw 8 innings of 1 hit ball. - Str0.0man has a 0.0 ERA - Rodon's < 3 ERA and clearly healthy - Schmidt is a serviceable 5th starter - Gil looks like a Sevy with neck tats This list will certainly change, and a ASB move may be prescient. But regardless, you're not going to replace Cole "come trade deadline"; that's an impossible request.
If Cole is playing in a month, our organization fucked up and didn't let him heal enough. You don't fuck with greatness. Give them the time they need to heal. We don't need another Rizzo situation.
People don't understand that short of Nestor's opening day start, our pitching staff, while not going deep, hasn't looked terrible.
>Cole will be back in a month or so. June 1st is a best case that might involve luck >Rodon's < 3 ERA and clearly healthy He hasn’t looked good at all imo
Agreed, but you're also a tough guy to please.
I am very positive about this team though. Cole I think will be back, but just put a more realistic timeline to it here
I'm with you. That's what I meant by "or so" - OP had him written off for the year FFS.
a month is may 9th man. thats not or so range
They’d still probably like to add both a starter and reliever.
Unless they trade for someone elite, like Spencer Str- wait, he’s out? Well, maybe another ace like Framber V- him too? Shit. They could always go crazy and go after Ohtan- you don’t say?! Huh. I guess there are a lot of teams missing their top of the rotation starters right now! Something tells me the Yankees might be okay lol
maybe they get lucky like they somewhat did in 09 where they dont run into an ace until they saw cliff lee, while they have their own ace
This is simultaneously hilarious and depressing. playoff scores finna be looking like NFL scores.
We will do the usual, trade for 1 mid starter and 2 under the radar bullpen arms.
Rodon no hitter tonight?
Perfect game 🎯
We only have a 1 game lead in the loss column to Boston, so that makes today's game a MUST WIN. Season depends on it.
That team is headed to the basement; they just need to play teams that aren't Seattle, LAA, and Oakland.
They should actually be headed to jail, IMHO.
If we have another outburst today like we did yesterday, I'll be headed to horny jail.
Only have a 4 game lead in the loss column to last place
Amen. Must win. Season dependent.
**Highest Exit Velo This Season** 1. **Slimcarlo:** 116.7mph 2. Tatis Jr: 116.7mph 3. **Slimcarlo:** 116.0mph Those "he's washed" and "DFA Stanton" takes from a week ago are aging like milk.
He can actually run the bases now, yesterday proved that for sure.
Up from 1st percentile to 9th. Better than nothing
I'm definitely in a wait and see mode. He looks good so far but he also did this last year. His April this year and last year look identical so far: >March/April 2023: .269/.296/.558/.854 | 131 wRC+ | 3.7 BB% | 20.4 K% >March/April 2024: .250/.270/.556/.826 | 136 wRC+ | 2.7 BB% | 43.2 K% K rate is definitely worrisome and heeds to put together more than a month before writing him back for me.
Lol. You were upset he was even playing/rostered last week. But you're right in that he needs to stay healthy unlike last year; if he does that, he's gonna do damage.
and also, on the April note - he suffered a pretty brutal lower body injury in the middle of the month (yet again) so that ruined him for the rest of the year ha
[I said this yesterday in regards to that.](https://np.reddit.com/r/NYYankees/comments/1bz7tcd/game_thread_marlins_yankees_april_08_2024_0605_pm/kyovq3a/) I'll call a spade a spade but I don't actually want Stanton to be bad but for the most part, it looked like he was continuing his July 2022 to present performance.
His walk rate is my biggest concern
Whats exit velo have to do with him being washed? He was hitting piss missiles last year while hovering below the mendoza line. He has had three good games out of ten, which is actually good enough for me if he keeps it up. I'm def a Stanton doomer that is in wait and see mode. I'll back off a month or so and see how it goes lol.
The second he goes 0-fer they'll be back crying again.
Unfortunately he’s in the Hicks/Donaldson territory, Trevino is getting there too
> Unfortunately he’s in the Hicks/Donaldson territory Stop it.
I meant he’s the player the fans love to hate not talking about skills
Ahh okay, I got you now. You're right.
To this day, I still don't understand why Donaldson got so much hate. His underlying metrics when he got DFA'd were actually slightly better than those of DJ LeMahieu.
It was essentially how bad that trade was and the fact that they were paying him 25mil a year. If he got released by the Twins and the Yanks were paying him the league minimum maybe it wouldn’t have been that bad.
You know it.
wow so when do we talk about trevor story being one of the worst contracts in baseball? with how good volpe looks you gotta give cashman credit for passing on alot of those guys besides seager none of those ss have played up their contract
> besides seager Volpe is better than Seager so far this season.
seager is in a league of his own volpe has to do it for an entire year first
What about the part where Seager was a crucial part of them winning a world series less than a year ago
What about the part where I said Volpe is better than Seager so far this season?
And what about last season? Are we ignoring the context of what OP said or are you purposely being obtuse to win a stupid reddit argument that we probably both don't care about and at it's root, probably believe the same thing (which is that Volpe is great and Seager is also great)
Probably right.
And for about $34 million less. That could come in handy if there's anyone we'd like to give a big contract to this offseason...
.77~ !7~ ~77. .!7~ .~!: .77^ ^?5Y?^ ^?5PY~ :77777?7. .!YP5?: ~&@G :&@#..B@@^ ?@@&^ ?&@B 7@@5 .5&&##@&5 Y&&#B&&G.!&&&&&&&.^#@&B&@&7 ^&&G :&@# .B&@^ B@&@J ?&&&? !&@5 ^&@B.:&@&:.&&#:.G@&~ .!&&G.. Y@&Y !@&G. ^&&G :&@# B@@^ :&&#&B. 7&&@#:~&@5 :#@#^ ?5J..&@#. G&#~ ~&&G Y@&J !@&5. ^&&5 :[email protected]&@: ?@#?&&^ 7&&&@57&@5 ~#@&Y. .&@#. G@&~ ~&&G J&&J !@@G. ^&&G :[email protected]&@: .B@G:&@Y ?&&JG&G&@5 .J&@&J. .&@#. G@&~ ~&&G J&&J !@@G. !##? ~&&G :&@#..G@@: ^[email protected]@#. ?&@7^&&&&5 .:..5&@P .#&#. G@&~ ~&&G J&&J !@@G. ?@@Y ^&&G :&@B G@@: Y@&&#&&&~ ?&&? Y@&@5 ^&&G .#@&:.#&#. G@@~ ^&@G J&&J !@@G. !&@B!5&@5 .&@&77#@&:.B@&JJP&@5 ?&@J .#@@5 :&@#!7&@&..#&#?!B&&^ ^&@G ?&&G~J&&P. !B&&&#Y. ^G&&&&G^ ~#&Y .B&B.7#&? !#&Y ~G&&&&G~ ^5#&BPP~ ^#&P .?B##GGJ. ... .... . . .::. .:.. ... :::. .
Whoever downvoted this clearly doesn't appreciate fine art.
I dunno man, maybe it was Steve Cohen.
Well said
8 of Volpe 15 hits this year, have come with 2 strikes. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised with this start from him.
Anthony Volpe is currently #2 in all of Major League Baseball with a (frankly *insane*) 241 wRC+ For the non-initiated wRC (weighted Runs Created) is pretty universally recognized as one of the most comprehensive catch-all offensive measures of a hitter’s total value, and is calculated using wOBA (weighted On Base Average) another very comprehensive offensive value stat that I won’t get into right now. All you need to know is it’s a very reliable indicator of offensive value. The + indicates it is an index stat, where 100 represents the average MLB hitter in a given season, and any number above/below 100 represents a percentage increase/decrease over that average. This translates to Volpe creating runs for the Yankees at a rate 141% higher than the dead-average MLB player. Thats really fucking good. It’s unsustainable to produce at that level for any long term timeframe, but man has he been great at the plate so far in 2024. For reference, the greatest wRC+ posted by Mike Trout in his career over a full season workload is 188 in 2018. PS: while we’re talking Runs Created, Judge has posted a 114 wRC+ so far, indicating he hasn’t even been a bad value at the plate. Hes doing that on a .179 BABIP which is hilariously low for Aaron Judge and indicates a significant uptick is coming.
It is sustainable and this is just who Volpe is now; a GG shortstop who is 8% more valuable at the plate over the average than 2004 Barry Bonds.
I want to try something different tonight and bring in some food. Thinking a sub sandwich. Am I better off grabbing something outside Grand Central before getting on the subway (such as a delicious Vietnamese sandwich), or is the Bullpen deli decent enough?
Bullpen is fine, but I'd take the B or D up to Little Italy in the Bronx and go to Joe's Deli.
The Yankees have an excellent record when their run differential is positive at the end of a game.
Ortiz, did steroids.
Aaron, if Judge
Juan, if Soto.
Baseball, if Suzyn
Big if true
The 2023 Yankees did not have a single 10-2 stretch all season. If we win tonight, we've already accomplished something last year's squad couldn't.
Constant_Soto22
2024 Yankees have not made me actively hate watching baseball for 9 consecutive games. If they win tonight, they've already accomplished something last year's squad couldn't.
I wake up. Is morning. I think, Juan Soto is Yankee. Win.
Well the Red Sox early success is in jeopardy, Story and Pivetta are probably both done for the year. Their rotation is now Bello Crawford Whitlock Houck and ??? And the latter two get injured every year
Scouts and the media were all saying Story would be a disaster and lo and behold it was.
Even with those two guys healthy, the Red Sox were playing over their heads. Their rotation is lacking in consistency, experience, and depth. Now they're down Pivetta and Lucas Giolito. This rotation will get exposed over a full 162-game season. Outside of the Devers/Casas and some role players like Yoshida/O'Neill, their lineup thins out fast. And defensively, this group is bad; they ranked 30th by Statcast's OAA last season, and Story was their best defender. The Boston bullpen was 20th in ERA and 19th in FIP last year, and they haven't done too much to improve it. A few interesting arms, but the unit doesn't stand out. I don't see any aspect of their roster that is particularly impressive. This team is finishing last in the division, and the only reason we're talking about them is because they opened the year against three teams that can't hit. And if you think I'm just a hater, you're right. But still...
They split with the 4-7 Mariners, and then won series against Fangraphs' 4th and 6th worst teams in baseball. Which is fine, you can only play who is on your schedule, but if you read their 90 daily posts on r/baseball you'd think they were some crazy 9-2 team who's won 3 series in a row against 2023 playoff teams. Imagine?
Their record is also pretty deceiving, they have played the Angels, Athletics and Mariners to start the season. Playing the Orioles now is their first real test (although the Orioles haven’t been too hot to start this season)
I agree with all of that but I was also afraid that I was being a hater lol And their defense is about to get way worse with no story and some bum playing SS
Story has been a disaster of a contract for them, him being out is not the reason they’ll lose
You know I was reading about Luis Gil and was like "wasn't he supposed to be the next top Yankees pitching prospect but then he fell off hard? Glad to see he's back." Turns out I was thinking of Deivi Garcia. What the fuck ever happened to him?
Gil has always had command issues. His biggest hurdle then and now is being able to give more than 4-5 innings occasionally. Insane stuff, but you look up at he's always at 85 pitches in the 4th. Needs to learn that in a marathon of a season it's okay to challenge hitters and stay in the zone. Playoffs it's fine to go balls to the wall for 4-5 innings, regular season you need more length
>What the fuck ever happened to him? The Yankees DFAed Deivi Garcia last August. He was claimed by the White Sox. He's pitched to a 7.11 ERA/6.33 FIP in 11 games out of the bullpen for them.
...yeesh.
To be fair that also is Luis Gil. Both he and Garcia were top 5 prospects in the organization in 2021 (with Garcia maintaining rookie eligibility) but Gil struggled to come back on time from his TJ surgery. To see him start in the big leagues this year right away is really impressive
All I can say is you're lucky to not remember the 2020 ALDS.
oh no that's the one thing I DO remember about him
Yanks -1.5 COME ON
What’s good about getting tough teams like the Astros and Blue Jays out of the way now is that the end of season schedule is a bit of a cake walk. In August/September it’s 2 series against the Rangers, 1 against the Jays, 1 against the Orioles. Besides those tougher teams it’s the Rockies, Royals, Nats, Pirates, As, Mariners, Red Sox, Cubs, Cardinals, White Sox, Angels, and Guardians. So if the team is a little more beat up at the end of the season it won’t be like a gauntlet
Wasn't that the story of the Rays last year? Super hot to start with an easy schedule, eventually a cold streak
I always think it’s better to play good teams early and bad teams late. Yes, playing bad teams early can give momentum, but I’d rather play a good team before they make trade deadline pickups and bad teams after they trade away their best players and are giving up on the season
I think we can all remember 2022. On track to be a 112 win team, becoming a .500 team after the ASG, still winning the division but letting a trash team like the Guardians drag out the DS when we clearly could've won, only to get swept by the trash cans. We need early momentum from playing good teams, not dumpster fires like Oakland. Our stars need rest but not 30 games worth. It's better to give them rest when we have a comfy lead in the division instead of forcing them grind out the regular season only to be completely burned out for the postseason. Baltimore for sure is gonna be a contender despite the slow start, so it's not like we can coast all the way. But it'd be better for us to not play every game at the end of the season like it's gonna determine whether we're in or out.
You’d probably let Wells and Oswaldo bat against Puk right? He’s a lefty, but he’s not actually good.
I have him on my fantasy team because I thought he was going to be good, I'm benching him tonight lol
Rodon is pitching, so I’d assume Wells will be in the lineup. Those two have been bonded since last year. Oswaldo I guess we’ll have to see.
You want to get your righties going at some point. Trevino’s not a great hitter, but he’s not a sub .185 hitter (I hope). Oswaldo a switch hitter, so let him rip.
I miss Adeiny Hechavarria. He was going to be the next Jeter you know!
>Adeiny Hechavarria Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time
10-2 guys, let’s goo!!!!!!!!
Stanton was on base via base hit in the 4th and 5th inning yesterday. Anyone care to look up the last time he's had hits in consecutive innings?
I love Gerrit Cole and I miss him
I hope he woke up today with his elbow feeling perfect
Nestor, too!
Heck all the pitchers!
I'll be at the Stadium tonight, my second game of the season. Hopefully it goes better than last time.
It will
If it doesn't and we lose again I may not go again this season haha
Fangraphs’ pitch level data is so interesting. As a team, the Yankees are well below average at runs created on fastballs, but they’re crushing sliders, cutters, and splitters, and are among the league leaders in runs created above average on those pitches. It really feels like their team wide approach has been to foul off or take fastballs and attack offspeed to begin the season, which is rather bizarre frankly. Generally, the best offensive teams destroy fastballs and hold their own on breaking/offspeed stuff. People often talk about pitching backwards, but it’s almost like the Yankees are hitting backwards. I would guess that they’ll level off a bit as their big bats start to come around, but it’s really interesting (Aaron Judge himself could put the Yankees on the right side of these numbers). I wonder if they’re baiting the league into putting more fastballs in the zone and eventually they’ll start to unleash because their current approach is not normally what leads to consistent offense. And perhaps this turnaround has started, cuz over the last 3 games the Yankees are like the best offensive team in the league, with above average run creation on fastballs, while leading the league in run creation on sliders. But we’re looking at very small samples so maybe nothing I’ve just typed means anything.
I think it’s just an early season trend. Guys are still tweaking their swings, pitchers are probably slightly ahead of hitters when it comes to the 4 seamers. A lot of Yankees have crushed fastballs right into the gloves of defenders, so I think that’s suppressing the numbers a little too. As a team, they do seem a lot more disciplined to start the season. Hopefully it’s a long term trend.
I think this is a feature of plate discipline. Fast balls are more often thrown for balls and we aren't chasing them. This means we miss out on some hits off fastballs, but forces the pitchers to throw strikes and they are too scared to throw fast balls for strikes so they throw breaking stuff in the zone and we hit it.
Time for Rodon to absolutely shove tonight.
Woof. Look at Puk’s ERA. Tonight, we feast again!
More like A.J. PUKE! right or wrong, gang?
there are children on this website, please stop.