The Yankees’ post-trade deadline series could not have gone any worse than it actually did. On Friday night, all three additions to the remade bullpen stunk up the joint in their Yankee debuts as they lost the opener. Then on Saturday and Sunday, it was the offense’s turn, as they failed to do much of anything good, dooming the Yankees to a series sweep at the hands of the Marlins.
Now as we start a new week, the Yankees have to get their heads back on straight. They’ll do it against the Rangers,
starting tonight.
Coming into this series, Texas is still very much in the playoff picture. Currently, they’re the first team out of the AL, as they’re two games back of the Mariners for the third AL Wild Card. They were slight buyers at the deadline, picking up Merrill Kelly from the Diamondbacks and some bullpen arms. As the Yankees have been reeling, Texas has won eight of their last thirteen, and will certainly be looking to add to the Bombers’ struggles.
Before the action at Globe Life Field in Arlington gets going, here’s a look at the expected pitching matchups for the next couple days.
Monday: Max Fried vs. Patrick Corbin (8:05 pm ET)
Making his first start of August, Fried will be hoping it goes better than his July. Over five starts in July, Fried had an ERA over five as he also dealt with blister issues. His numbers on the season are still strong, but at one stage he looked like he’d be on the very short list for the AL Cy Young, whereas now he’s just at “very good” level.
Having been the worst regular starter in baseball for the last several years of his Nationals’ contract, Corbin has merely been just a tad bit below average this year. He’s been especially solid of late, with a 2.30 ERA and 2.99 FIP in July. You’d obviously still hope the Yankees can get to him, but “Patrick Corbin shut them down” wouldn’t be quite as embarrassing a sentence as it might have been in the past.
Tuesday: Will Warren vs. Nathan Eovaldi (8:05 pm ET)
Of the 57 earned runs Warren has allowed on the season, three games account for over a third of them. Some numbers like his ERA still don’t look that impressive, but then you see a 3.63 FIP and realize that he’s still been overall solid on the season. One example of the good came against this Rangers team when Warren stuck out 10 in 5.2 innings against Texas back in May.
Even at 35, former Yankee Eovaldi is still cruising right along. If you look at Baseball Reference WAR, the 3.8 he’s at currently is not terribly far off his career high 4.3 from 2021. The entirety of his post-Yankees career contains a lot of him shutting down the Yankees, and it wouldn’t remotely be a surprise if it happens in this one, as he’s done that to plenty of teams this year.
Wednesday: Carlos Rodón vs. Jack Leiter (2:35 pm ET)
Friday’s start against the Marlins featured Rodón and some of his worst habits. His overall numbers for the outing are mostly fine, he just walked five batters, which inflated his pitch count and knocked him out after just 4.2 frames. He went eight innings in his last start before the All-Star break, but since then, the longest has been just 5.1, and he has a 6.6 BB/9 rate since then.
Son of former Yankee Al, Leiter has faced the Bombers just once before, last September 2nd. The Yankees got him for five runs in five innings that day, but that was during a rookie season where the former 2nd overall pick struggled mightily. His numbers for this year are still a bit below average, but he has been better of late, sporting a 2.76 ERA and a 3.34 FIP over the last three games.
More from pinstripealley.com:
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- Yankees Trade Deadline Coverage
- Aaron Judge to the IL with a flexor strain
- Yankees 2025 draft tracker: 18 of 19 draftees sign
- Pinstripe Alley’s Top 100 Yankees
- 2000 Yankees Diary: The 25th Anniversary of MLB’s Last Three-peat
