Happy Thursday, everyone. The Yankees’ slumbering lineup threatened us with a doubleheader sweep and series loss at the hands of the Pirates, as they scored in only 2 of their 18 innings on offense yesterday. A late three-run homer by Ben Rice wasn’t enough to save them from losing in Manfredball in the opener, and it took a combination of more seventh-inning magic later on and absolute-nails shutout ball by the returning Max Fried and the bullpen behind him to win the nightcap.
You can win games
if you shut out your opponent on three hits! That’s just hard to do. At least the Yankees get a true offday today, not just a rainout where they’re still thinking about the possibility of playing when they wake up. Yes, yes, most of them were just off for the All-Star break, but two doubleheaders in the span of four days make for a long day at the ballpark. So they can take a full breather today, regroup, and hopefully come out ready to swing the lumber on Friday night in Philly.
For the prompt today, I’m thinking about other teams’ Trade Deadline activity. There’s no shortage of discussion around here on what the Yankees’ plans might be (hell, we have an entire section of posts on PSA devoted to the topic), but if you were to make a guess on which rival lands the biggest fish, which team is it? We want to know both the player and the team you’re thinking about the most in this regard, and where that match might be.
It’s not the easiest prompt because we are still a week and a half from the Trade Deadline and some sellers might not yet be clear. But just to get wild, what about the Mariners and the Nationals on CJ Abrams? Seattle has badly underachieved this year but remain in contention, especially for the division title. They need help on the left side of their infield and the Nationals’ new front office might be tempted to move an old guard player like Abrams (comparatively old guard anyway) at the peak of his possible value. It’s not as though it would be a poor strategy to keep him because he has a few more years of control and for their fans’ sake, they need to get moving sooner rather than later. Nonetheless, the possibility is there, and fans know just how much Seattle’s Jerry Dipoto loves wheeling and dealing.
What about you?
It might be an offday, but we’re not resting! It’s a full slate of article on this fine Thursday.
Today on the site, Josh will consider not only a former division rival as a potential trade target, but a current crosstown rival as well: Bo Bichette. Sam will run through the Rivalry Roundup, Nick will celebrate what would be the 109th birthday of a mostly-forgotten two-time Yankees champion, and Scott will take opportunity of the recent 55th anniversary of his first MLB game to look back at some of his favorite moments of fandom. Later, Peter will focus on Brent Headrick for the latest Sequence of the Week, and Andrés will discuss why the time is drawing closer for top prospect George Lombard Jr.
Today’s Matchup
Offday
