Good afternoon everyone, it’s time to dive back into the mailbag and answer some of your questions. Remember to send in your questions for our weekly call by e-mail to pinstripealleyblog [at] gmail [dot] com.
Ruff Trade asks: How did the bullpen go so wrong this year? Bednar aside, all the acquisitions were busts.
The gamble of reinventing a bullpen at the deadline is unfortunately that sometimes things don’t always work out, and there’s no room to account for not sticking the landing. On paper, the Yankees
cleaned up at the deadline: they got a closer in Bednar for relatively cheap, added another arm that has been a closer in Camilo Doval to strengthen the bridge to the closer, and added a project in Jake Bird. I was, admittedly, skeptical of Bird playing out due to just how terrible his numbers looked outside of Coors (which is a strange predicament for a Rockies pitcher to have), but the team’s recent success with project arms almost guaranteed that they were going to take a shot at another one this summer and I can’t fault them for missing one finally.
What I can fault them for is how immediately it fell apart. Bird went down to Triple-A almost immediately after getting rocked in the three games and two innings that he threw for them, and hasn’t looked any better for the RailRiders than he did in pinstripes. The extra years of control on his contract aren’t going to matter if he bombs out that quickly, and now it’s a question of whether he’ll even make it onto the roster next year because he doesn’t have a chance of returning for the playoff push now. Then there’s Doval, who was much more of the traditional deadline acquisition hoping to prop up a weary bullpen. That’s gone awry as Doval has given up an absurd amount of contact, 18 hits in just 13.1 innings with as many homers (2) in that span as he’d allowed in 46.2 innings with the Giants. He’s also seen an uptick in free passes issued, ensuring that the basepaths are always busy when he’s called on. That’s a loss that the Yankees couldn’t predict, much like they couldn’t predict how unpredictable Devin Williams would be, but the fact that they’ve had to deal with both of those pitchers regressing heavily in the same season has been a stress test severely limiting their options. They’re forced to ride the ship out now, but leaning more and more on Bednar and Weaver will only gas them out by the time October rolls around and exacerbate the problem.
torturedsoulv1 asks: In the playoffs, who is your starting catcher Wells or Rice? If it’s Wells, then who is your starting first baseman Goldschmidt or Rice?
The answer here is boring, but it will be entirely matchup dependent. Rice’s flexibility and the platoon they can deploy at first base gives them room to start any combination of the three on any given day, though Wells’ bat coming back to life is a major factor in this scenario shifting from outright sticking Rice behind the plate come the end of the season. Goldschmidt’s availability could swing it in the other direction though, as the veteran has played only sparingly in September due to a knee sprain he initially suffered in mid-August. He’s seen three full games of action and been a defensive replacement in the late innings of two other games. Though he’s pulled himself out of the June swoon he was in, Goldschmidt’s July and August stats weren’t amazing and likely puts him third on this trio’s priority list to start in a playoff game, only seeing the field in particular lineups and remaining on the bench as a pinch-hitter or defensive replacement otherwise.
ChrisH89 asks: As of right now who should be the starting shortstop in the playoffs?
Let’s talk about Anthony Volpe, shall we? The oft-criticized Yankee shortstop has had a tough year, starting off looking like he’d developed some consistency at the plate much like last year, only to crater and look downright unplayable for months at a time, only getting the nod because the team’s depth at short has been severely lacking. The team traded for José Caballero at the deadline to fix that depth issue and give themselves a base stealing weapon off the bench, but unbeknownst to the public they also did it because Volpe was dealing with a shoulder issue and it wasn’t going well. The Yankees have now diagnosed him with a partial labrum tear, initially believing that the problem stemmed from a past shoulder injury but instead allowing him to reaggravate it several times this year while playing through it.
New York has had some concerning problems with missed diagnoses in recent years, to say the least. It’s one thing to have it come through the initial testing — mistakes happen after all, and what can appear conclusive later on may not be immediately noticeable. The sharp decline in Volpe’s play lining up identically to the moment where the shoulder injury first flared up though, and the continued lack of production both at the plate and on the field should have clued them in sooner that something was wrong. Penciling him in consistently, even after acquiring a player who could reasonably fill in the role for them, is not a competent decision for a team in the playoff hunt and especially not for a team whose standing in the field is on uneven ground.
On top of that, another issue with this situation has been the extended leash that Volpe’s been given compared to other struggling Yankees. Gleyber Torres was openly critiqued by Aaron Boone for his poor play last year and publicly benched for it, and Torres responded by going on a tear down the stretch and into the playoffs. Devin Williams has lost the closer’s role (twice!) for his inability to perform, and another highly touted prospect in Jasson On top of that, another issue with this situation has been the extended leash that Volpe’s been given compared to other struggling Yankees. Gleyber Torres was openly critiqued by Aaron Boone for his poor play last year and publicly benched for it, and Torres responded by going on a tear down the stretch and into the playoffs. Devin Williams has lost the closer’s role (twice!) for his inability to perform, and another highly touted prospect in Jasson Domínguez has had to fight for his playing time despite performing fairly well overall because the Yankee outfield is so crowded.
When the Yankees had only Jorbit Vivas and Oswald Peraza lined up behind Volpe as options for shortstop, it made sense that his hold on the position was untouchable. When he was a Gold Glove caliber player, it made sense that the Yankees were willing to put up with the disappearing bat he brought to the plate and hoped that he would figure things out. Neither of those things are true anymore, and he’s only now losing some of his starting time — and that ‘some’ is notable. Volpe is still, in Boone’s eyes, the starter for now, and they expect him to be able to play through this labrum tear despite the continued frustrations he’s gone through. It’s my hope that the Yankees pull the plug on this sooner rather than later and let Caballero start in the playoffs, with Volpe backing him up if they’re so confident that he can still play, but they’re moving at a glacial speed towards figuring this situation out.
