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.
yankinBAMA asks: If Jones gets to 15 home runs and 50+ RBI, any shot at ROY?
It’s been a more productive season than most would’ve predicted for Spencer Jones this year, but he’s nowhere close to being in the running for Rookie of the Year. Jones has played in just over half of the team’s games
and has contributed a slightly above-average 109 wRC+ with 0.9 fWAR, nothing to sneeze at considering his initial callup looked like he was going nowhere fast, but it isn’t enough to contend with the likes of Kevin McGonigle, the presumptive favorite, or even the other contenders like Parker Messick, Munetaka Murakami, or Payton Tolle. There’s a whole host of other names you could throw in the mix too before you get to what Jones has done this year, but that’s not to discredit the young outfielder. He spent most of the year as roster depth and didn’t truly “make” the roster until the Yankees had to break the emergency glass and start playing him regularly in August when he displayed a revamped stance at the plate that turned his season around. Now he’s in position to start some postseason games for the team, and depending on how healthy Trent Grisham is he might just get the lion’s share of them.
Andrew M. asks: Who would make your Wild Card Series bullpen at this point? Boone said he’s leaning toward either 11 or 12 pitchers.
It’s make or break time for the Yankees’ postseason roster, and the biggest question mark of who will make the cut comes in the bullpen. The team will of course roster their three expected starters in Cam Schlittler, Max Fried, and Gerrit Cole, and the back of the bullpen are all locks placing David Bednar, Paul Blackburn, and Brent Headrick safely on the list. Carlos Rodón and Will Warren, the team’s two other starting pitchers, should immediately be next on the depth chart as the team could utilize both in relief during the Wild Card Series, though they’d likely prefer to keep Rodón ready to start either in this Wild Card Series itself instead of Fried or Cole or in a potential ALDS matchup with the Rays if they can avoid needing him. That gives us eight pitchers who are surefire picks, meaning there’s room for three or four more to contribute.
Our remaining candidates are as follows: Tim Hill, Ryan Yarbrough, John Schreiber, Luis Gil, Michael Fulmer, and Bradley Hanner from the MLB roster, as well as Elmer Rodriguez, Brendan Beck, Yerry De los Santos, and Angel Chivilli from the Triple-A roster. Considering the minor league options have only made scattered appearances for the big league team usually in spot start scenarios, none of them are very likely to make it, but they are eligible and the team might need to call on at least one of them to make it through the final weekend of the regular season giving them a final audition of sorts. It’s not as if the Major League field has done much to separate themselves, as this is the portion of the bullpen Aaron Boone has done his best to avoid in anything resembling a close game.
Hill is the most likely candidate of the bunch to make it, more out of a nod to his past success than anything he’s done this year as the magic of his sinker has disappeared leading to a 4.60 ERA and 5.92 FIP. While not as shutdown a lefty specialist as he’s been in prior years, he’s at least still good at dealing with southpaws and can be utilized if Boone sees a lane for him to come in and slam the door shut for an inning. On the opposite end, Schreiber has done wonders against righties and has been sharp in particular since getting picked up by the Yankees in August after the Royals waived him. I’d imagine he could work in tandem with Hill to parse through a middle inning stacked with a particular handedness should the starter get pulled earlier than expected before passing the baton over to the big three relievers.
That leaves a scant few options for the one or two spots remaining. Hanner is a hard-out, as he’s given up a run in all but his most recent outing and looked every bit like a September mop-up man, and I’ve shared my thoughts on Luis Gil’s status with the organization previously: he did well in two outings against Arizona since that inspired a bit of hope, but his most recent appearance with four walks against Tampa was not ideal (he was also demoted last night). Fulmer has not wowed in his trial run in New York either, leaving Yarbrough as the default winner here providing a potential fireman that could be called on to give them multiple innings in an emergency situation if a starter gets pulled extremely early while buying time for Rodón or Warren to warm up.
If they do run 12 pitchers then I think one of the shakier choices might have a chance at winning that spot, but the depth here is extremely hurt by the front office’s gamble on converting their starting pitching excess into quality relief — Clarke Schmidt and Ryan Weathers being unavailable has hampered that strategy, and their availability at the time played a big role in not acquiring any relievers at the Trade Deadline. The Yankees will have to play with the arms they have at their disposal, and hope that they’ve got enough in the tank to make it through a difficult postseason schedule.
jws85 asks: Any thoughts on Garcia or Rice working out at third base over the winter to replace McMahon?
I don’t see that working out, as both have been pretty entrenched as first basemen should they take the field despite experience elsewhere. Garcia is unlikely to even make it back over to second base in pinstripes, so extending him out to a position he’s never played feels like an unreasonable request. As for Rice, catching appears to be fully off the table at this point, and his defense still needs work at first base as is — I don’t think he’d handle a transition across the diamond and frankly, another position change would only go poorly regardless of where they’d stick him. Anthony Volpe is out there looking for a position and was recently seen taking grounders at third, but I don’t think either of the sluggers are looking over there any time soon.
McMahon’s fate is still up in the air, but it’s not impossible that the team moves on from him with only a single year left on his contract after this season regardless of whether Rice or Garcia could cover his position. I imagine part of the impulse to shift one of them over there comes from concerns about Aaron Judge and where he will play in 2027, given the rib injury that took him out for most of the year came from him making an all-out effort play in the outfield. The time for Judge to exchange his outfielder’s glove may come sooner than we’d like but I don’t think 2027 will be it, nor will he need to be handed the DH slot for most of next season. If all goes well, he can fully recover over the offseason and start fresh with perhaps a more conversative gameplan covering the field. His cannon of an arm can still provide plenty of value out there even if he’s a little slower picking up the ball, and at this point I think it’d be an acceptable tradeoff to ensure he’s out there in the field for the overwhelming majority of games.
There is still a bit of a roster crunch down the road even if Judge isn’t in consideration for regular DH starts as Giancarlo Stanton is still in the picture, but Paul Goldschmidt would be coasting away either to retirement or another one-year stint elsewhere unclogging some of the logjam for playing time. Truth be told, I have no idea how the organization will balance all three of Stanton, Rice, and Garcia on the roster, but I think that might be a problem they told themselves they’d think about further down the road when acquiring Garcia. There’s a very real world where we’re seeing the last hurrah for Big G this postseason should he even be activated, which would be a shame given all the big moments he’s come through for them in October but at the same time it’s also understandable because of how predictable and lengthy his IL stays have become.
