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.
The idiot that said, “Harper is coming” asks: Was that fun or what? Share some of your feelings about the absolute destruction of the Boston Red Sox in historic fashion.
The Wild Card Series ended up being a rout, and while I definitely favored the Yankees over the Red Sox I wouldn’t have guessed
the final tally would see New York put up 18 runs to Boston’s two. The games were definitely tense for a good bit before they became stomps, as Boston’s starters were doing well to keep pace with the Yankees’ until they were both pulled to disastrous effects. I think that the gap in managerial experience in this series was abundant, as now-no-longer-interim manager Chad Tracy didn’t have much of a feel for when he should’ve trusted his starters. The more egregious case was Sonny Gray, who was only at 70 pitches and as he stated his own case in the post-game was an extremely effective pitcher going through the order a third time, whereas Payton Tolle was at least a little deeper into his pitch count. Meanwhile, Boone and company were ahead of the game in constructing their Wild Card Series roster and the Yankee skipper got to pull out all the stops in playing to his matchups with great success. I imagine the ALDS roster will be a little more balanced in the number of pitchers versus position players making Boone’s choices in this regard a little more difficult to make going forward, but this team has had to make the most of their platoons throughout the year and I think that can be a real strength for them now in the Postseason.
As for the damage they did once they got to that Boston bullpen… my goodness. It felt like an entire summer’s worth of frustration unleashed into near-perfect execution. We’ll get into the specifics of their turnaround in a minute, but a Ben Rice masterpiece followed by a team-wide throttling was absolutely thrilling to watch. Everybody got involved, from the most downtrodden names in the middle of the year to the stars they were counting on, and it felt like a resounding answer to the question looming over everyone’s head about how far this team could go if Aaron Judge isn’t going to be available.
The absolute cherry on top of this performance was watching the pitching staff pour it on as the tide started to turn in the Yankees’ favor. Cam Schlittler continues to haunt the Red Sox, turning in another fantastic outing and showing that he’s got plenty in the tank should the team need it, tossing 117 pitches in a 10 strikeout performance going 6.1 strong without a single run allowed. When the Yankees saw Luis Severino break out in 2017 and lead into 2018, I thought I wouldn’t witness a homegrown Yankee pitcher deal like that for a long time, but Schlittler has managed to go above and beyond even the best of Sevy’s reign. He’s the full-fledged ace of the best staff this franchise has formed in decades, and even though there are some incredibly strong teams in the field having a staff like that gives me the confidence that the Yankees could truly go out and compete with anyone. Max Fried’s efforts can’t be ignored, as he’s been an underrated Red Sox killer now in his career as well. His outing wasn’t as flashy as Schlittler’s, but he was extremely effective in preventing the Sox from ever getting a rally going and served as an elite 1B to Schlittler’s 1A. Their efforts combined with the later run support also made it a light series for the bullpen, who will now be nice and rested heading into St. Pete with all hands on deck. They truly couldn’t have drawn this series up any better, and now it’s onto the real test against the Rays.
BetweenThePinstripes asks: The Yankee offense has picked up the pace for well over a month now. What do you attribute this uptick to?
There’s a number of names in the lineup that have quietly turned in significantly better performances in the second half of the season that led them to where they could demolish Boston like they did. It starts with the bottom of the order, which was an absolute black hole for the Yankees for a good stretch. Austin Wells’ job security was hanging on by a thread, his excellent management of the pitching staff from behind the plate being his only saving grace as he couldn’t string together a pair of hits for his life. His 41 wRC+ through the first half of the season was truly dreadful, but he was also dealing with a cervical headache issue that eventually saw him hit the IL in early June. Ever since he returned he’s been a different man at the plate, and over the second half the numbers agree: he posted a 124 wRC+ to close out the year.
Wells has been the biggest turnaround, but it doesn’t stop there. Jazz Chisholm Jr. had a much-maligned season, but he found his groove in August and rode that into September, posting a 122 wRC+ in the final month. Jazz’s slow start was mostly fueled by a complete lack of power, but his dip in the summer was the product of him losing the strike zone completely, walking at just a 7.1 percent rate compared to a 38.1 percent strikeout rate in July. With that smoothed out, he’s once again a solid contributor down in the lineup, and then you throw in Spencer Jones finding himself after a couple of stints with the Major League team. Jones ran a trial by fire in his first couple of stays, getting called up as the team couldn’t keep a set of three outfielders healthy for any extended period of time. His strikeout rates may still be a bit gruesome, but they’re nowhere near the stratospheric 41.5 percent Jones was striking out at in the first half, and he’s displayed a surprising burst of speed to go along with his prodigious power. His strikeout converted into a free base was a crucial turning point in Game 2 of the ALWCS, and he’s provided some flexibility now as they work Trent Grisham back into the fold.
Of course, the table setters for this offense still have to make their mark, and the Yankees’ top two hitters are entering this Postseason at their hottest points in months. Cody Bellinger’s season was rapidly declining from an elite May into a downright bad summer, but after a stay on the IL he’s back to looking like his old self at just the right time. Ben Rice struggled for a good portion of this season after the weight of being The Guy in the lineup was thrust upon him with Judge’s injury, but after the Captain’s return became only a brief cameo it was imperative that he could be the big threat in a playoff game and he proved that he’s up to the task with a godly 195 wRC+ in September before going ballistic in Game 1. With just a little bit of protection around him Rice can be a nightmare for opposing pitchers, and now that the rest of the ensemble has gotten their act together he might just have a very special run in him.
All in all, the season stat lines on the Yankees’ offense may not wow you but they’ve got a significant portion of their lineup peaking exactly when you want them to. Would I have liked to see some of them be more consistent throughout the year considering their talent on paper and the fact that their lethargic offense was what held them back from running down the Rays for the division? Sure, but the season is defined by what you do in October and I can easily forgive the frustrations of the summer if it’s met with champagne bottles popping throughout the fall.
