11:43AM: The Yankees have made their host of moves official, including Rizzo’s IL placement, Bard’s DFA, and Guzman’s selection to the active roster. In addition, third baseman Josh Donaldson was placed on the paternity list, right-hander Deivi Garcia was called up from Triple-A, and Miguel Andujar was called up as the 29th man for today’s doubleheader.
8:02AM: The Yankees have designated right-hander Luke Bard for assignment, as first indicated on the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. Presumably, his 40-man spot will go to first baseman Ronald Guzman, who was in the clubhouse yesterday and is set to be selected to the big league roster to fill the spot of the injured Anthony Rizzo. However, the Yankees have yet to formally announce the move, so it remains to be seen whether there are additional transactions on the horizon.
Bard, 31, was a waiver claim out of the Rays organization a month ago but has appeared in just one game with the Yankees (during which he tossed a shutout inning). He’s spent the rest of his stint with the organization in Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where he’s yielded four earned runs on nine hits and four walks with eight punchouts in eight innings of work.
Overall, Bard carries a 1.80 ERA in 15 big league frames and a 4.78 mark in 32 Triple-A innings. The 2022 season as marked Bard’s first game action since 2020, as he missed the entire 2021 campaign while rehabbing from April hip surgery — an injury that ultimately ended a four-year stint in the Angels organization.
Bard has now appeared in parts of four minor league seasons and between the Halos, Rays and Yankees, recording a 4.44 ERA in 81 innings. This year’s 94.1 mph average on his fastball is right in line with previous seasons, as is his top-of-the-charts spin rate on the pitch; Bard led the Majors in four-seam spin in 2018-19 and is in the 99th percentile this season. That trait alone obviously isn’t going to lead to instant success, but it’s been appealing enough to keep Bard on 40-man rosters for the bulk of the past several years.
At this point in the season, the Yankees won’t have any choices with Bard other than to place him on outright waivers or release waivers. Either way, he’ll be made available to the 29 other clubs. He’s been outrighted once in the past, when he cleared waivers last October while still on the mend from that hip procedure. As such, even if he goes unclaimed on waivers, he’d have the ability to reject an outright assignment to Scranton in favor of free agency.
It looks like his Midsummer Night’s Dream is turning into an early Winter’s Tale.
Well done, yea verily.
Alas! Poor Luke! I knew him well Horatio. He was a fellow of infinite era.
Luke. Who’s your daddy?
Luke I bardly got to know you
Typical Daddy stuff.
My goodness look at the starting 9 for the yanks. So lucky for teams who play them now opposed to the beginning of the season when they were unbeatable
That’s a whole lot of Bard. Look for him to catch on with the Sting Ray’s again.
Bard is not a bad arm to have in the back of the bullpen. He’s not a high leverage guy but you could do a lot worse for a 7th or 8th man out of the pen.
Imagine if Cashman actually did his job for a second, and imagine Hal Steinbrenner let him…
Mookie Betts has Trea Turner and Freddie Freeman hitting behind him. Judge would be challenging Bonds’ HR record if he were followed by T. Turner, Machado, & Harper; or, Machado & Soto, which was entirely plausible IF the Yankees simply chose to actually go for it like the Dodgers. What a shame.
Well, the good news is we have a GG-caliber CFer somewhere…watching Hicks play everyday because he’s injured.
@Clipper- unfortunately Bader’s out there somewhere in a walking boot. I wanted Seager in the off-season. Nobody wanted him. I guess he wasn’t a need. Smh
Put Judge in Dodgers Stadium and he’s not chasing any HR records. Yankee Stadium is a wiffle ball field.
Apparently you’ve never watched him play. He doesn’t hit wall scrapers.
@stymeedone- Well hopefully he stay’s there then. One thing that’s for certain though, the Sting Ray’s can’t afford him. Can they really afford anything? Smh
@All Rise99
They don’t need to afford overvalued players. They’re putting out winning season after winning season while others spend like crazy to only get knocked out of the playoffs. I’d prefer a team that had good financial management and made it to the playoffs more often than one that spends a ton with high expectations only to see them fail poorly in the regular season and playoffs.
@Old York- it’s funny my preference is for my favorite team winning AT LEAST one World Series. Is that really important to you? It’s fun, nice and cool to win the AL East and the ALCS once in a while, but to me without winning a World Series. It’s all a waste of time. Do you understand, what I’m saying???
@All Rise99
Well, given that the Yankees are in a WS drought and have struggled to be the winning team as they once were, is that a waste of time as well? Between the 30s and 60s, they were quite successful at winning WS but beyond that, it hasn’t been that successful.
@Old York- yes it’s been a long time since they’ve won a WS. Fortunately for me I’ve been alive for Championships in 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2009, so I’ve been blessed. And yes it’s definitely been worth it for me to be a Yankee fan.
stymeedone- What a dummy. You’re brain is a whiffle ball field.
1.077
That’s Judge’s career SLG at Dodger Stadium. Not his OPS — his SLG. It’s his highest SLG at any of the 30 parks. He has 3 home runs in 3 games at Dodger Stadium.
While, as a RS fan, I do enjoy some Cashman-bashing, this post sounds a little like the RS posts.
“Why oh why didn’t Bloom trade for Soto & Turner, and then sign Freeman, Machado & Harper? If only Henry wasn’t so cheap and raised the payroll to $400M, we could’ve been a contender”.
Come to think of it, that sounds like the fans of 28 other teams.
Joe, although I get what you’re saying, that’s not at all what I was implying.
They would be in the same financial position they are in now, just with different (and much better) players. Cashman tried to save money, and in doing so, put the Yankees in a position of need. Therefore, they wasted prospects they wouldn’t have had to waste on positions they shouldn’t need.
Moreover, they spent nearly the same money (in terms of CBT) as they would have if they had just signed the much better player in the first place….
Judge is having a historic year when pitchers can pitch around him. It’s pretty amazing.
I thought they may have leaned toward claiming Colin Moran.
Just one inning, no wonder nobody remembers him pitch.
I don’t miss Sanchez at all, but let’s face it Donaldson wasn’t a need. I miss Gio playing 3rd. He was one of my favorites. The Yankees got all giddy for IFK, who is a utility player at best.
Jah, lose lose deal, scumbag for a sleepwalking zombie who almost got nailed in the noggin walking thru the ondeck circle. But Ursula is missed!
Do you really think that Donaldson got included into the trade because of need?……the Twins were dumping his salary based on the decline they saw up close in 2020 and 2021…..very obvious decline regardless of analytics that tend to smooth over the warts!
@rocky7- Well I guess you could say Donaldson was needed somewhat, after my boi Urshela was dealt in the trade to the Twinkies. The Yankees didn’t what to anti-up for Cory Seager and put him at 3rd base or shortstop or whatever. Taking back Donny was the only way to trade the Sanchise, obviously.
Well…..agree if the only was to “trade the Sanchise” was to the Twins……..have to believe that a NL team would have taken the chance on a HR only hitting catcher….taking back a bad contract like Donaldson’s and hoping to catch “lightning in a bottle” is just another clue as to why the Yankees need to move on from Cash this winter…….can’t believe that even with the salary restrictions, if you believe top 3 payroll in umpteen years lately, that the Yankee GM can’t put a ballclub on the field that doesn’t only rely on the HR to win.
@rocky7- I agree with you, but please let’s get rid of Trashman and Boone. Whatever it takes! Why do so many Yankee fans like these clowns? I miss Joe Girardi. It didn’t work out with the Phillies. So let’s bring him back here.
Bard’s a clown
The all team should be release except the 99
Yankees should designate Brian Cashman for assignment at this point
Ok just as long as he brings Aaron Boone with him though.
The Yankees starting lineup for game 1 looks like a Spring Training road game.
Yeah, but they are like 100-0 against the Twinkies the last few years.
It’s the Scranton Railriders lineup.
I would take back Joe Girardi or give the reigns to Bam Bam now. If Boone is back next season managing the Yankees or Trashman is back as the GM, I will be furious as hell. Smh
I prefer today’s lineup to one with Donaldson and LeMahieu. The player who’s missed most is Rizzo.
Boone is an awful leader of men. A child cannot lead men. If only rays had stayed healthy this year they would repeat with 1/4th of the payroll and 1/3rd of the talent on the Yankees. There is still hope then cashman and more so Boone have no where to hide!!
The Rays have been obliterated by injuries, and yet they’re still a handful of games out of 1st place.
Yankees have sustained more than their fare share of injuries and yet the Rays and Jays can’t catch them. Injuries, bad calls – part of the game.
You’re acting as if the Yankees haven’t had any injuries.
The Rays have had 30 players on the IL so far. The Yankees have had 26.
Even if the Ray’s were healthy they still wouldn’t win. As for Boone, I’m of the minority of Yankees fans who defend the guy. Managers cannot win games they can only lose them. That said, Boone gets his lineups from Cashman, who is as stubborn as they come. It was obvious that DJM wasn’t physically ready to play, yet it took a week before Cashman to grudgingly select Guzman to play 1B. I don’t blame Hicks, I blame the stupid GM who gave him a 7yr extension which, at the time I thought was ridiculous. Every year the Yankees lose it’s for one reason – they can’t score runs. I knew this team was cooked after they failed to improve on the offense. I wanted Freeman, instead, Cashman cheaped put and wound up playing 25mil/2yr foe Donaldson and 16mil/2yrs for Rizzo. Penny-wise and Pound-foolish.
A child? You can hate Boone all you want, but that’s nonsense. Boone literally grew up around major league baseball. He knows more about the game from the inside than anybody posting here. Let’s be real.
At this point, the Yankees should cut Guzman and call up Gasper front AA. He gets on base and can’t be worse than Guzman. What do they have to lose? Then again, these are the stubborn Yankees.
Come on, man. Guzman has had 5 AB in pinstripes and debuted at Yankee Stadium. The game was probably going 100 MPH for him. Cut him a little slack.
Interesting response from Randy Levine on Joel Sherman’s/John Heyman’s “The Show” recently when interviewed about the reasons behind failing to acquire a top tier FA…
“That wasn’t about the luxury tax. That was a baseball operations decision that Cash and his people made. You’d have to ask him. I’m not a talent guy, I don’t make those decisions. But I can tell you I do get involved on the money side, on the budget, and nobody ever came to me with any of those guys — Correa or Seager or any of them — and asked ‘what’s the story with the money?’”
– Partial transcript from YanksGoYard site.
Interestingly, the claim is that Hal never restricted Cashman. Coming off a negotiation wherein Hal requested to reduce the CBT to $185M despite it *hurting the Yankees* I find it difficult to believe. It does provide for a clear picture for exactly where the blame will land if push comes to shove though, and apparently it is Cashman.
Interesting… There is no way Levine is not kept in the loop so I’m skeptical of his response and see it as a deflection.
Levine: “We have $X to spend on payroll next year.”
Hal: “OK, Randy. I’ll tell Brian not to exceed budget.”
Cash: “I heard what Randy said. I’m sitting right here.”
As far as I’m concerned, IKF should be permanently moved back to third base where he won a Gold Glove, and Peraza should play shortstop every day. Being moved off short where he didn’t belong improved Gleyber’s hitting last year. It might have the same effect on IKF, putting him back where he’s more comfortable and not committing costly errors. Even if not, the improved defense alone is worth it.
But the $50 million automatic out will be back at third after his paternity leave, because the backasswards thinking is that an expensive player who’s not performing should get the reps over a cheaper guy who is performing.
Both IKF and Donaldson have 40 RBI with RISP, but IKF’s BA with RISP is .333 to Donaldson’s .236, and IKF has struck out 9 times in 96 AB with RISP while Donaldson has struck out 32 times in 89 AB with RISP.
In 8 AB with a runner on third, IKF’s BA is .625. In 5 AB with a runner on third, Donaldson’s BA is .000.
I know who I’d rather see at bat in either situation.
Completely agree with your first paragraph & I’m sure IKF, Peraza (who also performed well offensively), and Yankees Nation would agree with you too. But, that also means that you’ll probably never see it happen again….. unfortunately, we are saddled with Donaldson for next year too, who will be the offseason excuse for Cashman & co. on why the Yankees can’t fill an important position with a good FA.
And, Locastro? The one job the guy is supposed to be good at, and he slides off the bag. What a useless player for this roster.
And Cabrera is worth it just for his defense.
I’ll give Locastro a mulligan for that. The second baseman had the base blocked and Tim had a difficult route to approach the bag. But IKF was smarter to go in feet-first afterwards. Unless you’re almost certainly going to be thrown out and your only hope is the swim move, it makes no sense to go in hands-first and risk injury while making it easier for the fielder to tag you out.
Yeah, I get you. I think he has value, just not for this roster because they have too many people that can only do one thing, if they don’t make that mistake too. Once teams intentionally walk Judge in the postseason the Yankees offense becomes completely ineffective.
How is it, btw, that Rizzo gets plugged by a pitch and it’s called a failure on his part to move, after which he strikes out; yet, in today’s game, four umpires completely missed a blatant balk in the tenth that the entire stadium witnesses? What a disaster, man…lol.
I think Cabrera has the makings of an outstanding player. He’s one hell of an athlete, and he’s not overwhelmed by the competition in the majors.
He was… Guzman, on the other hand, should be DFA’d after that Hicksian effort with the bases loaded. Boone should’ve sent him packing immediately for jogging down to first. He should never see pinstripes again. No excuse for that – at all.
Bases loaded, nobody out and they can’t score? What a joke, man.
I’m not going to worry much about a guy being overwhelmed by his first taste of Yankee Stadium in pinstripes. It happens. They won, and I’m content with that.
Well, it’s a valid point. Perhaps he was overwhelmed – time and his actions will tell. Nonetheless, he can’t let that continue to happen if he wants to stay. He’s been in the Big Leagues before. Perhaps it’s also because he does remind me a lot of Joey Gallo (size, LH, & plate approach).
I am really stoked to see the new guys flourish though. Cabrera and Peraza look to be the real deal. Cabrera *already has 9 runs saved* according to Michael Kay, which is absolutely insane considering most of those came from him playing the OF and he’s a born and bred IFer. What an athlete, man. Kid’s exciting to watch and has an outstanding arm. The game just seems naturally slower for him.
Josh Donaldson is now a dad? Ewww..
He already was.
instagram.com/p/Cb0_y7ugXC8/?utm_source=ig_embed&#…
Interesting thing I learned about him that I didn’t know: Josh was raised by his mom after his father was sent to prison. Makes me want to cut the guy some more slack on the personal level. Making a major league career out of those beginnings is an accomplishment.
sfgate.com/athletics/article/A-s-Donaldson-takes-n…
BTW, he grew up a Braves fan.
That’s quite interesting actually. JD had a long road to the bigs and I can respect that he made it an succeed for so long. He does wear out his welcome pretty fast with his antics though.
He does that.
I’m not making excuses for JD; however, I’ve known people that have grown up in similar circumstances and as a defense mechanism, they tend to lash out and be very, very abrasive. The reason is that they tended to be the focus of insults and weren’t welcomed in a lot of the cliques as they grew up. So, once they decided they weren’t going to take it anymore and got comfortable fighting, they took to offense instead of defense.
I think it’s natural to some degree to have self-destructive behavior in personal & professional relationships, probably stemming from all those abandonment/parental/insecurity issues, when one develops those as a pattern of behavior throughout adolescence.
Again, I’m no fan of his antics and I believe adults make their own choices. Hopefully he has learned from his mistakes and passes wisdom he has gained from them on to his children.