The Yankees sit in third place in the loaded AL East despite a 39-30 record. They’re unquestionably approaching deadline season looking to add to the roster. Erasing an 8 1/2 game deficit on the Rays to take the division is going to be a challenge, but New York currently occupies the second Wild Card spot.
How much payroll flexibility is at the front office’s disposal is an open question. New York had an active offseason highlighted by the record contract for Aaron Judge and the six-year deal to bring in Carlos Rodón. They appeared to hit their spending limit by Spring Training, however. Reports suggested they were loath to move their luxury tax number past $293MM, which marks the final tier of penalization. They entered the season with concerns about left field and the back of the rotation that have largely borne out in the first couple months.
Public estimates of the Yankees’ spending still put them right around that $293MM CBT mark. A club’s tax number is calculated at the end of the season, so their reported reluctance to surpass that figure could ostensibly limit their flexibility to add money before the trade deadline.
Hal Steinbrenner met with reporters (including Chris Kirschner of the Athletic) at this week’s owner meetings. The Yankee owner denied that the $293MM mark represented a firm cutoff, saying he’d consider moves he felt were difference-making acquisitions. Steinbrenner stopped short of promising a payroll uptick, though, saying “spending money for the sake of spending money, I just don’t know.”
Which players constitute notable upgrades will obviously be a point of conversation between ownership and the front office over the next six-plus weeks. While it’s still early for clubs to pinpoint specific trade targets, it’s easier to identify areas of need, particularly in the lineup. As measured by wRC+, the Yankees have been in the bottom third of MLB in offensive production at each of catcher, third base, shortstop and left field.
Not all of those will be upgraded upon midseason. Jose Trevino is a Gold Glove caliber catcher, so New York is probably content to live with fringy offense. Josh Donaldson has lost the bulk of the season to injury. He’s now healthy, and while he’s coming off a disappointing 2022 campaign, the Yankees will first see if he can reclaim third base before looking for alternatives.
Rookie Anthony Volpe has been the everyday shortstop, starting 63 of the first 69 games. The highly-touted prospect has struggled offensively through his first few months at the MLB level. Volpe is hitting just .192/.264/.359 while striking out over 30% of the time he’s stepped to the plate. He’s gotten mixed reviews on his glove. Defensive Runs Saved has pegged him as four runs better than the average shortstop in a little under 600 innings. Statcast has him two runs below par.
It’s not the kind of start for which the organization or its fanbase had hoped. Still, Yankees brass doesn’t seem concerned about the 22-year-old. Steinbrenner reiterated his faith in Volpe during yesterday’s media session, noting that he promised the former first-round draftee a long leash in Spring Training (via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). Skipper Aaron Boone also said yesterday the organization hasn’t given any thought to optioning Volpe to Triple-A (relayed by Talkin’ Yanks).
An outfield upgrade before August 1, on the other hand, seems quite likely. Left field has been a revolving door, with the struggling Oswaldo Cabrera and since-released Aaron Hicks getting the bulk of the reps early on. Lefty-swinging Jake Bauers has hit for enough power to hold down a corner outfield spot for the past month, but he’s a career .214/.308/.358 hitter.
Left field was a concern from day one, and the outfield has become particularly glaring with recent injuries to Judge and Harrison Bader. There’s still not much clarity on Judge, who has been down for ten days with a ligament sprain in his right big toe. Fortunately, Bader’s return from a hamstring strain appears imminent. He played in a rehab game with Double-A Somerset this evening and is expected back during the upcoming weekend series in Boston.
Bader makes any team better. Just needs to stay healthy.
Bader can’t stay healthy — and with his free agency nearing, he is a bad (and expensive) long term risk.
Availability is the most vital ability and the Westchester County product has always lacked it.
Agreed which is why the Cards made him available with the dearth of outfielders they had when the Yanks dangled Monty…….he just can’t stay healthy but sure Cash will dangle some type of contract offer to him and then we’ll watch as he plays 80-90 games max per year but (sarcasm) “thrill us during those games with his athleticism”…..LOL
As long as the Yankees keep their sane misguided “uppercut swing” gurus, most of their young hitters will play lie Volpe.
Swinging for the fences, hitting .210 and striking out a third of the time is losing baseball.
And that’s become the Yankee way.
Right! Nine games over .500 is “losing baseball”. What a maroon!
Depends what you’re trying to win.
Participation trophy, so all is good
it’s time to call up Jasson Dominguez and put him in LF.
Dominguez is hitting 206 with a sub 750 OPS and a K rate over 30% in AA somerset. He needs a lot more seasoning until he helps the Yankees. Likely mid 2024 at the earliest.
He definitely needs seasoning, but also has the 5th highest BB% in AA this season which is something the Yankees are asking him to focus on. He also has a really low BABIP. He’s not ready, but he’s playing quite well in AA.
Dominguez needs time. Remember he is still just 20 — much younger than the average AA player.
We just need to pray that Ca$hman doesn’t get conned by the A’s into sending them Jasson as the centerpiece of a deal for another broken down pitcher.
when your best offensive stat involves not swinging at pitches?
Yankee prospects are usually overrated because of the NYmedia hype.
Ah, all of the ratings come from “professionally baseball accredited associations”, not the NY press……
Ratings are also predictions of success with nothing guaranteed…..
Anybody else think Volpe’s swing is just not good? I can’t peg why, but it looks rough
He was rushed to the big leagues. It’s almost like the Yankees purposely try to ruin their prospects sometimes.
I don’t understand why they won’t give Peraza a shot. Volpe often looks like he’s swinging a log while peraza is doing well at AAA with better defensive chops.
Peraza is the ugly, red-headed stepchild while Volpe was anointed the “Golden Boy” by Steinbrenner and Cashman.
There’s what they publicly say and then there’s what they’ll actually do. If Volpe’s production doesn’t start to tick up pretty soon, he’ll probably get sent back down.
That’s your opinion. MLB rankings differ.
Stanton, JD, and DJL need to start hitting. Rodon, Nestor, and Bader need to get healthy. Also goes for Judge. Severino need to figure it out. Cody Bellinger is an obvious trade target but at what cost? I don’t think a trade is going to move the needle if the core players are injured and/or under-performs.
Well, that’s a lot of if’s there. Most of which are unlikely to occur. So there’s that. And who knows when judge will recover from his boo-boo, and if he will then remain healthy. All unknowns.
Just adding that firing Cashman and Boone right now do nothing to help.
If Volpe wasn’t actually from NY, he would’ve been sent down a month ago. Not ready.
I’ve been down on Boston since the offseason. I think they ought to sell on everything but the young controllable pitching, for the right offer. Yankees/sox trades aren’t as rare as they once were.
What (realistically) would a Justin Turner, or, an Adam Duvall + a spare part extra be worth, if the entirety of this year’s remaining salary were included in the deal so the CBT number for NY wasn’t impacted? Not unprecedented if you recall the salary dump NY made to BOS a couple years back.
Someone good, but not elite, prospect-wise that doesn’t need rule 5 protection? Fitts or Arias? Or maybe Beck + Serna? Not sure. But I honestly think boston isn’t going anywhere, the team wasn’t well put together this past offseason. If the front office is smart, deals should be there to be made, for the right price.
Rodon’t you think that was a bad signing. ?
Well Cashman, on the word of the medical staff who had to sign off on Rodon is to blame here for again on the cusp of the disastrous Montas and Trevino (yes Trivino also as Beane kills his pitchers in Oakland and pawns them off as trade bait just before they break down) trades……what was he thinking…..
Considering that before his contract years Rodon was often injured, the 6 years and money was a risk.
We needed a LF. Maybe should have signed a cheaper pitcher and LF like Conforto to a short deal.
1. The fans who continue to support this front office by watching and attending the games is enemy #1. No reason for a fix if the money keeps coming in. The fans are slaves. It’s a game, yet the fans don’t have the sack to find their entertainment somewhere else until things are solved. They live vicariously through sports. Hence why nothing will get changed.
2. Enemy #2 is Hal. Making money is his priority.
3. 3rd Enemy is the moronic Cashman. Don’t get me started.
Nothing changes until those three areas are overhauled and I’d rather bet on pigs flying then those things changing.
Top down house cleaning starting with Cashman is needed….they need new blood and a new philosophy in the front office and out on the road scouting players both college and MLB……include the medical staff who continue to rubber stamp previously injured players as good trade opportunities (Bader, Rodon, Montas) as well.
Hal favors a salary cap. He has longed to reduce payroll. He believes because smaller market teams have won championships with much less salary commitments then the yankees can do the same. The problem is said smaller market teams spend the better part of a decade at the bottom drafting higher up in the ranks.
The Yankees can never be contenders each year and draft from the top stock. What they could do, as you alluded to, is have a FAR better scouting, coaching, drafting, developing, and conditioning department. It has no bearing on luxury tax, so the yankees, with their deep pockets should have the best front office and player development staff in the majors and minors.
The Yankees suck at player development and at the same time Hal doesn’t want to spend on big free agents. So exactly how does he believe he can create a long term championship caliber club?
He is either a complete idiot, or he knows he can’t and doesn’t really care as long as the money keeps coming in from the lifeless fan base. Hence why nothing gets solved.
What am I missing here? Some of you act as if the Yankees are the only team with numerous injuries. Injuries seem to be up all over Baseball. These very pages we read show that every day. Are all the team’s Training departments at fault or only the Yankees?
Cashman blasting is nonsensical.as well as he does a decent job based on the Dollars that are allocated. Yes, when you sign or trade for Older Players there will be a few more injuries and Age-related drop off. However, some of you would scream if Cashman brought in No-Name Players like the Rays then scream praise if they pan out.
Fans are fickle and their opinions change like the weather. Could they have spread the Judge Money and Rodon money around more, yes, but, we wouldn’t have Judge or Rodon. What players do you think they could have signed that would have been better and guaranteed to not get hurt?
The other thing is the talk that Stanton keeps them from signing more Players, Really? He is what, a 22 Million LT commitment? I would think that Cole and Judge sitting in the upper 30-40 Million range is more of a hindrance then Stanton.
If you want Big Name Stars you will need multiple low-level players to go with them unless you’re Cohen who seems to have a Unlimited Budget but I believe that’s about to change.
Be happy that year in and year out we have a competitive team and that the Game has changed so much that dominating a Decade at a time will become even more of a rarity.
Time to college draft a top OF, and package several veterans & sub .190 avg for a trade that gets Yanks consistent HITTING. Boone continues to blow decisions on pitching changes (last night reliever gives up 2 BB & HBP vs Boston) and refused to play small ball w man on 2nd to move runner over. I can count at least 5 times pitching changes or keeping 1 more hitter caused losses!!
Not going anywhere this year. Don’t even get me started with the big $ paid for injured “top pitching”!
If they had a reliever giving up BB and HBP versus Boston last night, they have some very strange problems, since they were playing the Mets.
You know what I meant, jerk, just so happens similar mess vs Boston
Jake Bauer has underperformed at each stop. In the minors, he hits. Now he has finally carried it over to the majors, and they want to replace him, not because of what he is doing now, but because of what he did for other teams in the past. Wonderful!
He hasn’t really contributed anything in the majors. A league average bat with below average defense is something you should be looking to upgrade.
When you have no excess $ to spend, a league average bat should not be the first area of concern. IKF can replace him late. Billy Hamilton is available for the Yankees price. Don’t believe that would be an upgrade, though. You won’t get a 5 tool player for $1MM.
Yankee fan for a very long time—and this doesn’t seem the year. Maybe they get lucky, their injured players come back and perform, some of the dud-players on big contracts find a little left in the tank, but too much spent on players who can’t stay on the field (or even get on the field) and the projections for the rest of the year are not encouraging. Don’t do anything stupid–and, with Cashman/Steinbrenner, maybe that means don’t do anything. It’s time for a new approach with this team, some long term building. That’s not going to be helped by bringing in more players-who-should-be-better-for-the money-you-are-paying-them. Just don’t.
The Yankees need to shed dead weight. Cashman trading for JD was very, very stupid! GT may need to be traded, especially if we can get a reliever like Diaz from the REDS. We have young talent at 3rd, 2nd and in the OF with speed who need to play
Diaz isn’t going anywhere. Nobody is that stupid to trade a guy with that talent who has LOTS of team control left. I laugh when Mets fans think they are getting him too.
The Yankees have the best bullpen statistically in baseball. The last time Clay Holmes has given up an earned run was May 3rd spanning 20 appearances since. Their team ERA also ranks 4th in MLB somehow. Offense is the problem.
Yes and it has been for a while, Yankees are aware of it, but do not care to do anything about it. Bullpen has been good, except that is mitigated by Boones asinine use of it at times
younggunz4lyfe;
LOL
The Reds are in the NL Central race this year. They’re overloaded with quality young affordable middle infielders.
You want them to trade their successful closer for an expensive 2B that isn’t as good as 3 guys they can play there?
You are a true Yankee fan – in understanding MLB.
I don’t quite understand the obsession the Yankees front office has with both aging veterans on decline, as well as injury-prone players. It’s very puzzling to say the least.
The third issue is most of the prospects and rookies they have are overrated and subsequently traded or placed on waivers because they never pan out. Bird, Andujar, Frazier, Adams are a few to name thus far.
Yankees look the same EVERY season. Great W L record only to get eliminated in the playoffs by the better teams. This club is heavily flawed, from the GM to the buffoon manager, to the weight lifting chiseled-body 7 ft tall homerun-or-K hitters, to the prospects that don’t become what is expected.
Only thing exciting to watch with this team is Cole pitching and Judge en route to breaking the HR record
Volpe: “It’s not the kind of start for which the organization or its fanbase had hoped.”
Hope: I guess that doesn’t translate into success at playing baseball.
The yankees are a heavily flawed team and have been for 3 or 4 seasons.If you look at that late 90’s dynasty teams,you see a mix of players whom performed consistently and knew their roles.While it is impressive how they’ve managed to build their bullpens out of sticks and duct tape,its always overtaxed by july and seldom effective down the stretch.Throw in a feast or famine offense,and they’re a second round out every year.Hal is the antithesis of what his dad was and the debt service on the stadium doesn’t help.
If you look back at the Core Four, Five, whatever, Pettitte was the only chubster, the rest were lean and healthy all the time. Andy needed chemical help to stay healthy, but the others did not. Now, it’s all big loads, even Volpe has probably been told to bulk up. So far, he’s healthy, but that will change when they’re through with him. Cortes, Montas, Rodon, all fat loads, and injured. Error in Judgement and Stanton? Oversized, injury prone. Jeez, it’s kind of obvious.
Yankees are in the worst of all positions…No Man’s Land.
Not good enough to be a true contender, but not bad enough to make trades to help them improve in future years. Add in their precarious payroll position, and mediocre player development program, and it’s hard to see light at the end of the tunnel for this organization.
Tampa, Baltimore, and likely Toronto are all in better shape this year, and for years to come.
Windowpane,you are correct.I dont understand why Peraza seems to have been abandoned for Volpe other than the previously mentioned issue of him being from NY.I would prefer Peraza at short and Volpe at second,taking what you can get for Gleyber,one of their few tradable commodities.
Mookie Mantle;
I like Gleyber. But what team needs a 2B that can’t really play any other position, is just above a league average hitter and fielder, is making $9.5m this year, and will be a FA in a year-and-a-half?
Don’t expect much back for him if the Yankees can find a buyer.
Meanwhile, Hicks and Sanchez are lighting up Baltimore and San Diego.
Urshela also having a nice year at the plate again. And Tauchman has been playing well…the “now on other teams” Yankees squad looks pretty decent
Don’t forget future HOFer Refsnyder.
don’t forget they basically gave away Thairo Estrada for free…
Yeah, never gave Estrada a chance.
So what.They weren’t doing that nor were they going to do that on the Yankees. they were given years of chances. And let’s see what they do over a larger sample size.
Scot kliesen,I could not agree more!The Yanks are currently equal to an NBA team which just misses playoffs or makes play in tourney and loses,or a .500 NFL team.Treading water,re-organizing deck chairs on titanic etc.A sorry state to be in for my favorite team.
Yes, but I don’t expect it to change. It has been this way since hal Steinbrenner has run things(2009 the exception). he’s more concerned about the bottom line, than winning
Spend the money now, in 2 years we will have 6 players with low salary’s all starting for us so we won’t be near the salary limits, Dominguez, Volpe, Pereza, Sweeney, Wells and Jones should all be ready by then. Should trade Torres now, move Volpe to second and call up Pereza this year.
Agree as far as letting the kids play…..PLEASE trade Gleyber ASAP…..10 cent head….Volpe to 2nd, Peraza to SS……Volpe needs some mental wellness and moving him to 2nd would allow him to re-group and Peraza is raking right now at AAA.
Agreed, but the Yankees don’t operate that way.
Huvie:Word brother!
The Yankees finally dumped Aaron Hicks…….
Now Yankee fans are happy, and looking to zero in on their next target to blame for their misfortune.
Oriole fans are also happy.
Yankees fans and their perpetual dissatisfaction with their team never ceases to amaze me.
offense is the problem and it’s delusional to count on anything much from donaldson or volpe or torres. they need a healthy judge, a healthy stanton, and for djlm to figure it out. without that it’s a longshot to grab a wildcard with so any AL teams breaking out
Maybe judge can stay healthy if he ever returns from his toe boo-boo, but the others you mentioned are never healthy. So that’s a tall order and I don’t expect it to happen.
I don’t know if the Yankees already do this, but why not make the DH spot a rotating spot? Stanton seems to stay healthy when he’s out in the field, and you could give all the regulars a break and not lose their bats. I don’t think making Stanton a full-time DH is working. Just my two cents.
The Yankees great bullpen is well on their way to their annual postseason meltdown, if they even remain healthy. Their six oft overused relievers are on pace for 87, 74, 74, 68, 64, 64 innings. For point of reference, the last four champions have had their highest inning relievers at 68, 68, 77, 65, leaving out 2020. Most effective relievers top out at around 60, with lots of no names filling up bullpens. In fact, many of the higher inning guys are often ineffective afterwards. Dr. Boonedoggle just burns them up faster than the competition. He’s already done some of his annual damage, getting his forceps on Ian Hamilton, Ryan Weber, Jonathan Loáisiga, throwing them in willy-nilly, out of a desperate attempt to go 162 and 0, no matter the cost in human capital.
What part of. “Donaldson can’t turn on 2020s relievers”don’t we understand?