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CC Sabathia Not On Yankees’ ALDS Roster

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The Yankees have yet to formally announce their full roster for their upcoming Division Series matchup with the Twins, but manager Aaron Boone announced today that veteran left-hander CC Sabathia will not be a part of the mix (Twitter links via Meredith Marakovits and Jack Curry of the YES Network).

Sabathia has been dealing with a shoulder issue and underwent a cortisone injection, but he hasn’t bounced back to the point where the team considers him an option to this pont. He could potentially factor into the ALCS roster if the Yankees advance beyond the ALDS. With Sabathia off the roster, the Yankees will go to a rotation featuring James Paxton in Game 1, Masahiro Tanaka in Game 2 and Luis Severino in Game 3. They’ll rely on that trio and an exceptionally deep bullpen, which Boone says he’ll be “aggressive” in deploying.

A full roster won’t be released until the Yankees need to formally release it (tomorrow morning), though Boone also indicated that Edwin Encarnacion is “expected” to be on the roster. The slugger hasn’t appeared in a game since Sept. 12 thanks to an oblique injury, but he’s apparently made sufficient progress that he’ll be an option in the best-of-five series that’ll kick off at Yankee Stadium tomorrow evening.

Depending on how the postseason plays out, then, it’s possible that Sabathia’s scoreless outing of relief against the Rays on Sept. 24 — the lone relief appearance of his illustrious 19-year career — could mark the final time he ever sets foot on a Major League mound. Even if the Yankees do advance to the ALCS, there’s no guarantee that Sabathia would be a part of the team’s pitching staff for that best-of-seven series. And, obviously, if the Yankees’ season comes to an end within the next week, Sabathia will head into retirement and take his first official steps toward Cooperstown a bit sooner than he or the organization had hoped.

Cameron Maybin Hopes To Re-Sign With Yankees

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Veteran outfielder Cameron Maybin went through a difficult few months leading up to the 2019 campaign. After Maybin didn’t produce enough with the Marlins or Mariners last year to merit a major league contract, he languished on the free-agent market until the Giants brought him in on a minors pact in late February. A month later, the Giants released Maybin in the wake of a DUI arrest, though he did catch on with the Indians on another non-guaranteed deal in the coming days.

Despite the fact that the Indians’ outfield was an obvious question mark coming into the season, Maybin wasn’t able to get past the Triple-A level as a member of the organization. As a result, the Indians traded Maybin to the Yankees for cash on April 25 in what appeared would go down as an inconsequential swap.

However, since joining the Yankees, the 32-year-old Maybin has capitalized on a surprisingly large amount of playing time in a Yankees outfield that has dealt with a slew of injuries. The resurgent Maybin’s scheduled to head back to free agency after his 2019 stint with the World Series-contending Yankees concludes, but he prefers to stay where he is, per Brendan Kuty of NJ.com.

Asked if he’d like to re-sign with the Yankees, Maybin said, “I think that goes without saying.” The well-traveled Maybin added that the Yankees are “by far the best organization” he has played for since he began his pro career as a first-round pick of the Tigers in 2005.

The Yankees, meanwhile, are surely thankful for the way Maybin has stepped up this year. While Maybin didn’t look like much of an offensive threat when he joined the club, the speedster has teed off on opposing pitchers for a .285/.364/.494 line with 11 home runs and nine steals in 269 plate appearances this year. He has been a versatile defender at the same time, having seen at least some action at each outfield position (primarily the corners).

Maybin may be able to parlay this season’s production into a major league deal before next year, but whether the Yankees will be the team to give him his next contract is in question. They’ll likely go into 2020 with Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton (whose injury-wrecked regular season helped open the door for Maybin) and Aaron Hicks as their starting outfield. They’ll also continue to have control over Mike Tauchman (who will be out of options), Clint Frazier and the injury-riddled, costly Jacoby Ellsbury. Plus, despite the presences of those six, no one will be surprised if New York re-ups its longest-tenured player, pending free-agent outfielder Brett Gardner. Should that happen, it would only make a Maybin re-signing look less likely than it already does.

Luke Voit Not A Lock For Yankees’ ALDS Roster

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It would have been difficult to fathom for most of the year, but thanks to a late-season slump, first baseman/designated hitter Luke Voit might not make the Yankees’ ALDS roster, per George A. King III and Dan Martin of the New York Post.

Whether Voit participates in the Yankees’ first-round series will depend in part on the status of fellow first baseman/DH Edwin Encarnacion. An oblique strain has kept Encarnacion out for more than two weeks, but general manager Brian Cashman said (via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com) that the Yankees “expect him to be available Friday” when the series begins.

Voit and Encarnacion were similarly productive during the regular season, but the former’s numbers dipped amid a rocky finish. A sports hernia led to multiple stints on the injured list in the season’s second half for Voit, who missed almost all of August. While Voit boasted an .886 OPS upon his return a month ago, he ended the year a .263/.378/.464 hitter after an ice-cold September in which he batted .194/.326/.347 in 86 trips to the plate. Voit inflicted a particularly large amount of damage on his numbers from Sept. 15 onward, as he closed the season on a 1-for-32 skid with 13 strikeouts.

Now, with an October matchup against the similarly home run-happy Twins looming, the Yankees may opt to shelve Voit in favor of Encarnacion and rookie Mike Ford. Unlike Voit, Ford was an offensive machine during the last several weeks of the season. One of the many unsung Yankees to step up during an injury-riddled 2019 for the club, the 27-year-old Ford slashed a power-packed .259/.350/.559 with 12 home runs, a lofty .301 ISO and a low 17.2 percent strikeout rate in his 163-PA major league debut.

James Paxton Expects To Be Ready For Postseason

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  • Yankees fans shook their heads in disbelief as starter James Paxton left yesterday’s game after just one inning. However, it seems that the team managed to avoid yet another significant injury; Paxton underwent an MRI this morning that revealed nothing but nerve irritation, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. His removal from the game was merely a precaution and is not expected to affect his availability in the approaching ALDS. The club has faced questions all year about postseason pitching, and an injury to Paxton—the team’s most reliable starter in the second half—would have sent the New York faithful spiraling.

Paxton Ready For ALDS Despite Injury

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Yankees ace James Paxton exited his final start of the season on Friday after just one inning because of left glute tightness, per MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch. Paxton’s removal was a precautionary measure, and were it not for the looming postseason matchup with the Twins, Paxton likely could have pitched through what he described as “dull soreness.” The rotation is New York’s biggest question mark going into the playoffs, and Paxton is clearly a key piece. He’s 15-6 with a 3.82 ERA/3.87 FIP across 150 2/3 innings for the season, landing fairly close to career marks both in terms of efficiency and durability. Paxton’s status as the likely ALDS game one starter is not at present affected by his early departure on Friday, though he will certainly be monitored closely, and one would think it might affect the amount of leash given him in the ALDS opener. In other injury news heading into Saturday’s action…

  • The Yankees PR department announced David Hale’s reinstatement from the 60-day injured list. Hale, 32, had a strong start to the season going 3-0 with a 2.89 ERA/3.30 FIP across 19 innings. He last pitched on July 26 against the Red Sox, finishing a strong month of July when he posted a 2.63 ERA. Hale has a part in two major storylines of the Yankees season, both as a resident of the overfull trainer’s room, and as one of the many unsung contributors to their 2019 success.  Aaron Hicks, meanwhile, was moved to the 60-day injured list. It’s been mostly a lost season for Hicks, who nonetheless contributed 1.2 bWAR in 59 games when healthy via a .235/.325/.443 line with 12 home runs.

Edwin Encarnacion Not "Mentally Over" Oblique Injury

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  • Yankees slugger Edwin Encarnacion still hasn’t returned from the left oblique strain he incurred Sept. 12, and it doesn’t look like a sure bet he’ll play in either of the team’s last two regular-season games. Encarnacion said Friday that he’s not “mentally over” the injury, Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News relays. It remains to be seen whether he’ll be able to overcome the issue by the time the Yankees’ ALDS matchup against the Twins starts Oct. 4.

Aaron Hicks Not Giving Up On 2019 Return

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  • Although he hasn’t played since Aug. 3, injured Yankees center fielder Aaron Hicks continues to hold out hope that he’ll be able to return during the postseason, George A. King III of the New York Post reports. Hicks, who’s dealing with a right flexor tendon issue, has begun to throw from 120 feet. He hasn’t progressed to throwing to bases, though, and there won’t be any chance of a comeback until that happens.

Domingo German’s Administrative Leave Extended Through World Series

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Sept. 25: The league announced today that German’s administrative leave has been extended through the conclusion of the World Series. He officially will not pitch in the postseason.

Sept. 20: Yankees right-hander Domingo German, who was placed on administrative leave under the MLB-MLBPA Joint Domestic Violence Policy, won’t pitch another inning in 2019, ESPN’s Buster Olney reports (via Twitter). That includes both the regular season and the postseason. Olney notes that the case is not yet “fully resolved administratively.” SNY’s Andy Martino further reports that there is a “strong possibility” of a “significant” suspension being issued to German within the next week.

Per Martino, the domestic incident in question involved German’s girlfriend and took place late Monday/early Tuesday after CC Sabathia’s charity gala. Bob Klapisch of the New York Times tweeted yesterday that German had allegedly slapped his girlfriend and that an official from the Commissioner’s Office had witnessed the incident. Martino’s report suggests that it was not an MLB official who witnessed the incident, but the evidence presented to both the league and player’s union was substantial enough that the MLBPA opted not to exercise its right to challenge German’s placement on administrative leave.

The length of any potential suspension for German seemingly has yet to be determined. Prior examples of suspensions under the league’s policy have come with a wide range depending on the severity of the incidents in question. On one end of the spectrum, former Padres left-hander Jose Torres received a 100-game suspension in 2018 following an arrest, and Phillies center fielder Odubel Herrera was suspended 85 games earlier this summer under the policy. Meanwhile, Red Sox right-hander Steven Wright received a lighter 15-game ban early in the 2018 season.

The most extreme punishments under the still relatively new policy have both come on the heels of arrests and criminal charges, neither of which exist in the case of German. The very manner in which MLB was made aware of the allegations against German make his case unique, and that lack of precedent makes it difficult to speculate on the duration of a potential suspension.

Gary Sanchez Could Return This Weekend

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Brian Cashman On Yankees’ Deadline Interest In Marcus Stroman

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Considering the bevy of rumors linking Marcus Stroman to the Yankees before July’s trade deadline, it wasn’t a surprise rebuilding Toronto sent the right-hander to New York during the summer. It was, however, unexpected that Stroman ended up with the Mets instead of the Yankees.  It turns out the Yankees’ interest in Stroman – although real – wasn’t especially high, general manager Brian Cashman reveals to Yahoo Sports’ Wallace Matthews in a quality piece profiling the longtime executive.

“We were interested in Stroman but we didn’t think he would be a difference-maker,” Cashman said. “We felt he would be in our bullpen in the postseason.”

That’s an eyebrow-raising quote in regards to Stroman, who was plenty effective in the Yankees’ division – the American League East – from 2014-18. Despite Stroman’s successful track record, his remaining year and a half of affordable team control and the Yankees’ apparent need for starters, they held firm when the Jays “were demanding” outfielder Clint Frazier in a package for the hurler, Matthews reports. Frazier drew plenty of rumored interest from around the league before the deadline, at which point he was languishing in the minors, but he stayed put. While Frazier’s latest recall didn’t come until rosters expanded at the beginning of this month, he has picked up some starts of late as the Yankees’ outfield deals with injuries to Aaron Hicks and Mike Tauchman.

Whether the Yankees were right to seemingly prioritize Frazier over Stroman is up for debate. No matter which side you’re on there, it’s hard to have complete confidence in the AL East winners’ rotation – something they didn’t address at the deadline –  as the playoffs approach. The Yankees just lost Domingo German for the season because of a domestic violence investigation (though Cashman obviously couldn’t have foreseen that), and CC Sabathia will end his illustrious career in the bullpen after a rough, injury-plagued regular season as a starter. Sabathia’s fellow aged lefty, J.A. Happ, has joined him in struggling for most of this year, but Happ has rounded back to form lately. Even better than Happ’s recent success? Ace Luis Severino just debuted last week after a season-long battle with injuries, and James Paxton has been on a roll since mid-August.

In the event the Yankees need four starters in a postseason series, Severino, Paxton, Masahiro Tanaka (who hasn’t been great in 2019) and Happ will present their four best traditional options. While there’s a strong case that Stroman’s preferable to at least one member of that quartet, the Yankees didn’t regard him as enough of an upgrade to surrender significant young talent for him over the summer.

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