Maybin has been a huge pickup. I know we all wanted a deadline addition but damn I can't really find much fault in Cashman right now. Maybin, Voit, Gio... all massive pickups. Been a few years now but Hicks was a steal too. There's really only 2 key pieces that were acquired strictly bc of money, Tanaka and Stanton.
It's fun actually seeing talent develop and come up to the bigs and be successful. Winning a WS right now would obviously be ideal but not like the window is closing any time soon.
Gio and Gleyber both went out late in last night's game as well. They're saying it's a core injury with Torres, which is never good. Hicks is out until later in the month now as well. This is absurd.
Really hard to see this team taking a nosedive in the playoffs. Christ half the team is always hurt and they still beat the shit out of everyone. There I said it now shoot me...
The organizational depth for position players is absurd. When facorting in guys that can play multiple positions we have a 2 deep of quality players.
1b - Voit/DJ 2b - Gleyber/DJ SS - Didi/Gleyber 3b - Gio/DJ/Andujar LF - Stanton/Tauchman CF - Hicks/Gardner RF - Judge/Stanton
The Yankees won their 15th straight game over the Orioles on Tuesday night, this time 8-3, making another mockery of Baltimore’s pitching. It’s their longest winning streak against an opponent in one season since they won 15 in a row against the Philadelphia A’s in 1954.
My dad just emptied out a storage unit and gifted me with these. Sorry for the size: Jeter 3000th hit signed jersey Ink is fading (made out to my father) Phil Rizzuto "Holy cow"
I'm nearly scared to type this but it suddenly looks like we have a solid playoff rotation plus Sevy is returning. Paxton and Happ are on a serious roll.
Woke up this morning and for the first time in a long time, like, seven years or so, things feel... normal. Like the way they were meant to be. As if the proper balance of the universe was corrected and goodness and light can once again warm the beautiful people's faces. As if the bad people were once again under their rocks where they belong after sullying our sacred, rightful place for so long.
Paxton has been awesome since they tweaked his pitch selection. I think that was probably 75% of the problem with Sonny Gray too.
The poor play over the last couple weeks cost the yanks home field, which sadly I think means the world in the AL and dealing with the Astros. It felt like the sense of urgency was nonexistent, especially against inferior opponents. I hope the rest strategy works, but I would much rather have home field.
Homefield isn't decided yet. We're a game back of the Stros, but I do think they have the tiebreaker. Agree about wanting homefield but at this point I'm not questioning Boone. He's been amazing this year.
Saying it right here, right now: No matter if Gary Sanchez comes to life from the next game thru the rest of the post season and is World Series MVP the Yankees should make him the centerpiece of a blockbuster trade in the off season that brings them the ace they need. If they can sucker someone with his gaudy, kick the shit out of the Orioles offensive numbers. He's been "hurt" the last two seasons supposedly and doesn't do shit in the entire second half. He's an all around liability. Playing in his spot Romine and Higgy produced well in the clutch and they are better defensive catchers so it's not even like you need to hit the market for a replacement. I wish I knew what the Yankees could do with that worthless bag of shit Stanton. I still think the Yanks can pull this series out but it won't have anything to do with either of these two.
I hope this post ages poorly but seriously, fuck Gary Sanchez. Waves at complete shit outside in the dirt (as always) with the bases loaded for out #3.
Few weeks old but... #New York Yankees Sources: Yankees make sweeping changes to training staff after record-setting season of injuries The Yankees will make significant changes to their strength-and-conditioning and training staff rosters for 2020 following a year in which they set a record for most injured players in a single season. The injuries began in spring training and ran the course of the season, many of which appeared to be aggravations of prior injuries. At times during the 2019 season, general manager Brian Cashman dubbed the inquiry into their injury issues as “CSI: The Bronx.” Their next move will be significant. The Yankees have hired Eric Cressey, a well known and highly sought-after performance coach, to oversee their training and strength-and-conditioning departments, sources told The Athletic. As part of an overhaul that will include new hires by Cressey, the Yankees will also transition longtime athletic trainer Steve Donohue to a status akin to trainer emeritus, though it’s expected he will remain involved with the club. The changes the Yankees have made and will make to their training and strength-and-conditioning programs reflect a move toward the contemporary line of thought on player performance. They’ve made similar transitions elsewhere in the organization this winter, primarily throughout their pitching programs. Cressey, who runs Cressey Sports Performance, works closely with Max Scherzer and Corey Kluber. His approach to player performance reflects a rapidly changing philosophy throughout the sport that emphasizes kinesiology and biomechanics. He will be given latitude to advise on the direction of the strength-and-conditioning program, along with taking a lead on personnel decisions. However, Cressey will still be permitted to run Cressey Sports Performance and work with other MLB athletes. He hosts the “Elite Baseball Development” podcast, on which he interviews major-league players. Yankees-related guests have included Adam Ottavino and Mike King, along with team doctor Chris Ahmad. Similar to the deal the Yankees have made with Cressey, the Reds hired Driveline Baseball founder Kyle Boddy as a director of pitching initiatives and pitching coordinator in October 2019. As part of his agreement with Cincinnati, Boddy was allowed to remain with Driveline. In November, the Yankees hired Matt Blake to replace Larry Rothschild as pitching coach. Blake, who joined the organization from the Indians, was a pitching coordinator for Cressey Sports Performance. In December, the Yankees fired head strength coach Matt Krause. He had been with the organization since 2014. Krause’s dismissal was first reported by the New York Post. Donohue has been with the Yankees organization since 1979, starting in the minor leagues. He was promoted to the major-league training staff in 1986. He succeeded Gene Monahan as head athletic trainer in 2012 and was named the Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer by the National Athletic Trainers Association in 2018. The Yankees will promote assistant athletic trainer Michael Schuk to head trainer, sources told The Athletic. Schuk is a trained physical therapist, and 2020 will be his seventh season with the club. Tim Lentych, another assistant trainer under Donohue, also remains with the club. Krause is currently the only member of the strength-and-conditioning and training staffs to be let go from the organization, sources told The Athletic. Assistant coach Drew Weisberg remains with the club. Cressey will plan to spend the year evaluating the current staff and building out the training and strength-and-conditioning departments. The Yankees carried only two strength-and-conditioning coaches in 2019, a small roster by most major-league standards.
Good read. How the Yankees’ hitting coaches approach their jobs — and balance each other out By Lindsey Adler Feb 17, 2020 11 TAMPA, Fla. — The life of a hitting coach mostly takes place behind the scenes. The days are long and largely spent in the batting cage or in strategy meetings with coaches, analysts and players. The results of their work exist largely without their names or faces attached to it: A game-winning double is the collaboration of the hitter, his coaches and often a fair amount of luck. Yankees hitting coach Marcus Thames and assistant hitting coach P.J. Pilittere were often the unsung heroes of the team’s remarkable 2019 season. Over the course of the injury-marred year, 24 different position players took an at-bat for the Yankees. They were without Giancarlo Stanton for most of the year, and Aaron Judge for a big chunk of it. Yet they oversaw a career year for DJ LeMahieu and a breakout year for Gio Urshela. It was a year of new faces and new lineups, but all told the Yankees put together the second-best offensive season across MLB (behind the Houston Astros). Thames and Pilittere made their way to the Yankees’ staff through considerably different routes. Thames was a power hitter who hit inconsistently, but played for parts of 10 seasons in the majors. Pilittere retired from playing at age 29, having had reached Triple A but never getting a shot at a major-league at-bat. They bring different experiences to the coaching table, and different personality types, too. In their coaching dynamic, Thames is the steady presence while Pilittere is more prone to emotion. “I have like a really, really excitable personality type, and I get really, really excited when our guys have success,” Pilittere explains. “Marcus does too, but he’s got that swagger about him, where it’s always expecting more.” “It sometimes can be a tricky dynamic with the head hitting coach and the assistant,” manager Aaron Boone said. “It’s not always a great relationship, especially when some philosophies may differ. Here, P.J. and Marcus come from different backgrounds, but I’ve never felt an issue with them or tension with them. I don’t have to worry about them.” Working as a hitting coach in 2020 requires an ability to understand, process and compartmentalize new information coming at you from many different sources. The Yankees are one of the most analytically inclined teams in baseball, and there’s variation in each player’s level of familiarity and comfort with the information made available to them. Then, some players choose to pay private hitting coaches, or come from different organizations that may have had divergent philosophies from the ones used to coach players in New York. Put it all together and the two coaches must find a way to set a baseline standard for their players while finding a way to individualize it to the players across the roster. “Some guys, they go out and they have a winter and they hit with somebody else,” Thames said. “They come in and you just watch them first. You don’t dive right into it; you talk to them and ask them to give you a couple things they worked on this winter that they’re trying to do. Or, for someone coming from a different organization, I’ve really gotta try to know what he’s been doing before I say, ‘This is gonna really help you.’ What if he’s tried it already? You have to be careful to approach a guy and ask him what he’s been doing before you try to implement something that he might have tried and realized, ‘This crap doesn’t work for me.’” “Our job is to kind of take it all in,” Pilittere said. “Be the ultimate last filter before it gets to the guys.” In an age where every team has access to more information than ever before, the advantages are often to be found in teams knowing how to translate it most usefully to their field staff and their players. Some hitters want the information directly, some are better served by their coaches doing their research in video and analytic data behind the scenes, then suggesting mechanical modifications in a more organic delivery. “I hope I’m getting smarter,” Thames said. “I’m just trying to make my guys (think) when they go to the batter’s box that they own that box. I think if P.J. and I can do that, we’re doing our jobs.” Controlling the strike zone is the primary mantra Yankees hitters have heard in the three years since Thames and Pilittere began working together once Boone took over as manager. Hitting is fundamentally a job where you give up much of your control; you can’t choose what comes out of the pitcher’s hand, but you can decide how you react to it. Control as a hitter begins with strong preparation and planning, but is most difficult to maintain in-game when emotions are high and the opposing pitcher is having a good night. “We’re always talking to these guys daily about our approach, approach, approach and trying to keep it simple,” Pilittere said. “We can say: This guy can throw you 12 percent of his pitches in this part of the zone, 11 percent there, and that’s great. But when the game’s going, and that guy’s holding the ball out there and he throws 96 mph with cut and has a wipe out split finger, it’s tough. Especially in the Bronx, where there’s 54,000 people out there screaming and it’s tied in the eighth and it’s a big spot. You want to be the hero, your blood’s going, your heart’s going, your legs are shaking in the box and it’s tough to slow down.” “We joke all the time that we’re half-hitting coach and half-psychologist,” he continued. Everyone knows the truisms that baseball is a mental game, and one of failure. To be a hitting coach — even for many of the best players in the league — requires one to confront and work within that difficult reality on a daily basis. “I struggled a lot as a player, so I’ve been on both sides of the fence,” Thames said. “For me, I’ve been there, so I know when to go into the cage and say, ‘Uh, let’s not hit today’ and give them a breather. “Some days you don’t know what a guy’s going through. Sometimes he doesn’t know what he’s going through, and he doesn’t want to go to the cage at all. I have to get that feel, and that’s part of being a listener. I always want to know what my guys are going through before I go in and approach them with something because some days they might not be ready to do what you want them to do.” The game has changed in the nine years since Thames and Pilittere finished their professional careers, with pitchers throwing harder, smarter and with more movement, from the starting rotation to the eight-men bullpens. It has never been easier for hitters to head to the plate with a head full of confidence and walk away hitless, having flailed at some breaking ball that most of us would interpret as defying the laws of physics. “I tried to remind myself, as a coach, that hitting is really hard,” Pilittere said. “That’s why I have so much respect for our guys because it’s only harder now than when I played. But the majority of it is preparation and commitment and it starts here. The really good ones are the guys who are able to slow the game down when the games at its highest leverage point. And, uh, we’ve got a lot of those guys here. It’s nice for a coach.”
So where do we go with Sevy gone and Paxton out til May? I figure JorMont is the #4, and then do we look at one of the youngins at the #5? Or do we roll the dice on McHugh and know we can slide him to the pen when Paxton comes back? I'm still not elated about locking Happ into the lineup as the #3. That's rough.
I'm interested in seeing what Schmidt and Garcia look like in the spring. I'm not a fan of doing it, but even if they look great, I doubt they'd start the year with them when a few weeks in the minors saves a year if service time. So yea idk what they do early in the year.
What’s the likelihood we see bullpenning again this year? I have no clue what expect from the rotation, but I feel like that every year.
By Lindsey Adler Feb 25, 2020 42 TAMPA, Fla. — Luis Severino was still seeking an answer for 2019’s injury mysteries when he received news that will knock him out of the game for another season, and likely part of the next. The young flamethrower threw only 20 total innings last season because of a shoulder injury that became a lat injury — all after he felt discomfort throwing his slider in the bullpen before his expected first spring training start a year ago. The 2020 season was supposed to be Severino’s return. He was a Cy Young finalist in 2017 and put together a 2018 season that earned him a four-year, $40 million extension two weeks before he felt that pain in his shoulder. He entered this offseason with a new pitching coach, who flew down to see him in the Dominican Republic in January, and a new winter routine. He became more deliberate in his buildup to spring training, throwing infrequently at first and more regularly as he approached his arrival in Tampa. But once again, something was not right. Severino had felt forearm tightness during the postseason, but only while throwing his changeup. The Yankees had him undergo standard MRI testing, which didn’t give them any answers as to why their 25-year-old righty felt “soreness” after throwing one specific pitch (again). Last week, on his 26th birthday, they decided to shut him down again. A few days later, a contrast dye MRI resulted in a recommendation for Severino to undergo Tommy John surgery, which the Yankees announced Tuesday. Severino’s injury progression mirrors that of James Paxton’s situation with a small cyst on his back, which began causing discomfort for him in September and resulted in a surgery to remove it in January. With Paxton, the Yankees had him undergo testing as they did Severino, but for each of the two starting pitchers, the recommended non-invasive treatment options only managed to hurt them in the end. When Severino goes under the knife, his 2020 season will be over. His recovery will likely cause him to begin 2021 late, too, making the few offseason months the Yankees lost to assessment even more costly. This is Groundhog Day for the Yankees, in mirroring their 2019 injury misfortune and frustrating injuries to what would have been an excellent starting rotation on Opening Day. General manager Brian Cashman said Tuesday that the Yankees intend to fill the spots in their rotation through their depth. For now, it stands: Gerrit Cole, Masahiro Tanaka and J.A. Happ. Jordan Montgomery, who was part of the rotation in early 2018 before needing UCL surgery himself, was throwing hard Monday night in an exhibition game and is all but officially their No. 4 starter for now. Paxton, whose initial timeline for return to major-league action was three to four months, says he is recovering well and expects to return to a throwing program soon. He could be back on the mound as soon as early May. Domingo Germán, serving a suspension under the MLB-MLBPA domestic violence policy, is eligible to return in early June. The Yankees are in a bind, but are fortunate in learning they’ll have to fill rotation spots at the beginning of spring, when they can give prospects full evaluation and stretch someone out as needed. Jonathan Loaisiga, who has appeared in 24 games for the Yankees since 2018, could be built up to make starts once the season starts in late March. The young righty has dealt with a number of injuries that have limited his playing time in the minor leagues and with the Yankees, but he has major-league experience and his potential is high. Manager Aaron Boone said on Sunday, before learning the diagnosis on Severino, that the team had not decided whether to use Loaisiga in relief or prepare him to make starts. Clarke Schmidt, the 24-year-old righty who was the Yankees first-round pick in 2017, climbed through the system last year to throw 90 innings across three levels. He finished his 2019 season in Double A, where he made three strong starts to end the year. Keith Law named Schmidt the Yankees’ top prospect in his ranking of Top 100 prospects in baseball. He, along with Mike King, have both college and minor-league experience to build on. King dealt with injuries of his own in 2019, and was called up in September and made a two-inning appearance. He spent part of the 2018 season in Triple A and made four appearances (three starts) there last season. But Deivi Garcia, the Yankees’ diminutive and highly anticipated right-hander, will be in the competition for a starting job as well. At 20 years old, Garcia is less experienced than King and Schmidt. He struggled upon reaching Triple A after appearing in last year’s Future’s Game during the All-Star break and was not called up for September. He has not made his 2020 spring training debut yet. Cashman said Tuesday that there are not many pitchers available on the trade market this time of year, leaving them to depend on their depth for now. Montgomery’s return should leave just one spot to fill until Paxton is recovered from his back injury, but the Yankees find themselves now in a precarious position. Losing Severino for another contending season is bad enough. One more starter injury in spring could turn out to be a crucial blow.
TAMPA, Fla. — The Detroit Lions are the running favorites to win the next Super Bowl. The team’s general manager and head coach, DJ LeMahieu, is considered the best in the league. The Lions, for once, are the team to beat. They are the team that each of the 11 other managers in the National Savages League consider the barometer of their own team’s potential. “DJ beat me,” said Tommy Kahnle, commissioner of the NSL and general manager and head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. He burst into his signature cartoonish laugh. It may have been the only thing he could do to hide the pain. Here in Tampa, 12 Yankees have come together to play against each other in a fiercely competitive Madden NFL league. The group includes gaming die-hards in Aaron Judge and Clint Frazier, a bored injury-rehabber in Aaron Hicks, and Michael King, a prospect auditioning this March to try to win a spot on the team. Kahnle will not settle for anything less than all 12 Yankees-led teams in the National Savages League advancing to the playoffs together. (There are also 20 computer-based teams to round out the league.) The Madden league is part time-killer, part trash-talk generator, part competitive-energy outlet, and for some players, another thing for their wives to roll their eyes about. “It’s a competitive environment,” Colts GM and coach Ben Heller said of the Yankees’ Madden league. “There are no parameters on what we can and can’t do, so here, we get to let our true selves out.” Most players represent their hometown teams, though actual Packers fan Heller had to choose the Indianapolis Colts to balance out the AFC/NFC seeding. One may also infer that Judge, known to wear a PlayStation T-shirt on occasion, is looking to avenge the Niners’ recent loss in Super Bowl LIV. The current executive roster stands as such: AFC NFC Zack Britton: Broncos Jonathan Holder: Saints Clint Frazier: Dolphins Aaron Judge: 49ers Aaron Hicks: Raiders Tommy Kahnle: Eagles Ben Heller: Colts DJ LeMahieu: Lions Michael King: Patriots Mike Tauchman: Bears Luke Voit: Chiefs Tyler Wade: Cowboys Some NSL executives, though, mainly chose their teams by proximity. Voit was infuriated when his St. Louis Rams moved to Los Angeles and is team-agnostic now, but enjoyed attending a Chiefs game during the offseason. LeMahieu, who lives outside of Detroit in the offseason and whose mother worked for the Lions while he was growing up, says he is not actually a fan of theirs in real life. Playing video games is a popular method of mental decompression after a long day at the field. Kahnle, Kyle Higashioka and Adam Ottavino compete against each other in FIFA. Gary Sánchez often plays MLB The Show after long days at the park. Luis Severino and Gleyber Torres play The Show against one another (and the young phenom infielder recently admitted to cheating against the pitcher in a recent match). In 2018, at the height of the Fortnite trend (for adults), some Yankees players were seen playing the game against each other on their phones while sitting next to each other at their lockers. (“Fortnite is over,” Kahnle said the next spring.) Regardless of their game — or system — of choice, professional baseball players theoretically exist in the top 1 percent of competitive people in the world. There is simply no other way that they would push their way through the emotional and physical grind of the season year after year if they were not motivated by an ever-shifting set of personal and team-based goals. But baseball happens every day, and one of the biggest lessons young players learn when they join the ranks of pro ball is that they must learn to contain their emotions when they step onto a field. In Madden, some Yankees get to set free some of the intense competitive emotions they feel at the park each day. Kahnle is considered by his fellow general managers to be on an untouchable tier of video game-related emotion, though he says he no longer smashes his controller when it all goes wrong. On the other side of the gamut sits the league’s best player and most silent assassin. “There’s a rumor that you’re the best Madden player in this room,” one reporter asked LeMahieu one day last week. “Where do you stand in the rankings?” After releasing a quiet sigh, the Yankees second baseman answered the question true to form. “Well,” LeMahieu said, “I’ve won all my games.” When informed that this story’s first sentence was going to proclaim the Lions are expected to win the Super Bowl, LeMahieu looked down, shook his head, and said, “Oh no.” To his dismay, multiple other Madden executives had already been briefed on this plan and encouraged the behavior. LeMahieu is not a regular Madden player, typically preferring to play NHL. His teammates are hardly surprised that once he began playing the game more consistently, he immediately began to dominate them at it. “He downplays how good he is at baseball, too,” said Bears executive Mike Tauchman, who described his Madden aptitude as “not elite,” but the tier below that. “DJ is nothing if not consistent.” “Don’t let him fool you,” Kahnle said when informed of his rival’s comments. “DJ plays a lot.” Schedules are erratic during spring training, though. Veteran players make few road trips and can be done with their days by 11:30 a.m. Three players have children, who tend to be time consuming. A relief pitcher operates on a schedule much different from that of a position player. Due to all of this, Madden Weeks pass by inconsistently. Furthering the chaos is Kahnle’s mandate that players re-play games they’ve lost to a computer to increase the likelihood of all 12 Yankee-led teams making the postseason. He wants to make it as fun as possible for his teammates and rival executives, often berating them in the process. “I can go in and see how many times they’ve played the game,” Kahnle admitted. “One time Wade replayed a matchup like, seven times.” When reached for comment, Wade explained that, “I don’t have wi-fi right now, so I’m using a hotspot and like, three of those times it buffered and I got logged out.’ However, multiple sources described Kahnle’s depiction of his own management style as incomplete. Actively intolerable, one might say. A commissioner and an active general manager, typically discouraged in professional sports. “He’s a terrible commissioner,” Broncos GM/coach Zack Britton said. “It’s awful. Very micromanaging as a commissioner. Not the best commissioner I’ve ever had, I’ll say that. Very pushy. He’ll sim guys’ games if they don’t play in time. It’s like, ‘Dude, what are you doing? I haven’t played yet.’ He’ll be like, ‘Yeah, but you’re taking too long.’ “In the whole thing, you can edit players as a commissioner,” Britton continued. “Suddenly it says, ‘Tommy edited so-and-so.’ Editing attributes. Me and Judgey have our suspicions. I wouldn’t go so far as to call him corrupt, but it’s definitely sketchy.’ In Madden, a matchup can be simulated on behalf of a human-led team. The computer gives the result as its best estimation of what would happen, and doing so can allow the rest of the league to move forward to the next week. Jonathan Holder, the Saints executive who admits he’s not really much of a gamer, offered the lone dissenting, positive opinion on Kahnle’s commissionership. “All the games that I’ve played against the computer and can’t win, he pushes a win for me,” Holder said. “I think he’s a good commissioner, but I’m at the bottom of the league and I’ll take what I can get.” Two lockers over, Britton looked disgusted and betrayed. “It’s a dictatorship,” Heller said of the Kahnle administration. “We have a group text and I’d say 98 percent of the text messages are from him telling people to get their games in or criticizing them for how they played.” “He’s a horrible commissioner,” Hicks added, though he then took the opposite perspective of his fellow executives in criticizing Kahnle further. “When I finish the game, I wanna play my next opponent. I’m rehabbing, though, I guess I can’t talk smack. I guess it’s hard being a commissioner. ” Adding insult to injury is that Kahnle is an Android user while the rest of the Madden executives use iPhones. His texts sometimes do not go through, leading to poor communication and a demand from his teammates to join the cult of the Apple product. “There’s nothing like having a group chat where no one has an Android,” Heller said. While this unbiased reporter must acknowledge that “National Savages League” is a great name for the confederation, the “Yankees Madden League’ group chat name leaves much to be desired. “I don’t have an iPhone, so everybody hates me,” Kahnle admitted. No one can say for sure when the NSL regular season will wind down and the playoffs will begin. Each executive appears to believe they’re on a different week in the season. The Super Bowl will probably take place before the team breaks camp for the regular season. LeMahieu and Kahnle are considered the favorites to win the NFC Championship. Heller, who said Madden is the only game he’s played consistently since he was a kid (he gave up The Show once he got to pro ball), is the most uniformly feared AFC executive. Most league sources are split on whether King’s Patriots or Frazier’s Dolphins will be the second seed in the conference. “I like my chances,” Heller said. “I know how to shut down Frazier. He’s a one-trick pony. He’s got Lamar Jackson: All he likes to do is scramble.” Kahnle’s plan is for the National Savages League to extend it into the regular season and for it to become a full-scale operation. He envisions them going through free agency, through the draft, and into another season. They play it separately at their respective homes, trashing each other over their headsets or on FaceTime after spending all day at the ballpark together (to the confusion of multiple player wives). “I would like them all to get on Twitch so we could all watch each other play,” Kahnle said, optimistically. “But they’re too lazy to do that.”
Projecting the Yankees’ Opening Day roster By Lindsey Adler 4h ago 36 When the Yankees began officially reporting to spring training three weeks ago, the forecast anticipated a fairly quiet spring, with minimal job competitions and only a few hard choices they’d eventually have to make. But things change in a hurry once players begin to lose time due to injury, especially when they’re as impactful as the players the Yankees may or will begin the season without. James Paxton’s back surgery produced one spot in the starting rotation, and Luis Severino’s surprising UCL surgery created a second. Giancarlo Stanton is not expected to be ready for Opening Day while he recovers from a Grade 1 calf strain, and Aaron Judge underwent testing on Monday after experiencing shoulder discomfort early in camp and pectoral discomfort when he began to swing. Now, audition season is underway. With a little more than three weeks to go until Opening Day — plenty of time for things to change again — here’s our prediction for what that Game 1 roster may be. (Remember that major-league rosters expand to 26 players this year, with a maximum of 13 pitchers.) Catchers Gary Sánchez Kyle Higashioka Let’s start where it’s simple. Sánchez gets primary reps, and Higashioka finally gets the backup job. The only questions here are how the Yankees will manage Sánchez’s workload behind the plate, and how that job will be split. Infield Luke Voit DJ LeMahieu Gleyber Torres Gio Urshela Mike Ford Tyler Wade Miguel Andújar What’s changed since we last saw the Yankees infield in action? Voit had surgery for his abdominal injury and is fully healthy in camp. Torres was graduated to starting shortstop after Didi Gregorius left in free agency. Andújar has returned from recovery following his labrum surgery, but the third base is Urshela’s job to lose. (More on Andújar’s options later.) This spring, the Yankees have been giving Wade reps at short, and the erstwhile utility man seems to be making a case for the backup job behind Torres. Ford, coming off a season in which he got an opportunity and made the most of it, seems the likeliest candidate to back up first base. Andújar has been expected to play first this spring, but has yet to do so in a game. Outfield Brett Gardner Mike Tauchman Clint Frazier Miguel Andújar This scenario imagines the Yankees being without Stanton, Judge and Aaron Hicks to begin the year. If Judge is able to get ready by the end of the month, this alignment would shift, and Andújar offers the most positional flexibility right now. (He could then become the backup first baseman and get playing time at third and designated hitter to supplement.) The outfield situation seems tenuous for now. Gardner can play center and left, and Tauchman — out of minor league options this year — can play all three spots. Frazier is able to play left or right, but Andújar has thus far only played in games in left. Or, differently: All can play left field, two can play center, and two can play right. The decision between Frazier and Andújar in left is the most interesting competition to watch amongst position players. Regardless of what happens ahead of Opening Day, the Yankees will still experience a major outfield playing time crunch once Stanton, Judge, and later Hicks are back. Starting pitching Gerrit Cole Masahiro Tanaka J.A. Happ Jordan Montgomery Jonathan Loaisiga There’s still a few weeks to go in spring, but it looks for now like Cole will make the team out of camp. (He is currently lined up for the home opener, though, so don’t expect to see him starting Game 1 on the road in Baltimore.) Montgomery’s healthy return seemed to solve the fifth starter issue when Paxton underwent surgery, but Severino’s injury opened up a spot behind him. The Yankees are keeping their options open and are clearly auditioning a number of pitchers to make starts for them to begin the year. Currently, the options would look to be: Loaisiga, Mike King, Deivi Garcia and Clarke Schmidt. Loaisiga, King and Garcia are currently on the 40-man roster, giving them a built-in edge over Schmidt. Earlier in spring, manager Aaron Boone said the team had not decided on a role for Loaisiga. He said last week, after Severino’s surgery recommendation was made, that they still had not made that decision, but were planning on building him up toward a starter’s workload. Loaisiga is the only option of the four who has more than one game of major-league experience. King, he of the one-outing debut last September, is likely the runner-up to the fifth-starter job. He has more pro ball experience and at higher levels than Garcia and Schmidt. Garcia is still 20 years old, and Schmidt is not yet on the 40-man. Bullpen Aroldis Chapman Zack Britton Adam Ottavino Tommy Kahnle Chad Green Jonathan Holder Luis Cessa Ben Heller This seems familiar, no? Heller is returning from Tommy John surgery and is on the 40-man roster (as opposed to Tyler Lyons and David Hale). The Yankees bullpen was the one area of the roster that fared well on the injury front in 2019. Aside from Dellin Betances, who missed essentially the entire season, Holder was the only pitcher to spend much time down. In Betances’ absence, we got a look at Britton as the eighth inning guy, likely the role he’ll hold again this year. As a bonus, let’s forecast the Opening Day lineup three weeks in advance. No one has ever been caught being wrong by doing that! We’re doing this by defensive position numbers, though, not batting order. Like in your scorebook. Remember one of those? Opening Day lineup Masahiro Tanaka — SP (Gerrit Cole at the home opener.) Gary Sánchez — C Luke Voit — 1B DJ LeMahieu — 2B Gleyber Torres — SS Gio Urshela — 3B Miguel Andújar — LF Brett Gardner — CF Mike Tauchman — RF Clint Frazier — DH Or Mike Tauchman — LF Brett Gardner — CF Aaron Judge — RF Miguel Andújar — DH
‘You tore everything’: How Luke Voit recovered from offseason abdominal surgery By Lindsey Adler 7h ago 10 Luke Voit got a useful but uninvited lesson about his body last season, when bilateral core injuries cost him a quarter of his season and affected his production when he was able to spend time on the field. The burly first baseman struggled to gauge the pain he felt after the injury flared up during the team’s late June trip to London, and when he met with the specialist who’d perform his October surgery, he realized he worsened his injury by deciding to play through it. “When I went to Dr. (William) Meyers in Philadelphia, he was like, ‘Dude, you tore everything down there,’” Voit recalled last week. “I was like ‘Wow,’ then I was like, ‘Yeah, because I played through it.’” Voit’s injury affected the use of his abdominals, hip flexors and groin muscles, making it functionally impossible for him to be himself at the plate. He spent time on the injured list with what was diagnosed as a sports hernia, but was unable to get his signature explosiveness back when he returned after missing 29 games. In the 40 games Voit played after the initial core injury in London, he hit .228/.348/.368 with four home runs. His season ended when he was left off the roster for the ALCS; he underwent surgery a few days after the Yankees’ postseason run ended. Voit’s 2019 season looks different to him in hindsight than it did when he was in the middle of it. He certainly didn’t feel like himself, but he didn’t want to take the risk of a procedure midseason then hurry himself to rush back. “I didn’t realize it was that bad,” Voit explained. “There were times when I felt like I was back, but then the next day I’d get out of bed and be like, ‘Ack, it’s not supposed to feel like that.’” “He was really worried about contributing at the right time to the team,” said Brian Fitzmaurice, Voit’s longtime personal trainer. “It was kind of a gamble. He thought with downtime, he could be ready for the postseason, be in the right spot.” Dr. Meyers specializes in core injuries and has treated professional athletes from a variety of sports. He’s treated Justin Verlander, Troy Tulowitzki and Miguel Cabrera since opening his own specialty clinic in 2010. “I didn’t even know I had half the muscles I had surgery on before the procedure and now I feel like I’m an expert on it,” Voit explained. “But I think I’d had this over time, and in London it was like the last string.” He described the recovery process as what he understands to be similar to that of a cesarean section — sneezing, laughing, coughing all were sudden invitations for pain. This wasn’t his first experience with surgery: Two shoulder surgeries pushed him out of football and into baseball for good. Voit transitioned into his return-to-play training after completing his rehab and physical therapy program in the weeks after his core surgery. Fitzmaurice worked with his doctors and the Yankees training staff to help set a plan that would allow the 29-year-old slugger to show up to spring training healthy, happy and in the ever-aspirational best shape of his life. But returning to an intensive routine scared him at first; he’d recently been told he’d torn tiny, essential muscles he didn’t know existed, and he was afraid to do so again. “You just get kinda nervous,” Voit said. “I was so used to it hurting when I was coming back last year, so I was just afraid. You do a deadlift and you’re waiting for something to happen. Once I hit again for the first time, it was like, ‘OK, I can do this again.’” Deadlift is one of Voit’s old standbys when it comes to the gym, but Fitzmaurice immediately restricted the amount of time he would spend doing intensive weight training while working with him over the offseason. “I was very strict with him about not doing anything heavy … for him,” Fitzmaurice said. With Voit, “heavy” is certainly relative. Fitzmaurice estimates Voit’s range to be up to 500-550 pounds. “I told him he’s prohibited from deadlifting,” the trainer said. “I said if he did, I’d fly to wherever he was and whoop his butt.” Instead, Voit’s offseason program consisted of functional strength training, along with core stability, mobility, and progressive speed and agility drills to prepare him to field again. He showed up to camp slimmed down, his body resculpted after his new offseason training routine. He’s expanded his day-of-game routine as well, going through mobility, flexibility and muscle activation exercises before beginning his normal pregame warmup. Fitzmaurice estimates it’s added another half-hour to his work before he takes the field. Voit’s experience in 2019 caused him to think about the up-and-down nature of the game, and the stability he needs when he uses his hips and torso while rotating in his swing. He has the strength and the power, but now he has a better sense of the big picture regarding his physical health. “I learned a lot about what I have to do to take care of myself,” Voit said of 2019. “It was an eye-opening year. I want to play, so it was hard not to be there. But I’ve gotta take care of what’s important for me in the long run.”
Clicked on this thread and it took me to page 1 for some reason. But saw this and man...as a casual Marlins fan and fan of the game in general this hurt.
I'd we don't win the WS I'm going with "this BS season doesn't even count." No asterisk if we win, obviously.