SLIDE OF THE YANKEES
Cashman considers options to beef up reeling Bombers
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman sported a New York (football) Giants cap at Winged Foot Golf Club Monday, where he took part in Mariano Rivera’s charitable golf tournament, but Cashman still had plenty of issues on the pinstriped agenda to contemplate while on the links.
“I think our bullpen and our rotation have struggled of late. Does it mean that anything’s going to happen regardless of it? I don’t know yet,” Cashman told the Daily News before participants hit the first tee. The event benefits Rivera’s foundation and White Plains Hospital, both of whom are charitable partners. “We’re always engaged with the marketplace, as well as comparing it to what we have.”
The Bombers, after a surprising start to the 2017 season when they were 20-9 on May 7, have lost 10 of 12 entering Monday’s game in Chicago against the White Sox. There have been a rash of injuries recently, including the latest casualty, outfielder Aaron Hicks, who landed on the 10-day disabled list with a right oblique strain.
But the team announced Monday that Jacoby Ellsbury (concussion) was returning from the DL to take Hicks’ place in center field, and Cashman said first baseman Greg Bird hopefully will be back on track to join the team in the near future. Bird is currently with the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre affiliate after getting a cortisone shot last week to address a right ankle bruise, but has not begun a rehab assignment yet.
First base has been a liability for Cashman this season, with Bird struggling with leg and ankle problems most of the year, and another first baseman, Chris Carter, designated for assignment last week. Tyler Austin is up from Triple-A, but how long he remains with the big league club remains to be seen.
“Well, we’ll see. (Austin) was up last year. He’s getting another chance now. Obviously Bird is joining the Scranton club. He’s going to take (batting practice) over the next few days on the road with Scranton in Syracuse. (First base) is somebody’s job to take, if somebody steps up and wants it. It doesn’t matter what I think. It matters what gets done,” said Cashman. “It’s too early to say (with Bird). We’re getting him going, see how he responds (to the cortisone shot). The (doctor) said three to six days off and then get him going. Today is day five, or maybe day six. He’s going to start pre-game stuff with the Scranton club on the road in Syracuse over the next two days at least, if not longer. When ready, we’re going to start the rehab assignment, if he takes that next step forward. If he doesn’t, I don’t have an answer.”
Reliever Tyler Clippard has been another liability of late, giving up 10 runs in 2.1 innings of work over five appearances. Cashman, when asked if Clippard could be next to be DFA like Carter, said this was the first time that scenario had been mentioned to him.
“If I feel that way, that’s what we would do,” said Cashman. “You’re the first person that’s mentioned it. It’s never come up. If that’s something we choose to do (DFA Clippard) — we just recently did it with (Chris) Carter — the only time to talk about stuff like that is after you do it.
“I would think his confidence is down now,” Cashman added of Clippard. “Before it was a stretch of poor performance. I’m sure now it’s a combination of bad performance and confidence. That’s what happens. He’s a professional. He’s been through the wars before, and he’s had a lot of success. He’s had mostly success his entire career. Anything else, he’s got to battle through the mental side of the game and get back on track.”
While Cashman said the team did not have any update on the mystery of designated hitter Matt Holliday, who had an allergic reaction when the team was in Oakland, Cashman did say starting pitcher Masahiro Tanaka may finally be turning the corner after his latest outing, when he dominated the Rangers in a 2-1 Yankee win, giving up just three hits (although the Japanese righty got a no-decision).
“It gives us some hope that (Tanaka) has taken a big step in the right direction. The day he pitched against Texas, he would have been tough for any offensive lineup to handle. If we can freeze that and maintain that, then we’ll have solved the Tanaka mystery,” said Cashman. “I don’t have an update (on Holliday). He’s fighting an allergy issue, a reaction to something, to whatever. I don’t know what his status is for (Monday’s) game. We’re trying to get through it, and find out what it is.”