Take time in deciding whether to push chips to middle of table
IN RETROSPECT, this would’ve been a good game at which to conduct an exit poll.
Even more so if you had asked people to wait an additional 54 minutes after the last out of Blue Jays 4, Yankees 1, at which point the Yankees (again) designated Chris Carter for assignment.
Yeah, the Yankees suffered their 15th loss in 21 games during Tuesday’s Independence Day matinee at Yankee Stadium, this market correction continuing to exact its fierce vengeance. On the bright side, though, Aaron Judge dented another sign as he stroked his major-league-leading 28th homer, accounting for the hosts’ only run.
So did enough of the crowd leave happy? Extrapolating that notion, will enough Yankees fans enjoy this season if it concludes without a playoff berth but with Judge and his fellow Baby Bombers providing bundles of hope for the long-term?
This holiday contest exemplifies why the
Yankees’ best strategy on the trade front, for now, is to wait. And to be open to any and all possibilities — even the idea of being lateJuly sellers.
“It’s been tough, just injury after injury,” said CC Sabathia, who lasted just 2 2/3 innings in returning from a strained left hamstring. “… It’s just a tough time for us right now. But we’ve got to battle through it. Everybody goes through this stuff. Battle through it.”
Sabathia’s ERA shot up to 3.81 in the brief outing — he retired the first eight batters he faced, then walked three and gave up three singles and that was that — and he thought “not being out there” for 20 days factored into his inability to finish guys off with two strikes four times in that third-inning rally. His totals of 63 strikeouts and 27 walks in 78 in- nings don’t quite evoke the big lefty ace of days yonder. Nevertheless, in an underwhelming trade market for starting pitchers, the soon-to-be 37-year-old could be an appealing rental to a contender, assuming he would waive his no-trade clause.
Michael Pineda, characteristically inconsistent with a characteristically impressive 91-to-20 strikeouts-to-walks ratio in 93¹/3 innings, would draw interest from renters, too. Masahiro Tanaka’s market would be trickier to gauge given his opt-out. Now, at the moment, it’s admittedly extreme to contemplate the Yankees as sellers. Though they have tumbled from their perch atop the AL East, they still entered play Tuesday with playoff odds of 70.1 percent, as per FanGraphs. Yet that had dropped from 85.6 percent on June 13, the day this slide be- gan (and the day Sabathia left with his hamstring injury, not coincidentally). They have another 21 games before the July 31 nonwaivers trade deadline.
And they demonstrated last year, when they rebooted their farm system with trades of Aroldis Chapman (to the Cubs) and Andrew Miller (to the Indians), the reward can outweigh the risk of waiting deep into July to decide on a direction.
At this juncture, the last action the Yankees should be weighing is dealing a healthy chunk of that farm system for a Jose Quintana or Sonny Gray.
Last winter, after the Red Sox acquired Quintana’s former White Sox teammate Chris Sale, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said, “We are not prepared to back the truck up and get the one player left you might need.” Are they prepared now? They’re closer, for sure. They might require more time.
If selling ranks as the doomsday scenario, the status quo also should be in there. The Yankees could hold onto their many chips, count on guys (Starlin Castro, Matt Holliday and eventually Aaron Hicks) to return from the disabled list as well as more promotions from the minors (Chance Adams and Miguel Andujar) and — assuming Greg Bird won’t return — give up lesser pieces for a first-base rental like the Mets’ Lucas Duda or Oakland’s Yonder Alonso.
For sure, there will be disappointment if the Yankees finish out of the money after their April burst. Won’t that be tempered considerably if Judge carries out his Most Valuable Player pace and guys like Adams, Clint Frazier, Jordan Montgomery, Gary Sanchez and Tyler Wade boost faith in the future?
Man, I should’ve splurged for the exit polls.