Yanks rooks are winning the WAR
WHILE THE Yankees try to improve their 2017 playoff chances much has occurred to encourage them for the future, as well.
How about this: They currently have the Rookie Triple Crown.
In the way Fan Graphs computes Wins Above Replacement (WAR), the Yankees have the leader among rookie position players ( Aaron Judge), rookie starting pitchers ( Jordan Montgomery) and rookie relievers ( Chad Green).
Houston’s Jose Altuve actually had nudged ahead of Judge to lead overall among position players, but for rookies Judge had a sizeable advantage on the Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger. In third was Seattle’s Ben Gamel, who the Yankees took in the 10th round of the 2010 draft.
Among rookie relievers, the Mets’ Paul Sewald actually ranked second in WAR followed by Cleveland’s Nick Goody, a sixth-round Yankees pick in 2012.
There is fluidity at this time of year. Needs change due to performance or injury or even if a team on the borderline of contention wins or losses a few in a row.
But the belief among executives from interested teams is that most have let the A’s know the significant piece or two that they would be willing to include in a multi-prospect trade for Sonny Gray and that one of the suitors will separate itself before Gray’s next scheduled start Sunday against the Twins.
These executives indicated a belief that the Yankees have proposed the best players to top the deal to date and that one item that favors their chances to get the righty is the Astros might be the team most willing to take a risk on Baltimore’s Zach Britton.
Britton is said to have thrown well — “filthy” in the words of one observer — against Houston last Sunday. There is still concern within the Astro hierarchy because Britton missed two months from early May to early July with a forearm injury and has yet to throw even back-to-back days since his return. In addition, Britton gave up two runs Wednesday against Tampa and has now given up six earned runs in the last three weeks.
However, with a 17-game lead in the AL West, the Astros all but have a playoff spot locked up. So, they are thinking about what would make them most bulletproof in the postseason and are leaning toward following the 2016 Indians path of deepening the pen, envisioning Britton teaming with Ken Giles, Chris Devenski, Michael Feliz and Luke Gregerson.