Beginning ofa beautiful friendship
Rizzo starts Yankee career in style with homer in victory over Marlins
Brian Cashman looked at the Yankees a month ago and admitted the team he built stank. The Yanks had slouched around .500 for most of the year and weren’t considered in the mix for the American League East race. The Yankees GM, however, still thought that this team, talented on paper, deserved a shot. So, he went to work.
While managing to stay under the luxury-tax threshold, Cashman added left-handed power with outfielder Joey Gallo and first baseman Anthony Rizzo. He got starting pitching depth with lefty Andrew Heaney and even did a little remodeling of the bullpen. And he did it all without giving up any of the organization’s top five prospects.
The moves paid off immediately. In the debut appearance for Gallo and Rizzo Friday night, Rizzo hit a sixth-inning homer to put the Yanks up by one over the Marlins. Rizzo finished 2-for-3 with a walk, and the Yankees won, 3-1.
“We’ve still been imperfect to some degree, but we’ve been stringing together a lot of series wins against quality opponents and pushing ourselves into the arena of ‘Yeah ..., there’s no question that we’re in this,’ and so it’s what we are going to do about it,” Cashman said Friday evening after the MLB’s trade deadline had passed. “Were we gonna sit back and just let it play out with what I think is an extremely talented playing roster as it is already, or do we acknowledge that it’s not good enough, despite the talent and it needs more? So the team got to see some fortifications that we certainly hope will benefit.
“There’s no guarantees obviously all these players that have just come in, whether it’s (Clay) Holmes whether it’s Joely (Rodriguez) whether it’s obviously Rizzo or Gallo or whoever. I feel like we’ve done a lot of different things lately, but bottom line is they
all have to come together on a consistent basis to in a short period of time now to obviously navigate the landscape of the final two months of this season and see if we can take an opportunity to be special.”
The Yankees went into the series opener against the Marlins Friday night 8.5 games back in the division race and 3.5 in the race for the second American League Wild Card spot. The division-leading Red Sox and second-place Rays, who battle each other this weekend, did not make major moves at the deadline, but the Blue Jays made an upgrade with the addition of starter Jose Berrios.
“I know we’re better today than we were yesterday,’‘ Cashman said. “But I also know everyone got better. It’s going to be fun to watch.”
Cashman is hoping he has given the Yankees a leg up in that race. He had been after Gallo since March, when he thought he was close to a deal to bring the lefty-hitting slugger to the Bombers.
“I thought Gallo would be a nice fit for us. Left-handed bat even though in terms of evaluating Gallo, we always felt that he would fit really nice here at Yankee Stadium. (He’s) very athletic and can play a lot of different positions. A left-handed bat that gives us balance. So he’s been someone we’ve always been trying to check on.”
Rizzo was a deal of opportunity with the Cubs holding a fire sale. It was a more complicated trade in that the Yankees had
Luke Voit, who led the league in homers last season expected to play first, but Rizzo is a power bat rental who can balance the lineup.
“We’re sorry about obviously Luke Voit’s season the way it’s gone thus far, but obviously we have a two-month sprint now to try to push ourselves into the postseason and take a shot at the ultimate prize,” Cashman said, “and we felt this enhances those opportunities for us.”
In Heaney, Cashman acknowledged that he needed pitching depth to absorb some innings and as insurance against injuries and expectations. They are hoping to get Luis Severino back from March 2020 Tommy John surgery and Corey Kluber from a muscle strain.