Outfield Defense, Luis Severino Atrocious in Series Split With Orioles

What an absolutely disgraceful way to end a series Thursday night. The Yankees have had some appalling nights, but that was almost indescribable, though I will give it a shot down below. I am including the link to the Pinstripe People survey that I sent out the other day, still hoping for a bigger response. I’m not sure why so many folks ignored it, but if you haven’t already filled it out, please do me a solid and click on the image below and share your input because it really matters to me. I want my subscribers to have a say in some of the things I’ll be doing in the future here. I want to know what you want. Thanks.

The MLB trading deadline is Aug. 1 and quite frankly, the Yankees shouldn’t even bother being buyers. I know they probably will be because that’s just part of their DNA, but seriously, what are we talking about here?

This is not a team that’s winning anything in the postseason, let alone a World Series which is really all that matters to the Yankees. They don’t exist to just make the playoffs; the goal every year is to win it all, the 13-year championship drought be damned.

I’ve got news for you - it’s gonna be 14 years and we all have to come to grips with that. Yes, they’re eight games over .500 after splitting their four-game set with the Orioles, but given how challenged they are on offense with Aaron Judge nowhere near close to a return, their record feels like window dressing to me.

To acquire anyone who’s worth anything, they would have to trade prospects, and at this point, I’m all in favor of keeping the farm system intact, hopefully develop a few of those guys for promotion as early as next season, and bite the bullet on 2023. If they can make some kind of run when they get Judge back as well as Nestor Cortes, Jonathan Loaisiga and yeah, Carlos Rodon, great, but I wouldn’t trade away young talent to do it. Not this year.

However, as I just said, the Yankees almost surely will buy because they always buy, and if that’s the case, then they better damn well find someone who can play the outfield.

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a worst defensive outfield than what the Yankees are trotting out this season. It might be one of Brian Cashman’s greatest failures in his career. How he went into the season thinking that Aaron Hicks and Oswaldo Cabrera would suffice as a left field platoon is a fireable offense by itself.

And then due to injuries to Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Harrison Bader, and ultimately the much-needed release of Hicks, the Yankees have used players who have as much business being out there as you and me, a list that includes Cabrera, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Willie Calhoun, Jake Bauers, Billy McKinney and Franchy Cordero. They are the New York god damn Yankees and these guys are playing in the outfield!

The outfield defense in this series alone was the equivalent of Bluto’s grade-point average in Animal House. Terrible reads on fly balls, flat out drops or misplays, missing cutoff men. It was almost like the Yankees were trying to embarrass themselves. I lost track, but I think IKF screwed up four balls that a good left fielder would have caught. Hell, even the excellent Bader made an error in this series.

Incredibly, Aaron Boone actually said this after the game regarding the outfield. Click the image.

If you did just listen to that, do you wonder why Boone drives me absolutely insane?

I really can’t blame some of these guys, though. Cabrera, IKF and Bauers are infielders, plain and simple; Calhoun and Cordero are just bad outfielders; on the rare nights Stanton is in the field he’s a statue who is only going to make the routine plays; and McKinney is passable at best.

I don’t know who would be available at the deadline. There have been some whispers about Joc Pederson and Michael Conforto of the Giants, Tyler O’Neill of the Cardinals, former Yankee killer Randal Grichuk of the Rockies, and Seth Brown of the A’s. Come on, are any of those guys really gonna make a difference at this point, at a cost of a prospect or two or three?

Cody Bellinger, who will be at Yankee Stadium this weekend with the Cubs, is another name out there, and he’s having his best season since 2019 when he won the 2019 NL MVP, but he’d be a rental because he’s due to hit free agency after this season. In a year where they had a legit chance to win the World Series, you make a move for Bellinger, but not in 2023.

➤ Coming off winning the first two games of this series, the Yankees received news that reliever Jimmy Cordero is apparently an asshole, and will be suspended for the rest of the season. He violated MLB and MLBPA’s joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy, the league announced. I’m just shaking my head in disgust at this.

No word on exactly what happened, but MLB doesn’t just suspend players on a hunch. Thus, the Yankees lose a valuable member of the bullpen as Cordero was a tremendous surprise this season with a 3.11 ERA and 1.071 WHIP across 32 innings.

As you might imagine, his teammates were not happy with Cordero, led by Judge. “I was pretty upset. I know a lot of the guys on the team are upset,” Judge said. “This is in the league’s hands, and the league handed down the suspension. Hopefully he learns from this and becomes a better person.”

➤ There was another injury, because of course there is. Bauers hurt his shoulder diving and missing a fly ball Wednesday and Aaron Boone said he’s likely heading to the injured list. Hey, it’s been a few days since someone got hurt so they were due.

➤ Lastly, Rodon will make his season debut Friday against the Cubs. He threw three solid rehab games, but I’m guessing he’ll be on a pitch count so I doubt - even if he pitches well - that he’s going past four or five innings. Regardless, it’s about damn time he joins the fight.

Here are my observations on the four games against the Orioles.

July 3: Yankees 6, Orioles 3

➤ This was certainly one of the best wins of the season given the early 3-0 deficit and the quality of the opponent. To finish it off scoring six unanswered runs capped by Bader’s dramatic three-run homer was a pleasant surprise.

➤ It sure didn’t start well. Domingo German made it 10 perfect innings in a row, and then the inconsistency that plagues him really took hold. The Orioles battered him for nine hits inside five innings although some of that was due to shoddy outfield play. He was lucky Baltimore only scored three runs.

➤ The first run was helped by Bader misplaying a single which allowed Ryan O’Hearn to reach second and he later scored on a liner to right that Stanton let fall in front of him. Anyone else out there probably would have caught it. Then in the third, the IKF nightmare began as he had two misplays in left. He let a liner land barely a foot in front of him and then failed to catch a fly ball near the wall. He wasn’t given an error on either, but both should have been outs and all that led to two runs scoring.

➤ Nick Ramirez was the unsung hero. He replaced German with men on first and third in the fifth and got two outs to leave them stranded, then pitched a 1-2-3 sixth after the Yankees had pulled within 3-2 on homers by Anthony Volpe and Kyle Higashioka. That middle part of the game proved critical in the end.

➤ The Yankees tied it in the seventh when IKF and Volpe singled, moved up on a sacrifice by Higashioka, and after DJ LeMahieu failed in a big spot once again against excellent reliever Yennier Cano, Cano gifted the Yankees a run with a wild pitch.

➤ In the eighth, Boone did his best to blow a chance to win. With men on first and second and no outs he asked Bader to bunt, even with Josh Donaldson up next. For Christ’s sake, who in their right mind would ever bunt in that situation? Bader has been swinging it decently and Donaldson has been an automatic out. Was it Boone’s plan to hand the Orioles two free outs and hope IKF could come through? I swear, sometimes the Yankees win in spite of Boone. Bader squared around twice and didn’t offer, and Boone finally came to his senses and let him swing away. On the next pitch he crushed one to left to win the game.

BOX SCORE

July 4: Yankees 8, Orioles 4

➤ Gleyber Torres was the man of the match. He hit a two-run homer in the first off Kyle Gibson, and he doubled and scored on Bader’s big two-run double that put the game away in the seventh. And in between that, he scored a third run on a daring play which could have ended up making him look like an idiot, but didn’t. It was 3-3 and he was on first after a walk when Stanton ripped a single up the middle. Torres was already on the move and kept motoring to third, but then he stunned everyone by blowing right through the stop sign of coach Luis Rojas and raced home, just beating the throw.

➤ Look, it worked out, but I’m sorry, that wasn’t a smart play and if the Orioles hadn’t bobbled the relay he would have been dead meat. “Very instinctive play,” Boone said. “It gets him in trouble sometimes. If he gets thrown out at the plate you guys are asking me about it. Instead, the crowd goes wild. It’s a fine line. Gleyber does have a knack for doing those kinds of things because he’s fearless.”

➤ Clarke Schmidt just keeps going along, not great, but certainly not the same guy who gave the Yankees almost no chance to win his starts early in the season. He was solid for five innings with the exception of the fifth when he gave up a solo homer to Hicks (yeah, that sucked) and then a two-run bomb to Adam Frazier, wasting an early 3-0 Yankees lead.

➤ Once again, the bullpen was mostly terrific. Ron Marinaccio walked two men in the sixth but got out of a bases loaded jam without allowing a run. Then Wandy Peralta and Kahnle put up scoreless innings before Albert Abreu coughed one up in the ninth after the Yankees had extended their lead to a safe 8-3.

➤ Jose Trevino hit his first first home run since May 1, a solo shot in the eighth. If you’ve noticed, Trevino and Higashioka are doing a pretty even split on starts now, an indication that the Yankees aren’t thrilled with Trevino’s bat, nor should they be. He’s hitting .212 and has only 15 RBI.

BOX SCORE

July 5: Orioles 6, Yankees 3

➤ Things were going so well in this series, and then they weren’t and the drastic downturn started in sixth inning of this game. Everything was looking great for five innings as Randy Vasquez was pitching into and out of trouble without allowing a run, and the Yankees scored twice in the fifth on a Donaldson home run and an RBI single by Higashioka.

➤ But just when you started contemplating the Yankees winning the series, it all fell apart. Ramirez, who was so good on Monday, was awful as he gave up three hits to the four batters he faced and they all ended up scoring thanks in part to Michael King who gave up a two-run triple to the first batter he faced, Jordan Westburg. Of course, it was a triple because Bauers and IKF inexplicably allowed the ball to split the gap between them in left center. Brutal. King also allowed a run to score on a fielders’ choice that made it 4-2.

➤ Volpe hit a stunning solo homer off Cano in the eighth and then McKinney singled, but Rizzo, Torres and Stanton all went quietly to leave the tying run stranded. And then in the ninth Ian Hamilton served up a two-run homer to O’Hearn. It was a rare bad night for the bullpen as it gave up all six Baltimore runs.

BOX SCORE

July 6: Orioles 14, Yankees 1

➤ Can you imagine going to New York for this ballgame, your one trip to the Stadium for the season, and this is the shit show foisted upon you? I’m not sure how many of the 39,766 on hand were in that situation, but what a bummer if any were. If ever there was a complete team loss, this was it. The fielding was pathetic, infield included, the hitting was typically terrible, there was a baserunning mistake, and then there was the nightmare that is Luis Severino.

➤ He gave up seven runs on 10 hits and a walk inside three innings. This was the third time he has given up at least seven runs in four innings or less this season, more than any pitcher in MLB. Eleven of the 15 balls put in play were hit at least 95 mph. He managed only three swings and misses on his fastball. It was an unmitigated disaster and the Yankees have a full-blown crisis on their hands with him. His ERA is now 7.38, and it’s 9.48 in his last seven starts. Last year in his limited duty he gave up 37 runs in 102 innings, this year it’s 40 runs in 42.2 innings. “We need to get Sevy where he needs to be,” Boone said. “Physically he looks OK to me, but obviously the execution is not there.”

Click the image to hear what Jack Curry had to say about this woeful performance.

➤ Incredibly, Abreu came on and was just as bad. He faced nine batters, seven reached base, and six scored. In all the Orioles pounded out 20 hits with Gunnar Henderson going 4-for-7 with two homers and five RBI and O’Hearn going 3-for-4 with four RBI.

➤ In the third and fourth innings combined, the Orioles sent 21 men to the plate and scored 12 runs on 11 hits, three walks, a hit by pitch and a sacrifice fly. It was comical.

➤ Oh, those plucky Yankees wouldn’t be shut out, though. Against some mop-up Triple-A pitcher, they pushed across a run in the ninth. Yankee pride after all. “Just a bad night for us; no fun to go through, no one likes to get beaten over the head,” said Boone.

➤ One bright spot: The Yankees have a true ace blowout mop up man in IKF. This was his fourth pitching appearance and he now has a 2.25 ERA having allowed just one run on four hits and no walks. He and Severino ought to have a conversation.

BOX SCORE

 ➤ July 6, 1933: It probably surprised no one on this day 90 years ago that baseball’s biggest star shone the brightest in the inaugural All-Star Game.

In what was billed as the greatest collection of talent ever assembled in one ballpark - and there was no hyperbole in that advertisement - Babe Ruth hit a two-run homer to lead the American League to a 4-2 victory over the National League at Comiskey Park in front of 47,595.

The game featured 20 future inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame which hadn’t even been conceived yet, including John McGraw who came out of retirement to manage the NL team.

Ruth hit his home run off Cardinals pitcher Bill Hallahan in the third inning and McGraw minced no words regarding the St. Louis pitcher. “Hallahan is either good or bad and he was bad today,” McGraw said. “They got the breaks and they won”

As for Ruth, a longtime rival, McGraw conceded, “He was marvelous. That old boy certainly came through when they needed him. It was a splendid game, wasn’t it?”

Ruth’s reply when asked if he was excited to lead the AL to the victory: “Wasn’t it swell? Didn’t we win?”

Chicago Mayor Edward Kelly, looking for a way to make sure the World’s Fair being held in Chicago was a success, posed the idea of holding a sporting event as part of the festivities to Colonel Robert McCormick, the powerful publisher of the Chicago Tribune. McCormick passed the buck to his sports editor, Arch Ward, who was the right man for the job, a man who would later become a renowned promoter.

It took some doing, but Ward finally convinced baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis to allow the game to be played, the key being Ward promising that all proceeds would be donated to a charity for retired players.

Four Yankees started for the AL - Ruth in right field, Ben Chapman in left, Lou Gehrig at first, and Lefty Gomez on the mound. Four Cardinals started for the NL - Pepper Martin at third, Frankie Frisch at second, Jimmy Wilson at catcher and Hallahan on the mound.

The final series before the All-Star break will be a three-game set against the Cubs, a middling team that stands 40-46 in the NL Central, eight games out of first and seven games out of a wild card spot.

Many of you know the Cubs have long been my second-favorite team to follow. Before intra-league play, the Yankees were my No. 1 as they always have been, but the Cubs were my NL team. And I’ll admit, during the Cubs’ World Series window from 2015-18, I watched more of their games than I did the Yankees. That 2016 season was one of my greatest as a baseball fan when they ended the 108-year World Series drought.

But once they started dismantling the team and said goodbye to Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, Jon Lester and Jake Arrieta to name just a few, I’ve been out on them and I’m not back yet. They just aren’t that good but I’ll say this, they’re starting to move back in the right direction.

Bellinger missed more than a month but he’s been raking since he returned and he’s now hitting .298 with an .838 OPS. Christopher Morel leads the team with 15 homers and he’s played only 46 games, while Patrick Wisdom has 14. Nico Hoerner leads with 43 RBI and is a pesky hitter and very good second baseman.

The Yankees are catching a few personnel breaks in this series. First, Justin Steele pitched Wednesday and Marcus Stroman pitched Thursday so they won’t face the two best Cubs’ starters in this series. And shortstop Dansby Swanson sat out Thursday with a bruised heel and his availability is in question.

The pitching matchups look like this: At 7:05 p.m. Friday on YES it’s Rodon against ex-Yankee Jameson Taillon who has been pretty lousy in Chicago with a 6.93 ERA; Saturday at 1:05 on Amazon Prime it’s Gerrit Cole (2.79) against Drew Smyly (4.10); and Sunday at 1:35 it’s German (4.52) against Kyle Hendricks (2.64).