Yankees Win Wild Game Following An Underwhelming Transaction Day

On a day where I thought the Yankees underwhelmed at the trade deadline, adding only two middle tier relievers by the close of business, they played a fascinating game in Philadelphia and despite all their efforts trying to piss it away, they somehow came out on top and clinched their second straight series. There’s a lot to digest here, so lets get to it.

July 30: Yankees 7, Phillies 6 (12)

Man, there were some serious emotional swings in this one and in the end, the Yankees found a way and for once, I actually agreed with something Aaron Boone said when he was quoted afterward, “That’s a great win; really, really gritty.” Yeah, it was.

Before that wild rollercoaster ride that lasted nearly four hours, let’s take a look at what Brian Cashman did to upgrade the roster Tuesday.

The best thing he did was dump Caleb Ferguson, who was the worst reliever on the team. He shipped the lefty off to Houston for a minor leaguer and some international bonus pool money. Hey, that was better than the bag of balls he was worth. In the offseason, Cashman brought in three relievers who had been with Dodgers - Ferguson, Victor Gonzalez and Dennis Santana. All three are gone before August.

Next, he acquired righty Mark Leiter Jr. from the Cubs for a pair of minor leaguers who were not highly touted, and then late in the afternoon he got another righty from the Padres, Enyel De Los Santos which only cost him outfielder Brandon Lockridge who really didn’t have a future in New York, either. He gave up very little which was good in what was certainly a sellers’ market; I’m just not sure how much help he brought in.

Leiter is the son of former big leaguer Mark Leiter, and the nephew of former Mets and Yankees pitcher Al Leiter, and he immediately becomes the best swing-and-miss/strikeout reliever in the bullpen. He grew up in New Jersey and made his MLB debut with the Phillies in 2017, pitched briefly for the Blue Jays in 2018, then disappeared for four years. He missed all of 2019 with an injury, sat out 2020 because the minor leagues were canceled by the pandemic, was in the minors in 2021, and finally got back to the bigs with the Cubs in 2022.

This year Leiter’s been pretty mediocre with a 4.21 ERA, but he has pitched better lately and his last 7.2 innings with the Cubs were scoreless with 14 strikeouts in 23 batters faced. He career average of 9.9 strikeouts per nine innings and this year, his strikeout percentage is 34.9. As a bullpen the Yankees strikeout percentage is just 23.9%, 17th in MLB.

De Los Santos is a 28-year-old who hasn’t been great this year with a 4.46 ERA, but like Leiter, he has strikeout stuff as he’s averaging 10.7 whiffs per nine this year, 9.7 for his 209-game career. Since his debut in 2018 he’s been with the Phillies, Pirates, Guardians and Padres. He was at his best in 2022-23 with Cleveland where he pitched in 120 games to a 3.18 ERA and 1.109 WHIP so there’s clearly some arm talent there.

Of the two - both of whom are under contract at reasonable salaries through 2026 so if they’re useful, that’s a good thing - I think the 33-year-old Leiter has a better chance to be a high leverage guy, and we saw that in the 10th inning as he escaped a jam without allowing a run which prolonged the game.

So we’ll see on those two. Obviously, it looks like Cashman hit a home run - literally - with the addition on Sunday of Jazz Chisholm who is off to a historic start in pinstripes. For the second night in a row he hit two home runs against the Phillies, thus becoming the first player in Yankees history with at least four homers in his first three games with the team. This is the Yankees, not the Diamondbacks or the Rays, so that’s quite a stat. Babe Ruth didn’t do that, neither did Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio or Mickey Mantle.

He also became the first Yankee to have back-to-back two-homer games since Gio Urshela did it in 2019, and just as important, it appears Chisholm will be able to handle third base which fills a major hole. “This is what I live for,” Chisholm said. “I love the lights. I love the big crowds. I love everything like that. It’s super exciting, and I’m enjoying it. That’s sick, to be part of the history of the New York Yankees. It’s one of the sickest things anybody in baseball could hear.”

Throughout Tuesday the Yankees were rumored to be in on Tigers’ starting pitcher Jack Flaherty, but he wound up with the Dodgers. They were also in talks with the Rays to get infielder/Yankee killer Yandy Diaz, but he stayed put, as did Rays closer Pete Fairbanks. Miami closer Tanner Scott was also on the wish list, but he went to the Padres. Any of those players would have been nice upgrades, but that didn’t happen.

Overall, I’m not sure the haul was enough, mainly because Cashman didn’t add to the rotation. This rotation is shaky and that was the case before Gerrit Cole was scratched from his start Tuesday night because of “general fatigue.”

Boone insists it’s not Cole’s arm, it’s just his body isn’t recovering after each of his starts the way it should, so they felt the best thing would be to skip his turn. “It’s still six starts into the season for me,” Cole said. “Everyone else is in the middle of it all, so I feel different than other people.” Let’s hope that’s all it is and Cole, whose ERA is 5.40, can start to find his groove because if he doesn’t, I’m not sure how the Yankees can do anything in the postseason with this group of starters, not to mention Clay Holmes as closer.

“I’m glad it’s over with,’’ Aaron Judge said of the trade deadline. “I’m glad we got the guys in the room. Now it’s time to go.”

Here are my observations:

➤ What a crazy game, which is getting redundant at this point because this four-game winning streak has been highlighted by crazy games, first with Boston and now Philadelphia. In this one the Yankee fell behind 4-1, rallied to take a 5-4 lead, saw Holmes blow the save in the ninth, then took leads in the 11th and 12th before finally holding on with Michael Tonkin closing it out.

➤ With Cole scratched, the Yankees had to rush Will Warren from nearby Scranton over to Citizens Bank Park to make his MLB debut and outside of a three-run homer he allowed to Austin Hays which made it 4-1 in the second, the 25-year-old was pretty good. His Triple-A ERA is awful at 6.11, but that was because he started horribly - more recently, he’s been very good and that carried over against an outstanding Phillies lineup. He ended up lasting 5.1 innings, the last three-plus scoreless, as he allowed the four runs on just four hits and two walks with six K’s.

➤ From there, Jake Cousins, Tommy Kahnle and Luke Weaver pitched 2.2 perfect innings, while Chisholm was turning the game in New York’s favor. He had driven in the first run in the first inning with a groundout after Alex Verdugo opened the game against Aaron Nola with a double. In the sixth he hit a solo homer to make it 4-2, and in the seventh - after walks to Juan Soto and Judge - Chisholm crushed one deep to right off All-Star reliever Matt Strahm for a 5-4 lead.

➤ And then came the nightly Holmes hell show. Yes, it wasn’t all his fault because he got burned by soft contact and more folly at second base by Gleyber Torres. Still, he’s the one who allowed a leadoff single to JT Realmuto, another single to Bryson Stott, and then threw the wild pitch that sent pinch runner Johan Rojas home to tie the game with two outs, his eighth blown save of the year.

➤ Holmes might have survived, but Torres - who is just so bad at second base - couldn’t turn a double play on Hays that would have ended the game. It wasn’t hit hard to Anthony Volpe, but when Torres caught the ball at second, a strong throw might have nipped Hays. It never happened because Torres dropped the ball on the transfer. Little things are what win and lose games, and that’s a little thing that nearly cost the Yankees. Regardless, I can’t stand Holmes in the closer’s role because he can’t strike anybody out and when the ball is in play in the ninth inning, crazy shit can happen.

➤ Naturally, Judge defended Holmes, but it was such a typical Judge quote. “That's our closer. I don’t know what else to tell you. That’s our guy, he’s been our guy. I want him out there in any situation, bases loaded and no outs or extra innings or bottom nine, top nine - that's our guy.” For Christ’s sake, captain, no one wants Holmes out there, especially in any of the situations Judge referenced. Sometimes Judge drives me nuts because he’s just like Boone, reaching to say positive things when there’s nothing positive to say, and they both think we’re buying the bullshit they’re selling. “You can ask anyone in this room if they want him on the mound in that situation,” Judge said. “He's been there, done that and we have faith in him. I really don't care what anyone else has to say.” I’d guess in a private poll, most of the players would say get Holmes out of the closer’s role.

➤ In the 10th neither team was able to score, the Yankees leaving Chisholm at third because useless DJ LeMahieu and Volpe failed. In the bottom half, Leiter made his debut and it was hectic as the Phillies loaded the bases with two outs before Stott flied out to end it.

➤ Verdugo’s sacrifice fly in the 11th was matched when Tonkin came in and immediately threw a wild pitch moving the free runner to third, from where he scored on a single by Hays, but with men on first and third, Alec Bohm made the third out when Trent Grisham made a game-saving diving catch of his liner to center.

➤ In the 12th, Austin Wells - who had a brutal 0-for-6 game and failed in several key spots - was the free runner at second, moved to third on a Chisholm single and scored on Torres’ sac fly. And Tonkin was shockingly able to go 1-2-3 in the bottom to end it.

➤ Chisholm finished 3-for-6 with five RBI, while Judge had another great night as he was on base five times with three singles and two walks so he’s now hitting .319 with a 1.147 OPS.