The Yankees have recalled Andrew Velazquez and put him right into the starting lineup at shortstop. In a corresponding roster move, right-hander Albert Abreu was optioned to Triple-A, per MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch (via Twitter).
Velazquez’s return to the lineup provided the Yankees with some infield insurance over these final two games while DJ LeMahieu deals with a sports hernia. LeMahieu had a cortisone injection, but the hernia will require further treatment in the offseason, per The Athletic’s Lindsey Adler (via Twitter).
The Yankees have had to cover at shortstop since finally moving Gleyber Torres off the position. Gio Urshela has taken the bulk of the snaps at short, but Velazquez can share the burden. The 27-year-old former Ray has a .234/.246/.375 triple slash line over 65 plate appearances.
Abreu has a 5.15 ERA/5.89 FIP in 28 appearances out of the pen covering 36 2/3 innings. The overall run prevention numbers aren’t great, but the 26-year-old has contributed as a multi-inning arm capable of eating innings. Abreu 2/3 innings yesterday in his first appearance in almost two weeks.
Abreu is not ready to work high Levert situations, as he showed Friday night.
Velazquez’s return improves the defense with Urshela returning to 3rd and Le Mahieu likely headed to the IL with his ailing hip.
High leverage.
Aaron Boone makes too many strategic errors to be back next year, as you point out Abreu should not have been placed into that situation last night. Velasquez improves defense and provides team with energy, but he’s an out.
I’m not so sure that it’s Boone decision on who is not available. 3 games left in the season with a magic number of 2 is not the time to be putting in your 6th and 7th arms into a late 1 run game.
Boone never makes any decisions that prove to turn out unwise. Those always come from the fan next to the dugout. Just look at today’s game as a recent example. Leaving a starter in after giving up 7 runs in 3 innings is a stroke of brilliance
Abreu has a bright future. His time will come. I think Loaisiga is the future closer and Abreu could be his setup man.
Hope DJ isn’t out long. The Yankees will definitely need him in the playoffs.
I guess I’m really not sure that we would, @Joe.
He has been a below average hitter & out of the leadoff spot as well. A large part of our season long offensive inconsistencies can be tied into him. He’s kicked the ball around the infield as much – indeed more – than anyone. Time after time he’s been at the plate in a big spot & has not delivered the big knock.
I really don’t think we’ll miss all of that very much, man. He is playing because he is making $15MM. Not because he deserves to be on the field.
Ducky I agree he’s had a down year but I saw a stat a few days ago showing how a lot of his problems at the plate have been a result of bad luck. I apologize for not remembering the exact stat.
I wonder if his problems on D have been from moving all over the infield. I know he did it some last year but still…
Yeah, Abreu has a 5.15 ERA. But how about his 1.255 WHIP and .206 opposing batting average. His stuff is very good. Just needs to harness his control.
Where is Gil why wasn’t he brought up instead. Velasquez will add the much needed team speed. The Rays stealing two bases in the 9th inning shows how valuable speed can be. Two HUGE mistakes by Boone last night. #1. Loasinga needed to go longer in the game. Yankees continue to get zero length from the starting pitchers. I don’t understand if a pitcher is going good why remove him after a few batters. #2. Why the F bring in Sanchez when all you need is a single. Higgy makes better contact then Sanchez. I’m so done with Sanchez
10 er’s in his last 14 innings is why Gil isn’t here. Risk wise he’s not a better starting option over Kluber, Cortes or Tallion and he’s not a better bullpen option than German or Abreu.
#1 Loaisiga just retuned from a shoulder injury. He has an extensive injury history. I’m ok with not pushing him there.
#2 I sometimes wish that Phat Sancho hadn’t’ve broken in to the bigs like he did. Ever since, the expectations have been completely unfair. However: by absolutely no metric (season or career) is Higashioka a better hitter than Gary. None. Zero. Ever.
Two on, down by 1 in the 9th, with runners on & at home? Well, I am looking for a big fly there too. Just because he didn’t come through doesn’t make that a “poor choice”.
& I say that as no fan of the Booner.
A
They lack fundamentals. Wade should’ve stole 3rd as Gary was at bat. A fly ball would have tied it. Why out wade in there anyway if he wasn’t running? Boone, I like the guy and wil always be in Yankees lore 2003 but he lack managerial instincts. Needs a new mgr for ‘22
Weren’t there 2 outs when Sanchez came in to bat? Fly ball would have had same effect as a strike out. However, a steal of 3rd does give the opportunity to score on a wild pitch
When the Yankees go through their stretch of “No Run Support” the Yankees are done.
Consistent teams win playoffs and championships. The Yankees are inconsistent.
Plain and simple the Yankees hit a lot of home runs the Win they don’t they lose. Goes with what I’ve been saying all along. The Yankees are a team of all or nothing hitters and that needs to change this off-season no matter how far they get in playoffs if they make it to WC game.
I agree with this analysis, too much swinging for the fences.
Gallo leads MLB in K% (min 460 PA)
Voit, Frazier, Higgy, Odor, Sanchez, Stanton and Judge all way up there too.
Can’t advance runners or drive in runners from 3B with less than 2 outs if you don’t make contact.
@Rick I don’t think the Yankees are going to win the WS this year but teams that are hot win, not necessarily consistent teams.
Yankees trade with A’s looking like:
Yankees get:
Olson
Andrus
Athletics get:
Jasson Dominguez, OF.
Oswald Peraza, SS.
Luis Gil, RHP.
Luis Medina, RHP.
Deivi Garcia, RHP.
Clarke Schmidt, RHP.
I’m sure Billy Beane will at least listen…
Beane is known for making awful trades, like the Donaldson trade. So anything is possible.
Marcus Semien Chris Bassitt, Josh Phegley and Rangel Ravelo to the Oakland Athletics for Jeff Samardzija and Michael Ynoa,
Another stinker….
Or might be a slight over exaggeration…
Well, some will disagree with you. Beane has been the driving force behind a successful couple of decades of A’s baseball. Though not reaching a World Series in a while, the A’s are always in playoff mode or contention. The Donaldson trade was more about Josh being disgruntled – and vocal – about the Céspedes trade than anything else. Of course, Beane is only a minority owner of the A’s so his resources are limited to what he can really do with his immense management talent.
Theres no way the Yankees would ever do that. Replace everyone except Deivi Garcia with Miguel Andujar and Clint Frazier and then that will be the Yankees counteroffer
Normally I don’t respond to trade proposals because they are never right but this has to about the most stupid trade proposal I’ve seen in a while. The Yankees wouldn’t do that for Dominguez alone much less adding most of the rest of their better prospects. Why don’t you just add Volpe with that ridiculousness.
The Yankees have a very difficult off season with a lot of tough decisions. The problem is the Yankees are filled with players no one wants. Getting Gallo instead of Benintendi was the mistake of the trade deadline. The Yankees need to outright release so many players but they won’t. It’s so difficult to see this team the last several years. Getting Stanton instead of waiting for Harper was the Beginning of the end.
The Yankees do have some decisions ahead of them but I think one of the biggest has already been made by moving Torres to 2B. He’s already gotten better in the field as well as the plate. With having to sign Judge next off-season and a few long term contracts already on the books, I doubt they will go after one of the bigger SS FAs. Hope they go after the best SP available, FA or trade, and get a stop-gap SS while they wait for Paraza or Volpe. Maybe make a 1B move but I’m ok with Voit if he can stay healthy.
Need to trade for Dejong with Cards. Has just two years left on his contract with a AAV of only $4,3 million. Good defensive SS with power. Hit 30 homers and had a 4.2 war in 2019. Battled covid in 2020 and injuries this year and lost his starting job to Sosa. Cards could use some power arms like Abreu and King
Huh.
Yeah, @bryce, DeJong would certainly upgrade that SS spot for us. He would be a good fit for a lot of reasons. One of which is his AAV. Good call.
Would you guys happen to have a spare CF collecting dust on your roster somewhere too?
Cards actually have a former #1 pick in Plummer who can play CF in AAA. LH hitter with over .400 Obp. Not sure where he will play for Cards as their outfield is locked up next few years and they have Nootbar as the 4th outfielder.
Huh (again).
So sounds like they may. But tying to your original point, adding DeJong at a $4.3 mil AAV would most likely help free up some loot for a viable CF plan. Particularly in light of some of the numbers being thrown around for the Big SS Market.
Could most likely add DeJong + Marte for a few mil less/year than Baez or Story will get. I really like that idea. That would fix a lot of our lineup issues.
Ah forgot to include Volpe. We like him too. Sorry about that…
Only on the 2021 Yankees can a player pitch the ninth inning of a must win game one day and not be good enough to be on the team the next day. ♂️
Out of the yankees top 12 pitchers, six are at a career high number of innings and two more are at their second highest number of innings. It’s hard to keep the balloon in the air when there’s nothing left to blow with. Might as well pop it and go home.
I just hope the Yankees make it in as wildcard so I can see them choke.
Would someone tell these young kids on the Rays they are supposed to be scared going into Yankee stadium… you know… those hallowed walls and the 27… 27… 27…
They clearly felt kind of Lowe today.
What the Yankees need to do… find a CF, SS, C and 1B. as many left handed bats as possible
Trade a bunch of the dead weight. Frazier, Andujar, Torres, Voit.
SS Story (FA)
RF Judge
1B Olson (Trade A’s)
DH Stanton
LF Gallo
2B DJ
C Barnhardt (Trade Reds)
3B Urshella
CF Tapia (Trade Col)
Cole
Montgomery
Kluber
Cortes Jr
Taillon
Bullpen…
Awfully specific for someone who supposedly “hates” us. You guys, man.
& *still* watching the Yanks play every day.
Yanks will play a 163rd game. At the very least (math, uh?). While your mets season has been over for a couple months. So…yeah…I see why you fellas are watching the Yanks play instead.
Carry on, guys.
I am a baseball fan first. A strong Yankee team is what this league needs. What the Yankees have now is laughable.
I started watching baseball with the Big Red Machine. I rooted for the Billy Martin Yankees. I was happy the Braves got their one World Series. I loved the Blue Jays when they were on top. I loved seeing the one hit wonders from Detroit, Mets, Angels, White Sox, Cubbies, Royals,… The two hit wonder of the Marlins and Twinkies, then the runs by the Giants, Cards and Red Sox… I love watching the game.
Fair enough.
I recall the Big Red Machine. I remember being at The Stadium & seeing the Yanks on TV before ’75, but by then I was definitely a Yankee fan. Giants played in Shea that year. Remember seeing them play there, too.
Disagree whole heartedly with the “laughable” assessment. Despite everything that has gone wrong & all we’ve dealt with this summer, this is still undeniably a dangerous ballclub.
We have:
A true ace. 4 above average starting pitchers. A pen that will go 6+ deep. At one point tonight, our entire lineup had OPS’s > .700. We have bench weapons. We have seen Judge, Stanton, & – yes – Gary Sanchez carry the offense single handedly this summer.
Nobody is going to be excited to play us.
You oftentimes come across as bitter & resentful which made me assume you are a mets fan.
& I just want to see the Yanks get in. We’ve seen this team rip off a couple 7 game win streaks & a 13 gamer. No reason at all we can’t go on a run.
BTW, I’m hoping for a 4 way tie.
Carlos Correa Needs To Play Shortstop In The Bronx,In 2022.