Since a blistering start to the season, highlighted by a 21-7 showing in May, the Yankees have played at a sub-.500 pace, recording a 40-41 record dating back to the beginning of June. They’re 1-3 since the calendar flipped to September and have dropped seven of their past 11 games. A lineup anchored by Aaron Judge and Juan Soto has remained among the more productive units in the game, but the Yankees’ other outfield spot has been a weak point in the lineup for much of the season. Top prospect Jasson Dominguez is healthy and awaiting a big league opportunity as he rips through Triple-A pitching, but the Yankees have thus far stuck with struggling veteran Alex Verdugo — much to the chagrin of the fan base.
General manager Brian Cashman addressed the subject today, telling reporters that if Dominguez were to be called up to the majors, he’d need regular at-bats the team does not currently believe to be available (link via the New York Post’s Greg Joyce). Cashman suggested that Dominguez is “doing everything he needs to” in Triple-A at the moment but also pointed to recent improvement in Verdugo’s results.
“The evaluations that we’re having with our field staff and player development staff, front office staff, is just what is going to give us the best chance to win,” said Cashman. “As of right now, we’re staying pat with what we’ve got.”
It’s a frankly vexing stance for the GM to take, given the rate at which Verdugo has produced (or rather failed to do so) for the bulk of the season. Coming over in an offseason trade with the archrival Red Sox, Verdugo got out to a nice start in his Yankees tenure, hitting .267/.358/.446 through the end of April. Had he continued at or close to that pace, it’d be understandable and plenty defensible to say that the veteran Verdugo can’t simply be pushed aside. That hasn’t been the case. Dating back to May 1, Verdugo has posted an anemic .227/.276/.337 batting line. That’s 28% worse than league-average, by measure of wRC+ (72).
For much of that time, the Yankees didn’t have the luxury of even making a tough decision. Dominguez spent the early portion of the season rehabbing from Tommy John surgery performed last September. He was able to begin a rehab assignment in May and was optioned in June when that rehab window ended. At that point, Verdugo’s struggles hadn’t persisted much longer than a month. Judge and Soto were healthy and producing. There wasn’t a clear-cut path to an everyday role. Dominguez wound up suffering a fairly severe oblique strain in Triple-A — one that cost him more than six weeks of action.
Dominguez returned to action in late July, and since then has received all of one game in the big leagues — a quick look as the 27th man in this year’s Little League Classic, after which he was returned to Triple-A. Calls for the Yankees to swap out the veteran Verdugo have since mounted, and Dominguez’s torrid play with the Yankees’ top affiliate isn’t going to quell them anytime soon.
In 41 Triple-A games this season, Dominguez is sporting a hefty .313/.371/.497 batting line — 25% better than average in the Triple-A International League. After striking out in about a quarter of his minor league plate appearances last year, he’s cut that rate to 18.5% in Triple-A this season. Dominguez has been on a particularly potent heater over his past 20 games, slashing .375/.438/.613 with five home runs. Verdugo has turned in a .225/.260/.296 slash in that same time.
There’s no real service time gamesmanship at play here. Dominguez wouldn’t reach a full year of service time in 2024 even if he were called to the majors today. He’d also retain his rookie eligibility into the 2025 season as long as he spent fewer than 34 days on the active roster and accumulated fewer than 95 at-bats between now and the end of the regular season. However, as J.J. Cooper and Matt Eddy of Baseball America highlighted recently, Dominguez wouldn’t even be eligible to net the Yankees a draft pick under the CBA’s prospect promotion incentives, as one of the requirements for the PPI eligibility is having fewer than 60 days of MLB service. Dominguez already surpassed that total while on the major league injured list due to the aforementioned Tommy John surgery.
The Post’s Jon Heyman reported last night that there was a “spirited” debate among Yankees decision-makers on whether to call Dominguez to the majors this month and swap him into the lineup for Verdugo. The decision to keep Dominguez in the minors is hardly unanimous among the team’s decision-makers, per the report, with several Yankees execs strongly advocating for Dominguez’s promotion. However, both Cashman and manager Aaron Boone have faith in Verdugo’s abilities, Heyman writes.
On the one hand, the Yankees are a lock to reach the postseason whether they’re playing Verdugo or Dominguez every day. At 80-60, they’re tied with the Guardians for the fifth-best record in MLB. On the other, New York’s recent slide has also dropped them a half-game behind the Orioles for the division lead.
It’s debatable whether Dominguez would’ve shifted the Yankees’ fortune in any of their recent losses — he alone isn’t likely to have flipped the script in a four-run loss to Texas or a seven-run loss to St. Louis, for instance — but there’s no denying that the potential difference between Dominguez and Verdugo over the final three-plus weeks could prove pivotal in closing that half-game gap in the standings. That could be the difference between a Wild Card berth or a division-winning, first-round bye for the Yankees.
*he can’t keep getting away with this* gif
I’m sure their tune will change completely when they lowball and lose Soto in the offseason. *insert Cashman saying we made what we thought was a fair offer here*
What team is going to pay more for Soto than the Yankees?
Mets
The 2nd most interested org may be SFG
I could see the Mets sure. They got money and they are always competing against the Yankees. Sure.
Phillies Giants Mets
Mets, Dodgers and Giants feel like only realistically. Mets are still in NY and tbh I think Cohen will outbid Steinbrenner. The Dodgers I don’t think make a ton of sense based on team makeup (Ohtani and potentially Smith down the road being DH where I think Soto ends up) but it would be foolish to count them out. The Giants are the most desperate of the bunch to land a superstar and have a metric ton of money to spend. I don’t think Soto cares as much about a championship as Ohtani did considering he already won one with the Nats and I think will be the highest bidder who lands him and idk if the Yankees will be willing to match the Mets or possibly Giants.
Soto wants money and a winning environment plus spacious ballpark will swallow up most his Hrs so Giants not happening. Mets imo in a long shot!
I’ve never seen true evidence Soto cares much for a winning environment and frankly he’s already won a WS ring unlike Ohtani, Harper and Judge. We’ll see what happens but I firmly believe he’s going to sign with the highest bidder with the winning culture thing being at best a tiebreaker
@Gmen777 I don’t think the Dodgers are going to bid too hard for Soto. They have enough star power and should prioritize their starting pitching.
@YankeeBleacherCreature I agree 100% I just think you can never truly count them out. It’s feels like Mets vs. Yankees with Giants as the only real feasible dark horse
Lmfao!!! You’re serious right? Mets, Dodgers, Toronto are going to blow out the Yankees with the bidding imo starts at $550 million! Yankees are going to do their due diligence and once Boras tells them don’t bother making an offer it it does not start with a 5. If Yankees start signing players early into the winter this is a sign they are out and just going to focus on building their team without Soto.
You’re last sentence is correct, but word is that the overwhelming # of owners have already warned the Mets owner, in particular, Not to reset the already lofty salary structure of MLB by signing Soto for $50+ MM per year.
So, there’s a decent chance he’ll come in with an AV a bit more than Ohtani’s $43MM+ per year. Soto will likely exceed that by 2-4 MM per.
I think $49 or $49.5 MM per is likely, unless the Mets owner or the Dodgers say F-it we’re going to go with $53 or more per.
But even as great as Soto is, if you give him the 12-13 year deal or more he seems likely to get, you’re going to get royally screwed on the backend of that deal.
If you think not, look at how HORRIBLE the long-term deals for HOF-worthy players like Albert Pujole and Miguel Cabrera ended up being; they all ended up being Very Regrettable deals.
Soto is great & I want the Yankees to sign him — and I’m sure his next contract will include multiple opt-outs to protect him against the inevitable rise in salaries — but there’s no doubt in my mind that his deal will begin to look very expensive, as he ages.
Heck, all-time greatest like Ruth, Mays, Mantle, etc. did Not age well. It’s not a lack of desire or effort, it’s just a natural process of aging.
Maybe today’s player’s will age somewhat better because most workout hard in the offseason, unlike previous generations, but again, I point to Pujole and Cabrera whose declines happened more recently.
Dodgers. Under Friedman and Walter, they never get outbid for a player they want.
@ctbronx but do they want him THAT bad? I genuinely don’t think so and I think the link being made between them is purely ‘oh look a superstar player lets link him to LA’. I think the only way it works is if they move Ohtani to the outfield (his athleticism lends me to believe he’d be a better outfielder than Soto within a year). Soto is a below average outfielder, Will Smith was extended for ten years and already is a below average defensive catcher (also in the midst of his worst season in years) and Ohtani is the undisputed DH especially if he pitches. Just doesn’t feel like a realistic fit
I say this on a regular basis. He’ll have that defiant, arrogant look on his face as he says it. I might end up being way off, but my prediction is they offer Soto 10yrs/$325M and those will be his exact words. He needs to go and so does Boone.
Way to low, to even talk to soto you have to go in the 400s
Oh I agree. I’m guessing he’s easily passing $500M and wouldn’t be surprised if it’s over $600M. But with Hal’s somewhat recent comments about lowering payroll, this is what the Yankees will ultimately do. They’ll offer low knowing he won’t take it. I was just making up my numbers, but this is what happened with Yamamoto last offseason and I expect it’ll be what happens with Soto. I hope I’m wrong because he’s been a pleasure to watch this year and their offense will suffer even more without his bat unless they find production elsewhere. It won’t be easy.
More like starting with a 5 cause Ohtani’s $465 million total value will be crushed!
“When they lowball and lise Soto”…Because the highest spending team in baseball history is completely broke and always has to lowball players, right dum dum?…
If you didn’t really have anything intelligent or original to say, why not just remain silent, dummy?…
Accusing what’s historically the highest spending team(by far) in MLB of being cheap is totally unoriginal, untrue and totally shows how little you know about and follow baseball.
I agree it’s a little silly to accuse the Yankees of being cheap.
Yankees won’t be cheap with Soto
You are an idiot. George died in 2009. The Yankees are not the same team that you mentioned outspends everyone.
“You are an idiot..not the same team”…Yeah, that’s why the Yankees have a $300M payroll right now and traded for what could be the most expensive player in history just this year(Soto), right Hank?
Not to mention giving Judge & Cole top 5 all time deals, just in the last few years. Get some new, original material bro. Calling the highest spending baseball team in history cheap, should be beneath any real fan of MLB.
Look at the payroll and see where the money is being allocated. It’s okay that you don’t follow the team, you don’t have to pretend.
Highest spending team in history is as valuable of a statement as “team X is 63-1 against team Y on tuesdays going back to 1971”
Sounds like a classic GM-who-thinks-his-s#it-don’t-smell, and is determined to be proven right about his acquisition of Verdugo. A common characteristic of long-time decision-makers whose organizations (sports or not) have been performing well mostly because of factors outside his control, but he believes are because of him.
I really don’t think that’s the case at all. Verdugo is a soon to be free agent. It’s September and this is a playoff team. If Cashman thought Dominguez gives the team a better chance to win then Dominguez would be playing.
Oh you underestimate the ego of these dudes.
The Yankees winning is an ego stroke in itself. And Cashmans done a lot of winning. I think he believes Verdugo gives them the best chance of winning. Or it’s too close to call and there are service time considerations with Dominguez that is also possible.
Yeah, good luck convincing anyone that the guy who is on fire at Triple-A and is a top ten prospect by some outlets isn’t an improvement over the guy batting .221/.276/.313 with a .260 wOBA, 66 wRC+, and negative fWAR since June.
The Yankees have numerous players in AAA with a better OPS than Dominguez. Taylor Trammell. Caleb Durbin. Many many more look it up.
Caleb Durbin should have been on the teams months ago before he got hurt…..and it’s astonishing that he wasn’t added to the 40 and called up.
Big difference between an older AAAA guy like Trammell taking advantage over kids vs a fetus like Dominguez crushing the same pitching.
There is a big difference long term. But long term isn’t what matters today right now. Today right now Trammell is a little better, at least offensively.
As a Cardinals fan we are going through this with Jordan Walker. He has lots of potential but that doesn’t mean he’s the best right now today.
“Proven right about his acquisition of Verdugo”..I think winning a WS would trump being “proved right”. I can’t see Cash lowering the Yank’s title chances, just to be “proved right” and I think it just shows he believes a fully trained, experienced veteran gives his organization the best chance to succeed. Many GMs(especially historically)would go with experience over youth.
I Want Dominguez up but… Since switching batting gloves (due to am alergy) Verdugo has hit again. Judge likes him and he has the potential to be a clubhouse distraction if he’s unhappy. I’d still bring up the Martian but those are the other factors at play.
I mean, seriously, how is this even a discussion?
When you’re the Martian you literally can’t miss. Just like Estevan Florial.
Don’t worry, The Cubs GM decisions are just as bad. We have productive young players rotting in AAA while we have to watch Kyle Hendricks, Patrick Wisdom and Miles Mastrobuoni smell like a fish that’s been left out in the backyard for 3 weeks. So I’ll take your Verdugo and raise you three stink fish and a GM with no clue.
Anyone else think that Verdugo has compromising pictures of Cashman? Much like Vogelbach did what he was on the Mets and they were playing him for no reason.
If by “Verdugo” you mean “LeMahieu”, then yes, you are correct.
🙂
Yankees changing their reasons here. They had said Dominguez was being kept down because he wasn’t hitting lefties (the Yankees current big league problem), his defense was not so good and his arm wasn’t 100% since coming back from injury.
The loyalty to Verdugo from the Yankees, you’d think they’re talking about a Bernie Williams or Jorge Posada type of player…
This is one of Boone’s issues. He wants to be one of the boys and doesn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. I hope they’re happy when it’s one and done again in the postseason. This is not a serious team.
Joe, he still does most of his damage against righties. I’d take him over Verdugo but he’s a much weaker hitter from the right. He and Verdugo or Grisham can split starts in left. Honestly I’d cut Verdugo as Grisham has hit better and is the best defensive CF in the organization.
Agreed John. I like Verdugo but it obviously isn’t working out and time to move on.
It’s so tiresome to listen to Boone and Cashman. They’re so full of crap they should quit baseball and get into politics.
Agreed Joe. Boone seems like he thinks he’s a teammate not a manager. Cashman is insufferable, but I believe he’s being paid to take Hal’s bullets. Someone said it above but the Yankees just want to be a contender, they don’t care if they win rings.
@Joe Lol. Baseball pays more.
This situation gets more ridiculous by the day. Verdugo has been terrible since June and Dominguez has been on fire lately. Dominguez should be up by Monday ahead of the home stand against the Royals and Red Sox. Keeping him down past that point would just be gross incompetence
Prediction: you will never again see Dominguez in a Yankee uniform.
Cashman will trade him to the A’s this winter for some over-the-hill nobody that will have zero impact I. 2015.
Dominguez will go on to win AL Rookie of the Year honors in Sacramento.
Is service time a factor? I gained a good chunk of service time will being on the MLB IL. Maybe they are trying to recoup another year.
Edit: not saying it is right but something that makes sense considering he would them now.
IIRC the only service time considerations that could be gained is having Dominguez avoid being a Super Two, which isn’t (or at least shouldn’t) be a consideration for the Yankees.
I’m surprised to see the article claim there is no service time stuff going on here. It clearly affects his almost certain super-two status if he were up already. If he turns out as good as some people dream, that could save you $20M or more on not having a 4th year of arbitration.
While the super-two cutoff day is fluid year-to-year (depends on the rest of the leagues arb players between 2–3 years), they can fairly safely avoid it if they wait another couple weeks, maybe less.
Probably the greatest flaw that any GM has is the inability to admit a mistake, and that seems to be what is afflicting Cashman right now
I bet he still doesn’t regret trading for Josh Donaldson.
“Because he’s Josh Donaldson.”
Dominguez must have s@#%talked his way into Cashman’s doghouse or something
It doesn’t matter honestly, it’s not like GM for life Cashman is going anywhere so he going to stick to his guns about Verdugo, hope he gets hot so he can say see l told you so.
Convinced the Yankees want to keep Dominguez down so that he doesn’t surpass the 130 AB limit for rookies. He has 30 already.
Keeping rookie eligibility so that he qualifies for ROY next year – and the possible addition of a draft pick for that.
They won’t get a pick from that. He already surpassed the 60 days of service time.
My initial thoughts too, but I learned Dominguez doesn’t qualify for the pick due to accrued MLB service time while on the DL.
My understanding is he was on the minor league IL as that is where he sustained his oblique injury. The Rookie eligibility is still intact as minor league IL time doesn’t affect service time — though MLB IL service time does.
It was mentioned at the end of this article on MLB.com
mlb.com/news/jasson-dominguez-not-recalled-by-yank…
Dominguez was on the major-league 60-day IL until June 12, which is why he had to be optioned to the minors on that date when his rehab was up. That means he already accrued 70 or so days of service time this year already.
I think we’remixing up rookie eligibility and service time. Yes he accrued service time for time spent on the major league IL, but it appears that IL time doesn’t count toward rookie eligibility.
I was incorrect in saying “service time” when I should have said “rookie eligibility”. It appears rookie eligibility isn’t affected by time spent on the IL.
From MLB site…
Definition
“A player shall be considered a rookie unless he has exceeded any of the following thresholds in a previous season (or seasons):
• 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues.
• 45 total days on an active Major League roster during the Championship Season (excluding time on the Injured List).”
Ferpad, negative. He’s not eligible for the extra pick due to being on the MLB IL for half a year. He can still be ROY but not incentive for the Yanks.
@ Jerseyjohn – So many different rules. It seems you are right are the IL time counting toward the PPI. It also counts as service time. But IL time doesn’t count for rookie service eligibility.
Confusing to say the least.
Yeah it’s become pretty complicated. At least for Dominguez’s sake he got that half year of pay and service time.
Verdugo’s trip through free agency is going to be a long, ugly one if he’s looking for anything more than a one year contract
Tbh I think he’s really going to enjoy Korea and the vibrant culture of that country next season.
The Verdugo trade is one of the bright spots to an otherwise “meh” season for the Red Sox.
The ONeill deal was also a good one. But when you trade away Cy Young for a nobody prospect it hurts.
Boone even defended Verdugo dogging it to first on a groundout and we know AB is just a mouthpiece for Cashman. The gaslighting is real.
Domingue is mashing and ineligible for ROY draft pick bonus due to IL service time. But, but, he needs full time MiLB at bats. GTFO.
Mynameisnoname Dogging it or banged up, Verdugo needs to be benched/rested for Dominguez. They wont release him so DFA Duke Ellis instead.
I see a number of Yankee fans calling for Cashman’s head every time they are unhappy with his moves.
As far as I can tell, there are only 2 things that concern Hal Steinbrenner. Are the Yankees turning a decent profit? And are they an embarrassment?
The Yankees are so big they will always turn a profit unless they spend to insane levels which Hal would likely never allow.
As for being an embarrassment, the Yankees most recent sub .500 season was 1992. (3 plus decades ago). Are they a disappointment some years? Sure, but not enough to truly embarrass the owner.
In my opinion, Cashman has a de facto lifetime contract with the Yanks. He’ll leave when he retires.
Yankees fans should probably get comfortable with that.
(also, while looking up their team records, 1912 was the last time the Yankees organization had a 100 loss season. In fact, they were the New York Highlanders that season and didn’t become the Yanks till the year after, so technically, the New York Yankees under that name have never had a 100 loss season. Impressive to think about when watching the White Sox this year)
Between price of admission and the semi mandatory, albeit delicious chicken buckets, you’re paying a premium at every turn within Yankee Stadium III.
I don’t need your ho hum pragmatism unless you plan on subsidizing my families experience. That’s where I earn the right to gripe.
The YS steak sandwich is my go-to.
On the other hand, a Judge/Soto/Dominguez outfield sounds pretty scary on defense. Not that Verdugo is a world beater, but he is +8 DRS this year.
I’m not in the front office of any MLB team, but I’d be willing to bet that most teams would agree that the 8 runs he saves on defense isn’t worth the .589 OPS, .260 wOBA, and 66 wRC+ he’s been putting up since the start of June.
Soto wont be back in 2025. Outfield setup to be Dominguez LF, grisholm CF and Judge RF. That could change if Yankees decide Grisholm better fit at 2B however I see Cakeb Durbin at 2B and leadoff in 2025
In what world would the Yankees let Soto walk out the door after what him and Judge are doing this year?
Let? You seem confused. The decision will be Soto’s. It’s not the Yankees’ decision. If he wants to move to a new team, there’s nothing they can do about it.
Grisholm lol. If Trent Grisham and Jazz Chisholm had a baby. I will assume you meant Chisholm.
Still laughing on that mix-up.
Alex Verdugo should not be the answer to any question. That man has been a Cashman disasterclass this year
The only question he should be the answer to is “Who should the Yankees release next?”
Its going to be one of Grisham or DJ
Props for “Disasterclass.” I will use that frequently.
Thanks.
No better saga in baseball than the Yankees holding back young and potentially talented outfielders in favor of older veterans who are mid at best.
Mid is putting it nicely. DJ has atrocious numbers at the plate, and his defense just based on the eye test is horrible. He lost a groundball in the lights…
“ he lost a ground ball in the lights.”
Made me laugh out loud
It’s another example of trying to run a baseball team with a spreadsheet vs making common sense baseball decisions. You can bet Cashman has some analytic that if Verdugo can just scratch his balls more to the left while increasing his launch angle 2′ at 7;46pm on a Tuesday, he’ll be a .300 hitter.
Half the stats out there read like participation trophies today. He only hits .220 but the analytics say he’s just been “unlucky”. Who gives a bleep!! Your stats are your stats….period. Bad luck doesn’t add runs.
Any team thinking like you and not using analytics will be left behind and languishing in 4th or 5th place for years. The Colorado Rockies are the least analytically-inclined team in baseball, and they predictably suck every year. If you don’t understand the concept of a player getting lucky and outperforming his core-skill numbers then you’re just dumb at this point.
In your idiotic haste to mock, you missed the easy point. Nobody said don’t use analytics at all. What I said is that sometimes you have to use baseball common sense and the eyeball test…..not hang on BS peripherals like they’ve been doing for years now…..which is why they haven’t won again.
Furthermore, the Rockies haven’t had much talent….so there’s that.
Yet another reason baseball has trouble with popularity vs other sports. They love to keep the future stars down in the minors for way too long.
Brian Cashman would have to admit he was wrong about Verdugo and he is a brash, narcissistic, buttfaced miscreant. So the top rated phenom who showed he belong LAST year will toil for a guy with a 82 wRC+.
Insanity.
Both Cashman & Boone are pathological LIARS.
All you have to do to confirm that is look at how man times they’re outright mislead people about the severity of injuries on the team. In fact, it seems like it Cashman’s policy is to Always LIE about how severely a player is injured, or to simply withhold info about a player’s injury.
Also, other reputable MLB sites have pointed out that the Yankees Were Attempting to Manipulate Dominguez’s Service Time to Gain an Extra Year of Control, which they’ve now done, from what I understand.
So, the author was incorrect in saying the Yankees weren’t trying to Manipulate Dominguez’s Service Time previously: Yes they were!
There’s NO VALID EXCUSE for NOT promoting Dominguez at this point to replace Verdugo. As the article righty noted, “Dominguez has been on a particularly potent heater over his past 20 games, slashing .375/.438/.613 with five home runs.” Now compare that to Verdugo’s Dog Dung “production of a “.225/.260/.296 slash in that same time.”
I’ll expose Boone’s BIGGEST BLATANTLY LIE in another post in a minute. It’s unquestionably a Blatant Lie on Boone’s part.
Lol. Boston told em so.
As promised earlier, I’ll expose Boone’s BIGGEST BLATANT LIE in this post.
When the Press & Fans started screaming for WELLS’ to be the primary Catcher a few weeks ago, BOONE OUTRIGHT LIED, disingenuously claiming that Trevino was a better option than Wells because Wells had trouble with lefty pitching.
Here are Trevino & Wells’ Stats Against Lefties At The Time Boone Made That LIE:
* Trevino was hitting .200 with a .299 OBP against lefties.
* Wells was hitting .209 with a .320 OBP against lefties.
Hmm, I didn’t excel at math, but I’m pretty sure .209 & .320 are BETTER THAN .200 & .299.
If you’re a mathematician, please explain why I’m wrong; I’ll differ to your advance mathematical skills. 😉
Trevino had 4 HRs back then against Lefties, whereas Wells had 0 against lefties, but that was because Wells hasn’t gotten regular ABs against lefties, much like Paul O’Neill when he first came to the Yankees (see below for details).
Btw: Wells’ stats against Lefties are Still Better than Trevino’s, as of today. Wells: .204 BA, .317 OBP vs Trevino: .193 BA, .284 OBP.
This Abject Stupidity & LYING by Boone reminds me of what many people believed when Paul O’Neill first came over to the Yankees.
Idiots said O’Neill couldn’t hit lefties, and he ended up with a career .264 average against them, after he was allowed to face them regularly (funny how that works, isn’t it).
And, of course, O’Neill was one of the most clutch hitters on those great Yankee Championship teams, hitting .284 with 11 HRs & 39 RBI in playoff games.
Btw, if O’Neill & Posada were allowed to face Lefties earlier in their careers, one or both of them would now be in the HOF; that’s especially true in Posada’s case.
Wells is developing into the Yankees 3rd most intimidating hitter — which is pretty damn impressive when #1 and #2 are otherworldly Aaron Judge & Juan Soto — before Boone benched him in favors of Trevino, once Trevino came off the IL. (Thus proving Boone is a moron.)
Trevino is an excellent #2 catcher, but Trevino couldn’t intimidate 99% of AAA pitchers; and Trevino certainly can’t help protect Judge the way Wells has.
Bottom Line: Wells should catch 4 Out of Every 5 Games, regardless of the handiness of the starter.
Boone has finally started playing Wells against some Lefties, but he still falls back on the BS Argument that Trevino is a better option against some Lefties. NO HE’S NOT, BOONE!
And Trevino should Absolutely NEVER catch a playoff game. The difference in the offense when Wells is in the lineup, compared to Trevino, should be obvious even to a couple of Morons like Boone & Cashman! But I Guarantee You, Trevino will start (probably multiple games) in the playoffs.
Agreed. But Wells will never be the full-time catcher until Trevino because Cole prefers pitching to the latter.
You answer your own question “diggerydoo” when you wrote this: “Post season gives them 30 more days of revenue, sales, etc…. The Yankees are about MONEY.”
You ONLY get “30 more days of revenue, sales, etc.” if you make it DEEP into the playoffs. And when was the last time that happened?
The way half the Yankees lineup has been hitting & the way the Yankees pitching has been so erratic (Holmes, Nester & many others), the Yankees look poised for another early exit from the playoff (1st or 2nd round(, especially with a nitwit like Boone guiding the ship into every available Iceberg.
Verdugo looked like a keeper the first couple of months, but instead of helping anchor the Yankees offense, he’s been more like a literally anchor by preventing the offense from scoring with his Inept “hitting.”
So, while there’s no guarantees that bring up Jasson D. will make a huge difference, there’s at least hope that he could make a difference offensively, far more hope than Verdugo provides at this point.
Btw, Diggerydoo, read my post about how Boone (and Cashman) Blatantly Lied about Wells before you Quote an Inept GM like Eppler.
Boone & Cashman are both pathological LIARS.
What a lot of people don’t realize, since verdugo changed his batting gloves, he’s low key been one of the hottest hitters in the team
This decision is a perfect example of why the Yankees haven’t won in 15 years. Their player evaluations have been wrong repeatedly.
I may have missed this while scrolling, but why is Dominguez the only answer here? If you’re playing Judge in CF just to get Verdugo’s bat into the lineup and Verdugo isn’t hitting, why not get Judge out of CF and play Grisham instead? Or Jazz if you want to play Cabrera at 3B. It doesn’t seem to change the offensive output much, but it does make for a better defensive alignment and if you believe in the idea that CF produces more wear and tear on the body, protects your lineup centrepiece.
It’s really not that hard to figure out. They are paying Verdugo $8.7MM and expect him to perform.