Yankees under microscope, looking for big-picture answers
The Yankees' Giancarlo Stanton strikes out against the Detroit Tigers at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Yankees can put aside any talk about lofty goals like catching the Blue Jays for the division title or dethroning the Tigers as the AL’s top seed. They have far more pressing concerns. Like finding a relief pitcher — other than Austin Slater — that can get somebody out.
Yes, Slater is an outfielder by trade. But the Yankees’ bullpen was so horrendously bad Wednesday, for a second straight night, that manager Aaron Boone had to call on Slater’s 36-mph lobs just to finish the ninth inning of another rout by the Tigers, this time by the score of 11-1.
Only 48 hours earlier, the Yankees spoke like everything was still in reach, riding MLB’s best record (18-7) since Aug. 11. Then the Tigers arrived in the Bronx, outscored them, 23-3, and all of that proved to be nothing more than big words, with the Yankees once again scrambling for answers, as they have far too often during this roller-coaster season.
There have been a few alarming trends. Anthony Volpe’s precipitous decline, the curious case of Aaron Judge’s flexor tendon. But the bullpen going up in flames over the past two days has become the most immediate concern, torching a pair of close games by allowing a total of 18 earned runs and 18 hits in only six innings of work. That’s a 27.00 ERA, and it would be even higher if Slater didn’t keep the Tigers off the scoreboard by getting the final two outs of the ninth.
“These nights are frustrating, obviously,” Boone said. “But it’s that time of year, we got to get over it and get ready for tomorrow.”
The Yankees thought they had witnessed a rarity, an eclipse-level event, with Tuesday’s bullpen meltdown, when Fernando Cruz and Mark Leiter Jr. became the first pitchers in franchise history to each allow four runs without recording an out — not just in the same game, but the same inning.
“Sometimes this is a sport that’s not as easy as it looks,” Cruz said. “And you always learn from failures.”
And yet, the relief corps pulled off a stunning duplicate of the previous night’s disaster with Leiter again providing the lighter fluid, only this time with Camilo Doval as his accomplice. Doval served up three earned runs and now has a 6.59 ERA in 16 appearances since the Yankees acquired him, surrendering at least one run in seven of those games. Even Luke Weaver, who was forced into mop-up duty, couldn’t complete the ninth, allowing three runs on a sacrifice fly and two-run homer to Colt Keith before Boone summoned Slater from the dugout.
Factoring in these spectacular explosions, the Yankees’ bullpen now has a collective 5.88 ERA since the July 31 trade deadline, the second-worst in the majors to the Marlins (5.96). That’s not a good sign for a team supposedly gearing up for October.
“I have a lot of confidence in their ability and their stuff, but we got to bring it together,” Boone said. “And we haven’t done that consistently enough yet. Can we do it? We’re going to find out, and that’s what we’re going to need to do if we’re going to make a big run at this.”
The Yankees made strides toward correcting at least one mistake before Wednesday’s debacle when Boone opted to go start Jose Caballero -- and essentially stripped Volpe of the everyday shortstop title going forward. It took long enough, but Boone not only chose to go with Jose Caballero for Wednesday’s middle game of this pivotal series with the Tigers — hardly surprising — he refused to say Volpe still owned the everyday shortstop gig for these next 2 1⁄2 weeks. Or at least waffled a bit in response to the question of whether Volpe was still officially the starting shortstop.
“Yeah,” Boone replied. “But that said, we’re in day-to-day mode. We’re playing for a lot right now. I have a decision to make every day with the lineup and I’ll make whatever tough decision I think that is. My hope is Volpe] can kind of get it going here to the point where he is that guy, because I think when we’re at our best, he’s out there impacting us on both sides of the ball.”
Volpe hasn’t been that player for a while now, but there’s no impugning his effort. Volpe was on the field early Tuesday taking extra grounders, then again was the first one out Wednesday to hit off a tee under the close supervision of batting coach James Rowson.
Watching him play, however, Volpe’s issues appear more mental than mechanical, as if his confidence has eroded to an all-time low. Boone opted to stick with him Tuesday and was rewarded with three non-competitive at-bats: a pair of half-hearted strikeouts where
Volpe’s head looked elsewhere and a pop-up bunt.
Despite Boone’s lobbying for Volpe’s revival, the Yankees don’t need the third-year shortstop to achieve their September goals — or go on a deep October run. They’ve made it this far with practically zero from Volpe, who has been one of the sport’s worst players, and Caballero can’t help but be a significant upgrade.
And if things get any worse, maybe Boone can use the versatile Caballero to pitch a few innings in Thursday night’s series finale.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
