The Yankees will play tonight in a key series minus two of their starters and their regular catcher. Where is MLB to level the playing field?
The Yankees, for the third time this season, have three key players unavailable in a key series with a Wild Card rival, the Seattle Mariners.
Last night, Nestor Cortes Jr. came through again with five solid innings, surrendering two runs before the core of the Yankees bullpen, Chad Green, Zack Britton, and Aroldis Chapman closed out the game. At the same time, Joey Gallo broke through a .087 BA stretch with a three-run home run at Yankee Stadium.
Gary Sanchez, Jordan Montgomery, and Gerrit Cole are not the 24th, 25th, and 26th men on the Yankees roster; they are key elements.
Yankees: Precedent Says MLB May Step In
Only a week ago, four Washington Nationals‘ players tested positive for COVID-19, forcing Major League Baseball to postpone their game against the Phillies last Wednesday night.
While the Yankees are closing the ranks as best they can, wearing masks, practicing social distancing, etc. – there’s only so much space in the Yankees dugout and clubhouse – and there are forces of nature at work beyond anyone’s control.
Although, as a West Coast team, with the Mariners making their final trip East, it strikes me unthinkable why MLB has yet to step into the matter to postpone any or all of three remaining games in the series.
Yankees haters will immediately say, “Oh, here goes another Yankees fan moaning and whining.”
Hate me. I don’t care because it’s a matter of fairness and the safety of both Mariners and Yankees players.
Yankees: Guess Who’s Coming To Pitch Tonight
Take a guess, for instance, who Aaron Boone and pitching coach Matt Blake are starting tonight. He’s today’s Featured Image, if that helps. Forget it. You’ll never guess right.
It’s Wandy Peralta, who is making his first start after ten seasons in the major leagues and 246 appearances, all in relief.
10-10 lifetime with a 4.76 ERA, Peralta barely qualifies even as a pedestrian pitcher. He carries a career WHIP of 1.567, a full half-point over what is considered acceptable in the big leagues.
Enough, you get the idea.
Peralta may be a cover for what turns out to be a bullpen game for the Yankees, but with Andrew Heaney scheduled to make a start on Saturday and Luis Gil on Sunday, the innings can easily mount for the guys in the pen.
CBS Sports lists Cole and Montgomery remaining on the IL list for another six days, and Sanchez is not eligible for a return before August 15, and that’s if all goes well.
Of course, everything is erased if the Yankees bats continue to score more runs than their opponent.
Although Aaron Boone is vague about what happens when Luke Voit returns from a knee injury, Voit is completing his rehab with Triple-A Scranton, where he hit a home run yesterday.
Blocked at first base by red-hot Anthony Rizzo, Boone may call on Giancarlo Stanton to play in the outfield again, allowing Voit to be the Yankees DH. Stanton did nothing to discourage the Yankees from playing him in the field.
Is Brian Cashman Quietly Making A Play?
Meanwhile, the Yankees are 6-1 since the trade deadline, making it possible that Brian Cashman has been in contact with Commissioner Rob Manfred – and it is he who is lobbying MLB not to interfere with disruptive postponements.
If that’s the case, it’s a ballsy play by Cashman, but I’m leaning toward going with it…
Here’s What Readers Are Saying…
Rod Wells Just play and win
Robert Piro How about…the Yanks wear masks?! You know if you test positive you have to sit 10 days. Is being down important players really in the team’s best interest if they are trying to make a playoff push?
Steve Fein People outside of New York don’t give a crap about Yankee woes. Only us diehards.
Paul Farese The Mariner’s payroll is already just above 1/3 of that Yankees, how’s that for leveling the playing field? There’s always one wise guy in the house…
Jim Ruppert Wow. So have a lot of other teams. Should we give them a pass because they are old or something???.
Paul Farese Can be a cover for a bullpen game? It’s absolutely a bullpen game, Peralta hasn’t pitched in a month and when he was pitching this season he rarely pitched more than one inning and never more than 1 1/3 innings
MD Swanner Meanwhile, the MARINERS have had the most roster changes than any other team in baseball, due to injury and covid-19, but not a single bitch from the team. Yankees need to remember that there’s no crying in baseball!
Peter Zirogiannis I disagree. Unfortunately, this virus is unpredictable and teams have to adapt. Just like injuries are unpredictable
Robert Rosado Herrand Not having Cole, Montgomery and even Sanchez is huge but the Yankees have to keep that next man-up attitude. The bullpen is going to get depleted. As far as Voit goes 1st base belongs to Rizzo.
William Keane Huh? You’re asking MLB to ensure Yankees opponents catch a virus??? Stuff happens. Players get injured, have deaths in their families, get sick, and so on and so forth. Your level playing field is MLB ensuring neither team uses more than nine players at a time (well, ten if counting DH and pitcher in AL). Not much left to do but take the punch from a fan who is not (obviously) a Yankees fan.
Closing Published Comments And Final Thoughts
With game time less than an hour away, this closes published comments.
As I thought it might, the article came across as whining. Be that it may, the “next man up” from readers holds true with me.
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.
