Brent Headrick, one inning, no runs
Fernando Cruz, one inning, no runs
David Bednar, one inning, no runs.
Altogether, no hits, the first seamless bullpen outing since - well - weeks, months? It was not exactly Quan-Go-Mo, Michael Kay's ill-fated, 2004 attempt to link Paul Quantrill and Tom Gordon to the great Mariano. But for this particular bullpen, a scoreless three is found money.
The Yankees won their first game without Aaron Judge as an option. Throughout the day, the lack of an announcement from Yankee Central Command provoked growing alarm from Suzyn Waldman. You could feel her distress rising, as the silence grew louder.
We might not see Judge again until August. It sucks. But the Yankees do not need a replacement slugger. What they need now is still what they needed last week: A decent MLB bullpen.
Tonight, against Boston - a team that hates us the way Hall hates Oates - Boone will be back to stems and seeds, aka Camilo Doval and Jake Bird. Both have been rampant disappointments since the day last July when they were acquired. Neither shows signs of hope. Tonight, the Yankees will start Ryan Weathers, probably leaving Boone with a three-inning hole to fill. Having used the entire Circle of Trust yesterday, only God knows how the Yankees will navigate those final three innings. We better score nine runs.
The Yankees will face Sonny Gray, another of Cooperstown Cashman's two-way trade debacles, coming and going. (To get him, they traded three prospects, including James Kaprelian and Jorge Mateo. To get rid of him, they added Reiver Sanmartin to a package that brought back Shed Long Jr.) Not only did Gray spit the bit as a Yankee, but then he went elsewhere and succeeded. And tonight he faces us in the Stadium.
The Yankees cannot trade their way out of missing Judge. It's time to see what Spencer Jones and Jasson Dominguez can do. Both have run their courses at Triple A. Let's see what we have.
It's almost the same in the bullpen. Why trade for another Doval, another Bird? Two days ago, in Scranton, the Yankees shifted Carlos LeGrange - the breakout pitcher in spring training - to the bullpen. In March, LeGrange looked incredible - until he didn't. He threw 16 innings with an ERA of 4.95. But he reached 102 mph on the radar toy. On a one-inning basis, if he can throw strikes, he could be formidable.
Another guy in Scranton, Yovanny Cruz, 26, seemed to find a new fastball in May. Last night, he gave up an earned run in 1.1 innings, with 2 Ks, against the Syracuse Mets. Dunno what we've got.
But without Judge, the Yankees must change their ways. They are no longer a HR-hitting factory. They need to nickel-and-dime. They need to steal bases, move runners, clip coupons. And somehow, they need to find a bullpen.
If Judge really can't dive, he can't play the outfield anymore, can he? Kind of a no-win situation.
ReplyDeleteWhy would he need to dive to play the outfield? If I was Boone, I would've ordered him never to dive, unless it was World Series game 7.
DeleteThey should be able to play .500 ball without Judge. Stanton and tje Martian will pick up some of the slack. Judge's relaxing fortnight will pay dividends in the stretch run and postseason. Maybe he can catch a few World Cup matches. Cash's nerds have run the numbers. This is the big brain move...let Judge rest. And even if it doesn't work, Cash has an ironclad excuse for failure. "Judge was hurt, whaddya gonna do?" Brilliant.
ReplyDeleteI am lockstep agreement with most of what Duque wrote here.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest issue here is that Judge may miss the rest of the season. He’s a known slow healer, and the team’s medical reports are absolutely not to be trusted If the injury did occur on May 2 as many surmise, the team’s record with an injured Judge was 12-12 against mostly weak competition June’s schedule is tougher and will be a better barometer..
Bullpen? Here’s LaG’s numbers in relief from Wed; 4 IP | 1 H | 0 R | 2 BB | 7 K. That’ll work. I’m sure he’ll have a few outings where he walks the park, but it is a necessary part of his development. Yovanny Cruz’s Uber should parked outside the Moosic Motor Lodge gassed and ready to go.
Red Sux tonight. Heard there’s a basketball game on too?
I just want to say that following the Yankees would be intolerable were it not for this community of irascible drunkards.
ReplyDeleteI tried switching browsers, and lo and behold, I can comment without that stupid thing poppin' up: "Failed to publish comment: try again later"
ReplyDeleteDid some research on Judge's injury. A very interesting injury, I have to say. He had the same thing in 2019, same spot, 1st rib right side fracture, punctured lung. He will miss at least as much time, if not more. Nothing but complete rest can cure it. So this is a season ending injury. One year, maybe 18 months. Maybe more.
ReplyDeleteJudge got the 2019 injury whilst diving for a ball. What did I tell you's all? Boone should've ordered Judge never to dive for a ball after that. Now he's got the same or similar injury. Fucking spineless Boone.
ReplyDeletePocono, Reggie Jackson never dove for a ball in his life and he played in the outfield.
ReplyDeleteThey say Joe DiMaggio never dove for a ball and he played CF. Specifically, I recall Yogi said that.
DeleteJudge says he don't when it happened. That it wasn't one single event this time. Yeah, I think this has probably been simmering since the end of last year, or maybe spring training of this year. Can you say "World Baseball Classic"?
ReplyDeletedon't KNOW, sorry
DeleteToo much, too fast, over too long a period of time. This is an overuse injury. Judge really could've used time off after last season. Instead, he spent all winter getting in shape, rehabbing the elbow injury, to get ready for the fucking World Baseball Classic. Athletes are not the brightest bulbs in the room, I'll tell you that much.
ReplyDeleteIf you recall, during the 2025 spring training, (last year), Judge hardly played during spring training. I was worried that he might not be ready for the regular season. This spring training, Judge goes to the World Baseball Classic, and ramps it up all the way. He also worked out all winter, instead of resting. So that's an injury waiting to happen.
ReplyDeleteEven during World Baseball Classic this spring, I thought Judge's throwing did not look good. His throwing recently did not good. It has not looked good, to my eye at least, this whole year. Looked like he was holding back, protecting injury. You can tell when an athlete is lettin' it rip. And you can tell when he's protecting an injury.
ReplyDeleteDuring the WBC, Judge made a good throw to nail someone at the plate. Everybody was googly-eyed over the throw, but I was not impressed. Something looked off to me.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, Judge says he only feels this injury when swinging the bat. (But I think it can still affect throwing.) So that explains all. He's had this issue pretty much the whole year. That's why he's not hitting like previously. The power is gone. A lot of bad, weak swings.
ReplyDeleteThe Yankees say that there was a lot of edema, swelling. That he's been battling it for awhile. Not good.
ReplyDeleteSo this is another type of repetitive stress injury (RSI). Usually, RSI involves the connective tissues in a joint, like ligaments or tendons. But it can be a stress fracture of a bone. The stress fracture is a hairline fracture, non-displaced. If you continue playing through it, you can completely fracture the bone. I remember Jeter broke his leg towards the end of his career. It was probably a stress fracture and playing through it caused a complete fracture.
ReplyDeleteI used to jump rope for my boxing training. I developed shin splints on the insides of my shins, both legs. That was an RSI injury, a type of stress fracture. Know how long it took to heal? I had to completely stop skipping rope. It's been more than two decades now. I still don't skip rope. Because I know that if I skip rope, the shin splints will come back. I guess I was fortunate. If I had continued to try to push through the pain, I might've completely fractured both of my tibia bones. I was doubly fortunate that only the rope skipping had to go. I could continue boxing and martial arts training without any pain, as long as I didn't skip rope.
ReplyDeleteThis is the play that seems to have caused the injury. It was not a dive,
ReplyDeletehttps://www.reddit.com/r/NYYankees/comments/1tx8cev/i_have_been_looking_back_at_some_of_judges/
Based on what the Yankees have said, on everything that has transpired so far this year, on the test reports they've announced, my opinion is that no one event "caused" this injury. He hit the wall hard there and stayed down for a bit. I remember that catch. It might've exacerbated the problem, but I think he's been dealing with this since the World Baseball Classic. They're saying it is a "stress fracture". This is from an accumulation of stress on the bone, not an acute fracture from a single traumatic event.
DeleteThe amazing thing is that Judge has had this same injury before in 2019. He would've missed half of 2020, but the coronovirus epidemic wiped out half the year, so he didn't miss any time. You would think that management (and Ba-Boone specifically) would be ever watchful about stress fractures in that same spot. But they're not. We're dealing with morons. Nothing we didn't already know.
ReplyDeleteHammer, to your point about the type of injury this is. And yes, it's the same as in 2019:
Delete"A first-rib stress fracture is a small crack caused by repetitive stress rather than a single violent blow. It is an overuse injury, the kind most often seen in overhead athletes like baseball players, pitchers and tennis players.
"The first rib sits just beneath the collarbone, surrounded by powerful muscles. The scalene muscles pull upward while the serratus anterior pulls downward. During repetitive, forceful overhead motion, those muscles yank the bone in opposite directions. When they fatigue or strengthen faster than the bone can adapt, the constant cyclical stress causes micro-tears and weakens a naturally thin section of the rib known as the subclavian groove.
"A first-rib stress fracture does not always feel like rib pain. It can show up as a dull ache or sharp pain under the shoulder blade, behind the collarbone, or at the base of the neck. It tends to worsen with deep breaths, coughing, or lifting the arms overhead. For a hitter like Judge, that overlap made a rib injury feel like a shoulder problem."
From MLB.com
ReplyDeleteThe @Yankees are recalling their No. 6 prospect, Spencer Jones. Aaron Judge heading to the IL.
Okay, maybe now they're forced to give Jones more than four games to show what he can do. When the Martian is healthy, he should be playing center more than Grisham, whose career year is now in the rearview mirror.
ReplyDelete"When the Martian is healthy, he should be playing center more than Grisham..." LOL LOL LOL LOL!!!! As the kid said in the horror movie classic "Phantasm": "You gotta be shittin' me, man, that mutha [Ba-Boone is stoo-pede]". Yankee management would rather do hara-kiri than develop a position player, much less someone who looks like he might be really good, like Dominguez. What can we do? We're not the owners. They're gonna do what they wanna do.
DeleteYeah, I know. Big difference with the Yankees between "should be" and "will be." Volpe should be in Scranton. He will be our starting SS for weeks.
DeleteMuch as I love you, Warbler, you're wrong: Reggie Jackson dove for at least one ball in his time with the Yankees, and I'll never forget it.
ReplyDeleteThe showdown series with the Sox at Yankee Stadium II, 1977. Mick the Quick wins game one with a homer. Second game of the series, Reggie wins with a two-run, walk-off homer in the ninth.
But in the seventh, score still 0-0 and the Sox with a guy on second, he made a terrific, diving catch. I was, sadly, only watching on TV, but it was one of those games when the place was so full and the crowd so crazed that you could see the Stadium shake.
Here's Joe Durso's account from the Times. Among other things, he reported that when the crowd was told the National Anthem had been recorded by the Boston Pops, they booed. :) Also, interesting how much reporting there is on the actual game—something I miss nowadays.
The glories of the past...are going to have to be how we fill our summer.
https://www.nytimes.com/1977/09/15/archives/jacksons-homer-in-9th-gives-yanks-20-victory-over-red-sox-jackson.html
Okay, so he (almost) never dove for a ball. Like the Captain of the H.M.S. Pinafore: "I am never never sick at sea" / Chorus: "what, never?" / "No, never" / Chorus: "what, never?" / "Well, hardly ever ..." / Chorus: "Hardly ever sick at sea!"
DeleteThis is a good article, I thought. Good explanation of the Yanks' injury problem:
ReplyDeletehttps://pinstripesnation.com/yankees-injury-mess-due-to-risky-signings-2026-06-05/
Thanks, JM. Yeah, some good points there. I disagree with this part though:
Delete"Fans often blame the trainers, but the report pushes back hard on that instinct. Multiple people interviewed said athletic trainers and medical staff unfairly absorb blame when they are usually reacting to injuries that already exist."
Trainers will get you injured. If you join a gym, don't let the trainers make you do anything you don't want to do. They believe they're doing their jobs, but they can't get inside your body. They don't know how your body feels. You have to be your own trainer-in-chief and override any training decision that you don't agree with. The younger the athlete, however, the less knowledgeable and the less kinesthetically aware the athlete is, leading to more reliance on the trainer, which leads to preventable injuries. So fans are right, the trainers are always partly to blame for these injuries. The organization is partly to blame for espousing such trainers and their training methods.
I always thought that it was very curious that The Martian came up here and, in less than a week, he tore up his elbow UCL. I think they said it happened on a throw. But I think they had him training with a weighted ball. That causes UCL tears. Dominguez was very young. He probably didn't realize it was very dangerous. What the hell does a 20 year kid know about this? Trainers should know better. The organization(s) should know better. Shame on them. Fucking disgraceful. Bunch of incompetent, greedy assholes, bastards.
DeleteThey say Judge will be out 4-6 weeks. Ha! 4-6 weeks, my ass! Notice they said that after 4-6 weeks, they will redo all the tests, x-rays, CT scan, MRI. So that means until the tests come out clean, he can't be cleared. A lot of times tests don't come out "clean". They are ambiguous. So that means they'll have him test it out on the field, swing the bat, throw some. He might not have any pain at first, but if the injury is not fully resolved, it will come back again and then they have to shut him down again, for another 4-6 weeks. Then another round of x-rays, CT scans, MRI. Lots of radiation. If Judge wants more kids, he should go to a sperm bank and jerk off, generate some semen samples and have them cryo frozen for future use.
ReplyDeleteCourtesy of The Firm:
Got to concentrate
Don't be distracted
Turn me on tonight
Cuz I'm ra-di-o-active
I'm a ra-di-o-active
Don't get too close
You might catch it
Ra-di-o
Ra-di-o
Ra-di-o-active
I was radioactive at one point, but it wasn't critical at the time.
DeleteAnd now, to lighten up the mood surrounding the team:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6563252/2025/08/20/yankees-prospect-swastika-core-jackson-2025-mlb-draft/?campaign=18412512&source=athletic_top_stories_email&userId=10727957
Take it from this goy, that guy sucks. Or maybe blows. I'd have to ask Mel Brooks on Druidia.
DeleteAnother great Yankee signing.