Wearing Giancarlo's pants and swinging Judge's bat, Jazz Chisholm chases the defining contract of his life. Can he lead the Yankees?

First off, the trousers do look a bit clownish. Are weather balloon pants a thing? At least, he should get some cheap bases on pitches that zip the cotton, low and inside. 

The bat doesn't look different, though it's big enough to tweak a gonad.  

The mystery of Jasrado Hermis Arrington Chisholm Jr. is nearing its conclusion. All the suspects have gathered in the parlor, and soon, one will be accused of making - or murdering - his career. At age 28, "Jazz" has four months to reclaim his former slot as one of MLB's rising stars. How he performs on the Great Gotham Stage will determine not only his place in Yankee history, but his financial well-being. 

Whenever Jazz homers or has a big game - like yesterday - the YES team goes full Shane Spencer, spinning the bonkers fantasy that Chisholm has suddenly turned "The Corner" and is ready to fulfill the hype that came with the tabloid-level infatuation with his name. There was never another Yankee named Jasrardo. There was never one named Jazz. And there have been few with such high expectations. 

Maybe it's the position. In this millennium, the Yankees have basically put all their chips on three second-basemen: 

Robbie Cano
DJ. LeMahieu
Gleyber Torres. 

(In a distant alt-planet, Rob "Brigadoon" Refsnyder is the 4th, but in the era of "Shmigadoon," why go there?) That leaves Jazz as the current keeper of the keystone - following DJ and the Gleyb. 

This was gonna be his year. 

Last winter, Jazz famously suggested that he could be a "50-50" hitter - that is, 50 HRs and 50 SBs. (Last season, he was 31-31.) In simple terms, he was predicting an MVP season, above Judge and Ohtani, and one of the greatest years of all time. This was - well - fucking insane. The Gammonites - courtier descendants of Dick Young and Ring Lardner - ran with it like drunken Leprechauns. Ever since, Jazz has been a disappointment, figuratively and literally. 

Thus far, on the season, he is hitting .234 - the lowest batting average in his MLB career, aside from a meager cup of coffee in 2020, over 56 at bats, with the Marlins. Thus far, counting yesterday's blast, Jazz has 8 HRs and 16 stolen bases. Statistically, he's on a course to be a 20-40. Not awful, maybe. Definitely, not 50-50. 

It's been a tough year. In April, he hit .202. In May, .281. Thus far, in June, .176. But let's face it: We can make numbers jump through hoops. For Jazz, the next four months - through September - will either lead him to a $200 million payday - it's his contract year - or vault him into the cosmic void of selling himself after the worst season of his life. And the next two months - without Aaron Judge - will make the difference.

So, here we go. Tonight, with the Knicks game everywhere, with Trump coming, with the streets wild and the whole world watching, the Yankees can see how NYC might react to a world championship. They'll be in Cleveland, home to the A Christmas Story house. Presumably Jazz will be wearing his "Big Boy" pants. It's time to start something. 

Hopefully young Cam will be more on his game today, 'cause MR BOONE WILL BE WATCHING !

Gambling is stupid. Don't gamble stupid.

 

Just to cut in again before the game thread, the New York Yankees, having lost 4 of their last 6, and far and away their greatest player of a generation, and quite possibly two of their leading starters to injury—don't look for Cam to get out of the third today, more's the pity—are now...once again heavy favorites to take the American League pennant.

The Yanks are rated a 40.2 percent chance to do just that; the next highest favorites are Seattle, 18.3; and the Cleveland Guardians of Traffic, recent vanquishers of our boys, at 14.9.

AND...the Yanks remain the no. 2 favorite in all of baseball to win the World Series, at 20.6, trailing only the surging Dodgers (28.2). Next up is Atlanta, at 12.4. 

The next highest Series pick in the AL is Seattle, at 7.6 percent. Tampa Bay, which still leads the Yanks by half-a-game in their division, is only a 2.2 percent pick.

As always, this has to do with the "Pythagorean record" of the Yankees...never mind that they are, for instance. 7-12 in one-run games.

The real bet to take? The Bronx Bombers are considered to have a 99.8 percent chance of making the playoffs. They will not. 

Run out and take that money, if you can find it. Do it now, before we learn today that Cam Schlittler is having, oh, a little bit of a muscle spasm in his shoulder. Nothing serious, maybe just some imaging this week, to be on the safe side...

You heard it here first.

The perfect Yankees back-up catcher...is backing up the backstop in Flushing.

 

Remember this guy? 

Nah, why would you? Why would any of us?

He's Luis Torrens, the Mets starting catcher these days, now that the Mets' perennially injured chef catcher-of-the-future, Francisco Alvarez is, well, injured again.

Torrens was signed originally by the Yankees, at the age of just 17, in 2013. 

Since then, his road to the big leagues has made Job's existence look like a walk in the park. A torn labrum held back his development in the Yanks' system, but nonetheless, he'd battled back to hit .250 with Charleston in the Sally League in 2016.

Some genius in the front office left him off the 40-man roster, though, and San Diego picked him up in the draft.

(Meaning, let me spell out, that we got NOTHING for him. N-O-T-H-I-N-G.)

Torrens wound up in Seattle, where sharing catching and DH duties in 2021, he hit .243, with 16 doubles and 15 homers in 108 games. Not exactly Bill Dickey, but positively Ruthian numbers compared with a certain catcher hitting .166 today.

In 2022...Torrens hurt his shoulder again, this time ending up at the bottom of a pig pile in a bench-clearing brawl. Still, he was back before the end of the season, to become the first position player in a long, long time (Rocky Colavito?) to win a game as a fill-in pitcher. (In the second game of a doubleheader that day, he caught, and got a hit.)

In 2024, the Mets picked Double-Duty Torrens up as a free agent. Since then, he's hit all of .227, with (very) limited power. Nonetheless—again, unlike somebody else we could name—he's turned himself into a stellar defensive catcher.  

Among other things, here are his percentages of throwing out runners trying to steal, as opposed to the league average:

2024: Torrens, 46.4, NL, 203.

2025: Torrens, 40.8 (led league), NL, 23.2.

2026: Torrens, 44.0, NL, 25.0

Boy, makes you wonder what the Yanks could do if they ever hired a general manager.

The Yankees have a black hole behind the plate. Historically, that's a crushing blow. But they do have a solution.

In our distinguished and noteworthy lives, we have leaned upon one unshakeable truth: 

Every great Yankee team features a great Yankee catcher. Consider...

Bill Dickey. (1928-1946)
Yogi Berra. (1946-1963)
Elston Howard. (1955-1967)
Thurman Munson. (1969-1979)
Jorge Posada. (1995-2011)

And that, my friends, is why the '26 Yankees are a smoldering, moldering dud. 

It wasn't supposed to happen. Gary Sanchez was gonna save us. Oh well. Then, two Augusts ago, Austin Wells arrived, hitting 13 HRs over the final two months. Our search for the cornerstone seemed over. 

But the last two years have been a disaster.

This weekend, the Yankees finally punted. They ditched not only Wells but his backup, JC Escarra, two LH catchers with the worst positional stats in MLB. 

Friday, they demoted Escarra to Scranton to bring up Ali Sanchez, a journeyman RH catcher.

Yesterday, they slapped Wells onto the Injured List, dealing with neck pain. They brought Escarra back. The Scranton Express lives! 

What an exercise in hopelessness. Up the middle, this team underperforms at every slot. Wells? Volpe? Chisholm? Grisham? Tylenol? Sour diesel? There's nothing there. And now, a midseason without Aaron Judge? 

Of course, this team can chase a wild card berth. Thank you, expanded playoff system. But come October, these flaws will bite us in the caboose. The Yankees cannot win with a catching tandem that cannot hit .200.  

We don't need to reincarnate Bill Dickey. But until the Yankees find a catcher, this team is doomed. 

Which brings me - gulp - to Ben Rice. 

Okay, I know what you're thinking. I get it: This guy is perfect and should not be tampered with. But when Giancarlo returns, the Yankees will have one too many 1B and DHs. Paul Goldschmidt is not going to play OF, and Stanton will be barely able to run. 

This is what happens when, for two years, you trade away your entire arsenal of catching prospects. 

They gotta do something crazy.  It's an emergency. It's time to break glass.

Unless Escarra or Wells starts to hit - hello? is there a batting coach out there? - the Yankees must ponder the unponderable: 

Rice behind the plate. 

Because maybe - just maybe - we will find our great Yankee catcher.

It's everywhere, it's everywhere

As Michael Stipe once sang, everybody hurts.

 

Rainout Theater: "Rawhide" (1938) starring Lou Gehrig

Lou Gehrig... decides to give up baseball in New York for the life of a western cattle rancher. Once at the ranch, Gehrig encounters a protection racket preying on the ranchers by extortion and violence. He teams up with a crusading local attorney to fight the crooks. (Wikipedia) 

I have watched this twice, which should tell you something about me if not the movie. 

UPDATE: Game rescheduled for August 29. Enjoy Lou Gehrig! Did I mention that the movie is only 58 minutes and has four songs?  

Holy cow! This is from Variety, 9/2/42: 

 

NO GAME TONIGHt – So watch this instead . . . .

 

In their "Judgeless June," the Yankees lose. And across NYC, nobody cares.

Last night, across NYC, the entire festering tsunami of wild-eyed, knuckle-dragging, Gotham sports fans watched the Knicks beat San Antonio. 

From coast to coast, the NBA finals appeared on phones, radios and bracketed bar TVs, giving what would normally have been a big event - the Redsocks vs the Yankees! - the relevance of a Benny Hill rerun. 

Which is how I perceive the Yankee batting order - sped up and swinging to the tune of Yackety Sax. 

Imagine: The Yankees hosted Boston, and nobody cared.  

There was certainly no help from our middle of the order. It began with Paul Goldschmidt. Oh for four. Then Cody Bellinger. Oh for three. Then Jazz Chisholm. Oh for four. 

Sandwiched between five hits from Ben Rice and the mysterious Spencer Jones. Oh for eleven.

Insert a big oh-for-the-night into the order, and that's the Yankees - not only last night, but throughout 2026, when not facing a certified tomato can.  

Which is why last night was, well, mysterious.

For the record, Boson is a tomato can. The Yankees had four innings to score two runs. They couldn't solve Sonny Fuckin' Gray. In the nineth, their Aroldis Chapman - the sweaty el Chapo, the Cuban Water Cannon - generously walked two of our first three batters. Didn't matter. Coupled with Tampa's win, the Yankees now sit three games down in the loss column. 

Of course, the brain trust - in reaction to Judge's injury - made a bold move. They sent backup catcher J.C. Escarra to Scranton and promoted an obscure RH-hitting millhand named Ali Sanchez. (No relation to Gary, though there's a joke there, somewhere.) He's 29, and has kicked around the sport for 13 years, with the Mets, Cardinals, Marlins, Blue Jays and Redsocks. He was hitting .226 in Scranton, though it is hard to imagine him looking worse, offensively, than Austin Wells, now at .168.

Bright spots last night?

1. Spencer Jones had three hits. Naturally, in the nineth, he was removed for a pinch-hitter. You can't make this shit up. 

2. Nobody watched. Nobody. It was the night for the Knicks, in the Year of the Knicks. New York is preparing the Canyon of Heroes. It could be the biggest sports celebration in this decade. The Yankees will watch on TV. 

Why We Figh...er, Lose

Duque will probably highlight this, also, but I just had to...

Sorry, heading for the vomitorium...

Can we please get off of googly?

 They are the corporate overlords. 

Game Thread - The Fifth of Swoon - There's a (MASS)ive HOLE in Right Field

To win without Aaron Judge, the Yankees do not need another slugger. They simply need a bullpen

Yesterday, to finally beat no-name Cleveland, leaders of the disgraceful AL Central, Aaron Boone used up his entire so-called Circle of Trust. That is...

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.

Is there another report that says he definitely has TOS?

"Pearl has performed thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS) surgery on Merrill Kelly, Chris Carpenter and Josh Beckett, among other players, over the years. It is still unknown if Judge is dealing with TOS, or if the stress fracture is the only injury."

So says The Athletic. Just how doomed are we? And--as has been said here repeatedly--can somebody tell Judge to stop diving for balls?

Ruh-roh! Rodón gets the start today as the Judgement on #99 should be revealed on 6/6/26

 

50/50 We Win Today

Looks like I picked...

 

...the RIGHT year to watch FIFA World Cup action!

Sure, it's a ridiculously corrupt international tournament, with the world's worst tiebreaker (penalty kicks is like deciding the World Series by having a fungo-hitting contest), but it will be very heaven compared to this year's Yankees season.

And GO KNICKS!

(Sorry to cut in, AA, just wanted to get this off my chest before you do the game thread.)

Without Judge, the Yankees are toothless and tired. Ten takeaways.

Bad omen. Horrible...

Aaron Judge needs more tests. That mystery booboo on his ribs? It might be a bruise. But when have more tests ever brought good news? The Yankees can Baghdad Bob this, but increasingly, it looks like Judge missing weeks - not days. Jose Caballero won't cut it in RF. The Yankees are on the verge of being swept at home by the first playoff-bound team they've seen since mid-May. (Afternoon game today.)   

Ten takeaways...

1. Anthony Volpe is flatlining - 2 for his last 17 - and revisiting his old neighborhood, the .220. batting average. This is bad. We appreciated Caballero at SS, but Yank fans secretly thought Volpe would return, hit, and take the job, once and for all. Over the last few games, we're seeing the Old Volpe, who gets his pitch and hits a harmless pop fly. The guy hustles, and he's fielding decently. But .220 won't cut it. 

2. At Scranton, George Lombard Jr. isn't knocking down fences. Last night, the future Yankee SS went 0-2. At Triple A, over 31 games (114 ABs) he is hitting .193. Lombard is only 21, among the youngest sprites in the International League. The Yankees claim is glove is MLB-ready. If he starts hitting, would the Yankees vault him into the pressure cooker of a pennant race? Yeah, probably. 

3. The Martian starts a rehab assignment tomorrow. This is his chance. The Yankees need an outfielder, and Jasson Dominguez he needs a shot. In the meantime, why not retrying Spencer Jones? 

4. By the way, Jones went 1-3 last night for Scranton. Guy's hitting .268 on the season in Triple A.  

5. Against Cleveland, the Yankee bullpen has been undressed. In both losses, it's been our kryptonite. Last night, it was earnest Tim Hill, formerly of the Circle of Trust. His ERA is now above 4.50 and - get this - he's one of our better relievers. Don't get me started on Greg Bird and Camilo Doval. They have become signs of the apocalypse. 

6. Lost in the shuffle, Oswaldo Cabrera - of the CarShield commercial -is facing an existential crisis. Down in Scranton, he's hitting a Volpesque .222 and playing everywhere. (Last night, RF and 3B; he went 1-3 with a SB.) Oswaldo has been one of the most popular Yankees, and everyone remembers how, last year, he broke his leg sliding into home and came up asking whether he was out or safe? He's 27.  

7. Without Judge, It's Bellinger Time? The Yankees are paying him Judge money. Somebody has to protect Ben Rice in the order. He's hitting .272 with 8 HRs. He needs to get hot. 

8. Aaron Boone will soon decide: Giancarlo or Goldy? They have three DHs, and two can play 1B. Paul Goldschmidt has been hot lately. Would Boonie sit him for Giancarlo Stanton? Would they platoon Ben Rice? Something's gotta give.

9. Tampa is crumbling. They've lost 8 of 10. Remember how Nick Martinez shut us down on May 22? Last night, he got pounded by Detroit: 6 earned runs in four innings. The AL East looks weaker than in many years. It means that Boston, for all its strife thus far, is still in it. And they visit this weekend.

10. This weekend, nobody will give a shit about the Yankees/Redsocks. The Knicks could be on the verge of an NBA championship, and NYC will be going wild. The Yankees might just get to see what Canyon of Heroes looks like. Maybe it will give them ideas... 

No Judgeness, No Peace

Somebody hand me my powder blue tracksuit 

and medallion necklace. 

Game Thread – Swoon Third – 2026 – Which is your favorite Brian Cashman Joint ?

BRIAN  KLANSMAN

er, uhm

INSIDE (cash) MAN

how 'bout

MO (was much) BETTER BLUES

or

HE (ain't) GOT GAME

perhaps this

DUMBEST LOWEST

and finally

DOES THE WRONG THING

News item: Experts predict Yankees' June Swoon.

 

I'm sorry, what year is it again? 

How long has this season been going on? Since the Late Middle Ages, maybe? Or am I thinking of my own age? (Not "late middle age," that's for sure. I is OLD.)

But I digress. Yankees' now annual "June Swoon" expected? 

Aren't we about to launch on at least our third swoon this season already?

This Yankees season has already had more ups and downs than the venerable "Yankee Cannonball," one of the many attractions at Canobie Lake Park, just outside beautiful Salem, New Hampshire. This message brought to you by Canobie Lake Park—it's a lark!

As I recall—and remember, it's been decades—the first Yankee swoon came after our 8-2 start, when we went 2-7 against the Wandering A's, Rays, and Angels.

Next there was...May, and the wonderful 5-10 schneid, including the beatdown in Baltimore, and the pitiful Mets with a walk-off win of that series.

A constant, crazy mélange of injuries, recoveries, meltdowns, smash-ups, call-ups, and send-downs, that all ends up with José Caballero in right field...just as we sort of knew he would—the same way that we knew, back in 2023, that IKF would end up in center field for us.  

The injuries keep on a-comin', of course. Now Judge, which is sad, except that in a way it's a relief knowing that it's not simply time which is dragging him down. If he's out for any period of time, forget it, because there is nothing left behind him.

Like an old shirt, this team and its pathetic farm system has finally worn through.

Sure, this year's injury list was extended by the need for our nepo baby, greedhead owner to make still more ad money out in left field. But beyond The Martian, so far we're talking:

Judge

Stanton

Rice

Caballero

Fried

Various bullpen lug nuts, and now...

Cam Schlittler. 

You heard it here first. That start last night had all the earmarks of an injured pitcher trying to cover up his injury. It's a pity—though with that name, he was never going to be a great anyway.

So, whatta we got? June Swoon, then the July Cry, August Disgust, and the September Dismember?

Oh, the fun we'll have!

Aaron Judge's injury is why the Yankees haven't traded The Martian and Mr. Jones

Well, it's here...

Hurricane season. The doomsday glacier. The apocalypse. The Babadook. Friday the 13th.  Chernobyl. Ebola...

The wolf is at our door. 

Aaron Judge is going for tests.

In the movie "Armageddon," the world turns to Bruce Willis, who recruits a scrappy-but-lovable team of miners, including Steve Buscemi and Ben Affleck, to save humanity from an evil asteroid. Despite their hijinks, they come together and do the job, though Willis remains behind, in case of a sequel. 

Instead of Bruce Willis, the Yankees have Aaron Boone, who flags Doomsday every time he signals to the bullpen.  

That leaves Yankees entering June with a glowing rock on the horizon. 

For now, they're listing Judge as "day to day." This is what they always do.  When Gerrit Cole, two springs ago, felt a twinge, they listed him as "day to day." If Christie McAuliffe (Rest in Peace) had been a Yankee, after the entire world watched her spaceship explode, Brian Cashman would have still listed her as "day to day."

Considering Judge's history, and the Yankees' rightful concerns, we should expect him to miss at least two weeks. That means facing Cleveland, Boston Cleveland again, Toronto and the White Sox, rolling deep into June without our cornerstone slugger. And before you say "Giancarlo!" keep in mind that we already have a rotating DH in Ben Rice and Paul Goldschmidt. We have a gaping hole in RF, and Jose Caballero cannot fill it. 

But but BUT... when one door closes... 

This is why Cashman has not yet traded for a bullpen lug nut. This is why we still trot out Camilo Doval in close games. This is why we still have The Martian, why we still have Spencer Jones. 

This is their moment, their opportunity, a time when either, or both, can show themselves to be longtime Yankees.  

In his last three games, since returning to Scranton, Jones is 1-for-6 with three Ks and a SB. Overall, in Triple A, he is hitting .267 with 13 HRs and 47 RBIs. (He's still 2nd in the International League.) He can play LF or RF. This is the two-week stint he didn't get in May. 

As for Jasson Dominguez? He needs to immediately begin a rehab assignment in Scranton. After a few games in Triple A - presumably proving that he can hit - the Martian should vault into the Bronx. If Jones isn't hitting, Dominguez should take over.

This might be their last best chances to prove themselves before the Aug. 1 trade deadline. 

The Yankees cannot gamble with Judge. Whatever the tests say, he'll need time to heal. It's too early to threaten a season with a nagging injury. Also, it's unnecessary, especially when you've waited years to see what the kids can do. 

Listen: We can save humanity without leaving Bruce Willis behind. That said, Affleck could be expendable. (He's a Redsock fan, after all.)

 WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE TACKLE BOONE WHEN HE TRIES TO PUT DOVAL INTO A GAME?

WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE SEND DOVAL OUT FOR COFFEE WHENEVER THE TACKLE FAILS TO STOP HIM?

AND . . . SO IT BEGINS . . . (game thread)

Over the first two months, Cam Schlittler is the AL Cy Young

It's hard to discuss Cam Schlittler without bursting into tears. Guy's an angel from heaven, an emissary from God, a living saint from Weymouth, MA, the heart of Redsock Country. Every time he fans a batter, somewhere, a Boston fan throws up.

Where would we be without him? Probably 2nd place in the hot mess AL East, which is - well - where we are. But instead of being two behind Tampa, we'd be seven back, fighting off hateful Toronto. And every 5th day, our listed starter would be "TBD," if not Jake Bird. 

Yesterday, we discussed how Ben Rice has saved the Yankee offense. Today, let's go even further, some felony-grade, juju blaspheme. (Yes, I certainly fear sparking juju god retaliation, but as a teller of truth and sayer of sooth, I have no choice but to continue. Also, I should add that I recently aced my regular cognitive exam, amazing the doctors with my ability to identify a squirrel.) So here goes...

The Yankees - despite their system-draining deadline trades - have baseball's best young hitter and best young pitcher.

There. I said it. Whatever happens, it's on me. Because in all of American sports, there is nothing more freakishly fragile than a young pitcher's arm, and I just put a target on the Yankees' best hope. Dare we believe that Schlittler can last the regular season and still be bringing it in October? In this modern era, how many young pitchers do such a thing?

In February, Schlittler turned 25. Last year, combining MLB and the minors, he threw 149 innings. This year, he's thrown 72, which puts him on a trajectory to surpass 200. That should make us nervous, but the reality is that nobody in baseball knows how to handle a dominating young workhorse like Schlittler, and Boonie is gonna do what Boonie always does: Climb aboard the horse and ride until it fails.  

As of today, Schlittler ranks 5th in innings, 3rd in wins and 5th in strikeouts, with the best ERA in the AL. He would start the All-Star Game, if the Yankees let him. (They should not.)

If the season ended today, the Yankees would make the expanded playoffs - MLB's version of little league participation trophies. Schlittler would start game one of the wild card series. After 200 innings, he would face this schedule.  

Gerrit Cole would start game two. (Actually, if he keeps pitching like he has been, Cole could do game one.) Then it's Max Fried or Carlos Rodon, with Will Warren and Ryan Weathers going into the bullpen. 

The Yankees have gotten used to Cam Schlittler throwing a quality start every 5th day. But they better ease up on the pedal. When the angel flies down from heaven, you ought not ruin him.

Tonight, he stars against Cleveland. Godspeed. 

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Without jinxing him (that is, remaining vulgar and cynical) let us now ponder the season that Ben Rice is having

For many moons now, whenever Aaron Judge steps to the plate, Yank fans drunkenly break into a chant of "Hurt-Your-Body? Call Harding Mazzoti!"   "EM-VEE-PEE... EM-VEE-PEE..."

From now on, after Judge hits, they should just keep chanting.

 

Entering the month of June, Ben Rice is a prime contender - actually, THE bull-goose frontrunner - to win the AL Triple Crown, the first since 2012, when Miguel Cabrera did it. (Before him, Carl Yastrzemski, in 1967.; both are in the Hall.)

You can look it up. Today, Rice is tied for 3rd in HRs...

He leads the AL in RBIs. 

He is 3rd in batting average.

He leads all of MLB in OPS. He should be the AL All-Star 1B and receive a bigger marketing deal than selling Ben's Original Boil-in-Bag Long Grain Rice. 

Most of all, Rice could be a generational rarity - the lifelong Yankee star, which appears maybe once a decade. A player who wears only pinstripes. This is more than simply playing for one team - Zolio Almonte, CJ Nitkowski, Colter Bean, etc. - blips, who hatch like mayflies, don the NY and disappear. This is the Yankee equivalent of being a Five-Timer Host of SNL.

Since 2000, here's the list of iconic Yankee Lifers: They only played for one team.  

Derek Jeter
Mariano Rivera
Jorge Posada
Bernie Williams
Brett Gardner
Masahiro Tanaka

Today, we have a few active candidates. 

Aaron Judge (duh)
Ben Rice
Cam Schlittler 
Jasson Dominguez
Anthony Volpe

Yes, we're reading a lot into The Martian and Volpe, whose careers are still in front of them. Same with Rice and Schlittler. And could Judge join another team at the end of his career? You can't be a Yankee Lifer if you wear a forbidden jersey. 

Consider some non-lifers, who remain great Yanks. (Since 2000)

Paul O'Neill
Andy Pettite
Orlando Hernandez
Hideki Matsui 
DJ LeMahiue

And those who squandered their chances, and shall live forever in Yankee infamy:

Robinson Cano
Juan Soto

Okay, let's not put Rice in the Hall, just yet. Let him win the Triple Crown. (And note to juju gods, this is not a jinx. We're not saying Rice is any good. In fact, he's terrible, okay? So keep your curses to yourselves.)