Yankees Fans Should Be Livid Over Cashman’s Failed Pitching Plan
To scores of Yankees fans on social media, calling up Jasson Dominguez will cure all that ails their team that has continued to scuffle despite a relatively friendly August slate.
My one question to them: Can Dominguez pitch?
Obviously, the 21-year old Dominguez is an outfielder and would be no remedy for New York’s mound woes, so this is a “two things can be true at the same time” case:
1) Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman had zero excuse for keeping Dominguez down on the farm when the Major League rosters expanded on September 1. Dominguez appears to have recovered from the slump that accompanied his return from the Injured List in late July. In his last 18 games, Dominguez hit .353 (.405 on base percentage) with 3 homers, 7 RBIs and 14 runs scored. Meanwhile, the extra outfielder added to Sunday’s Yankees roster was… Duke Ellis? A waiver pickup who had been designated for assignment by three different teams this season, including the deplorable White Sox? Manager Aaron Boone’s explanation of the decision before Sunday’s contest versus the Cardinals was your typical word salad—Dominguez has got to play every day, he’s not all the way back from the oblique injury, etc. All canards. And…
2) Had Dominguez been included in Sunday’s Yankees lineup, nothing would have changed. Because the Bronx Bombers can’t get anyone out. The Cardinals, hardly a juggernaut, racked up 21 hits in overcoming their own blown lead to rout New York, 14-7, to take the rubber match of the three-game series at Yankee Stadium. The Cards’ sub-.200 hitting No. 7 batter, Jordan Walker, went 5-for-5 with his first home run of the season. Meanwhile, the fairly-maligned Alex Verdugo went 2-for-4 playing the left field slot that the majority of Yankees fans felt belonged to Dominguez.
Sorry, but the inconsistent pitching is the story of that particular game and this Yankees season. Stellar in the first half of the year, the arms—both the starters and the bullpen—have severely regressed to their means. Ironically, the staff did its best work while Gerrit Cole, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, was on the IL. Like his rotation mates throughout August, Cole has alternated quality starts with outings where he put his team behind early in games.
In their last 27 games, New York’s starters gave them a total of eight “quality starts,” fewer than all but seven MLB teams since August 1. Nestor Cortes was an outlier in hurling three consecutive solid games before Sunday’s raking where he surrendered five earned runs in four innings of work. Throwing 25-year old rookie Will Warren out there every fifth game has been a veritable white flag. His four August starts yielded a 10.47 ERA with three losses and a no-decision.
Where the starters left off, the bullpen picked up the inconsistent mantle, blowing several games that should have been in the bag. Clay Holmes gets much of the blame as the team’s closer, but he was only responsible for one “L” last month, a blown save that Detroit ended up winning, 3-2, in extra innings. The bullpen as a whole, though, has posted a 4.17 ERA since August 1. That’s not good enough.
Understand that this stretch where New York has gone 14-13 has come against some of the worst teams in baseball. It included three-game sets against four different last-place clubs. The Yankees even got blown out once by the White Sox, who are on pace to break the Mets’ 1962 record for infamy.
That New York remains a half-game ahead of Baltimore for first place in the AL East (and for the best record in the entire AL) is more a testament to its fantastic start and the overall weakness in MLB where every team seems to be flawed than it is to what this team can be when the stakes are raised. The Bombers’ 29-36 mark since June 14 is a large enough sample where one can conclude that this is who they are—a ballclub whose pitching will cause them trouble in getting through one playoff round, never mind to a World Series.
And that has been Cashman’s failure since, well, forever. He hasn’t been able to properly build a staff. The starters he brings in never give the team the innings it needs to avoid overtaxing the bullpen. By July, who could Boone trust to get the 12 or so outs he needs every night?
Cashman’s solutions in advance of the trade deadline weren’t even Band Aids. Mark Leiter Jr., acquired form the Cubs for a pair of minor leaguers, has been the figurative lemon on open wounds with an ERA over 6 and a WHIP just under two in 14 appearances for New York.
That was better than Enyel De Los Santos, another wasted Cashman bet. After coming over from San Diego, De Los Santos surrendered 10 runs in 6-plus innings over five games before he too was kicked to the curb (and picked up by, you guessed it, the White Sox).
As for starting pitching, Cashman stayed pat. It’s hard to crucify him when few difference-making starters get traded, but the Yankees were supposedly in on Jack Flaherty, whom Detroit eventually dealt to the Dodgers. Flaherty, a 28-year old righty, is exactly the type of strikeout-inducing pitcher who ordinarily excels in the postseason.
L.A. got Flaherty for their No. 8 and No. 22-rated prospects, neither of whom are pitchers. That equates approximately to infielder Roderick Arias and a lesser Yankees prospect. Would that have been worth it for a potential rental, especially if Cashman had concerns over the pending free agent Flaherty’s medicals at the time? Some may view Arias as a possible heir apparent to Gleyber Torres at second base, but he’s hitting .229 with a strikeout about every three plate appearances at Class A Tampa. I’d say he’s at best a few years away, with others (2023 first-round Draft pick George Lombard Jr. among them) competing for that potential opening down the line.
It’s all moot now, because Cashman opted to go into a pennant race and postseason with Cole, Cortes, Carlos Rodon, Marcus Stroman, and, until either Luis Gil and/or Clarke Schmidt get healthy, Warren as his rotation. That seems, um, risky. Add in the often-ineffective relievers and it’s hard to imagine that one rookie, even if Domiguez comes out on fire at the plate, will make enough of a difference in their pursuit of a championship.