The top of the American League is perhaps unprecedentally loaded and the road to the World Series is going to be among the toughest in baseball history. The Red Sox, Yankees, Astros and even Indians (despite a less-than-stellar start to their season) are all juggernauts who have rosters that have the look of surefire World Series contenders. All four, plus the Mariners, are essentially already locked into a playoff spot, and it’s all about positioning themselves for a deep playoff run. The one exception is for the Red Sox and Yankees, who are battling for a division title vs. an appearance in a one-game playoff in the Wildcard Game. Both teams are on pace for well over 100 wins right now, and the winner of this race will come down to being the team with the fewest flaws.
The Yankees need for starting pitching is becoming more and more apparent
Saturday’s Say Hey, Baseball includes the Yankees rotation woes, Carlos Gomez’ rocky relationship with a cooler, and Scott Boras’ thoughts on Bryce Harper.
The Yankees are, of course, not a team with many flaws. They have won 66 percent of their games! Still, they have a problem in their rotation. New York lost on Friday night, and that loss was largely because Sonny Gray had yet another awful start. The former Oakland Athletic now has a 5.44 ERA on the season, and it’s getting harder and harder to see him sticking in the rotation for too much longer. That, combined with the Jordan Montgomery injury that has forced Domingo German into the rotation, has shortened their unit quite a bit. Masahiro Tanka is coming back soon, which will help, but Gray’s continued struggles just make it clear that New York needs another arm for their rotation.
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The question is, obviously, to whom they will look for that kind of help. The dream scenario for Yankees fans is that they look across town and strike a deal for Jacob deGrom from the Mets. That doesn’t appear likely, as the Mets look poised to wait at least until the offseason to pull the trigger on such a deal. More realistically, the Yankees will be looking at a lesser arm. JA Happ has been the pitcher most connected to the Yankees, and Cole Hamels could make some sense too. Neither of them are deGrom, but more importantly is that neither is Sonny Gray. The Yankees are good enough to win the World Series as-is, but it would be shocking if they didn’t upgrade their rotation to improve those odds a bit.
- We may not get Judge or Stanton in the Home Run Derby, but Grant has a list of ideal participants to make the event as fun as ever.
- Carlos Gomez took out his frustrations on a cooler earlier this week, but he’s making up for it now.
- Bryce Harper has been struggling mightily ahead of his hometown All-Star Game and his massive free agency. Scott Boras has some thoughts on his clients.
- It’s been a miserable year for Baltimore fans, and now it’s looking like they could lose their best player as early as next week.
- When we think about racial equality (or lackthereof) in baseball, we often think back to Jackie Robinson. Really, the story goes much, much further back.
- We talked about the Yankees needing a starting pitcher, but they are also apparently showing some interest in Mike Moustakas.
- No team is ruling the late innings quite like the Oakland Athletics.
- On Friday, it was announced that Jenrry Mejia is set to be reinstated by MLB for the 2019 season. Lifetime bans just ain’t what they used to be.
- The Futures Game rosters were announced on Friday.
- Ronald Acuña is among the most exciting players in the game right now, but he went down with another injury in Friday’s game.
- Jerry DiPoto has signed an extension with the Mariners, meaning we’ll be getting constant and random trades for years to come.
- The deadline for teams and draft picks to agree to deals has come and gone, and four first round picks did not come to an agreement.
