As days go on the 2023 baseball calendar, Sunday was a good one for the Yankees.
Jonathan Loaisiga threw a simulated game against Aaron Judge. Both appeared on a trajectory to return soon, as did Nestor Cortes, who was at Double-A making his first rehab start.
In the actual major league game, the Yankees completed a three-game sweep of the Royals with Luis Severino mostly looking good for a second straight start and DJ LeMahieu, Anthony Rizzo and Giancarlo Stanton hitting all weekend like there might still be life in the old fellas.
It was a giddy pinstripe Sunday. The kind to suggest that the Yankees are real contenders and should commit to being strong buyers by Tuesday’s 6 p.m. trade deadline.
Or was it a mirage?
The Royals, after all, look like something Double-A dragged in. They completed the weekend on pace to finish 46-116. Their only positive is at least they are not the A’s, who were on pace to go 44-118.
In the first 40 games Judge missed with a right big toe injury, the Yankees were 18-22 and had been outscored 181-157. That was with them going 5-1 against the A’s and Royals and outscoring them 40-17. Their slash line in the six games against the weak sisters was .276/.351/.492 while averaging 6.67 runs per game. In the other 34 games, the slash line was .211/.282/.360 while averaging 3.44 runs.
In the 41st straight game missed by Judge, it sure looked like the weekend was a mirage. The Yankees were hammered 9-3 Tuesday night by the Mets. They returned to their greatest hits, which is to say they had trouble producing many. They put a man on first seven times in Justin Verlander’s six shutout innings, and the only one to reach second came on an Anthony Volpe steal. They were 0-for-10 with men on base against the Hall of Fame-bound righty.
The only pitching that brings life to this Yankee offense is the A’s, Royals and the Mets’ bullpen.
Would that change with the return of Judge plus a trade (or two) to address the offense? Or if results spun horribly this week would the Yankees consider selling?
The only time they did so with fervor in a half-century of Steinbrenner ownership was 2016, notably moving Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller. The only remnant of those deals is Gleyber Torres. The Yanks could move him before his walk year and insert Oswald Peraza at second to see how he performs. But second base is not a position that often fetches much in the market, especially when the player will cost around $15 million next year. The Yanks could follow the Chapman/Miller model and move Clay Holmes before his walk year and Wandy Peralta in his walk year. Holmes, in particular, would be a desirable piece. Harrison Bader in his walk year? Would a team take a flier on Severino in his walk year believing they will get the best of him for a couple of months?
More than likely, though, the Yankees will buy. But to what level? There is a question whether the Angels will trade Shohei Ohtani and they are just one game worse than the Yankees.
It would be motivating to stay on the buy track if Carlos Rodon can finally pitch well as a Yankee on Wednesday and help deliver a Subway Series split. The Yanks could carry that into Camden Yards where Judge, after playing five simulated innings Tuesday, might be activated — with Loaisiga and then Cortes not that far behind in August.
But does any of that whitewash how listless this club has looked, particularly during Judge’s absence?
The Yankees signed Rodon for six years at $162 million to give a 1-2 punch with Gerrit Cole against the Astros in October. Besides that the Yankees fail regularly in the postseason against Houston because their offense gets shut down due to too little batting average and diversity, there was the hubris to just assume another showdown with Houston. Which brings us to a toughness issue.
The Astros lost their best hitter, Yordan Alvarez, on June 9 when he was leading the majors with 55 RBIs. And Houston has had far worse starting pitching injuries than the Yankees. Yet, their Alvarez-less offense has remained more than competent with a .756 OPS and 5.0 runs per game as the Astros have gone 22-17 (2-1 against Oakland) to move from five out in the AL West to one out. And Alvarez plus Jose Altuve are due off the injured list Wednesday. So Houston is a clear buyer.
The Yankees have a few more days to demonstrate similar pluck and performance to convince the bosses it is worth investing further in this team. They need to show they can be royal pains against more than Kansas City, Oakland and the Mets’ pen.