Roger Rubin: Yankees have quite a few decisions to make before Game 1 of Wild Card Series vs. Red Sox
Yankees’ Giancarlo Stanton takes live batting practice before Game 1 of a doubleheader against the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium on Friday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The Yankees have reached a point in the season at which the games on the field don’t come close to mattering as much as the decisions that must be made off it.
The Yankees clinched home field for the AL Wild Card Series on Tuesday and the Red Sox locked up the right to face them Friday afternoon. That best-of-three series will begin Tuesday at the Stadium. Between now and then, the Yankees must put together a 26-man postseason roster, and that task currently looks like a real juggling act.
Conceptually it looked as if there could be a couple of tough calls to make when the week started. Now there are an array of possibilities that are no longer just conceptual.
A lot of it happened before Game 1 of Friday’s doubleheader against Baltimore at the Stadium, a 10-2 Orioles win that included two home runs by former Met Pete Alonso (including No. 43, a 471-foot shot deep into the bleachers in left-centerfield that gave him 113 RBIs), Dylan Beavers' grand slam and Jeremiah Jackson's inside-the-park homer.
Giancarlo Stanton and Trent Grisham faced live pitching, perhaps the last step toward becoming playoff options. Lefthander Ryan Weathers, a starter envisioned as a potential postseason bullpen piece, threw a bunch of those pitches.
And, of course, there was Wednesday, when Aaron Judge shot down manager Aaron Boone’s assertion that he wouldn’t be recovered from his calf strain in time to face Boston and said, “If you ask me, if I’m going to be back."
This is not to say that there weren’t any important things going on as the Yankees faced the Orioles. They gave Anthony Volpe his first start at third base in the opener. Starter Will Warren was to pitch relief in the nightcap. Those are two things that could occur against the Red Sox next week.
“We do have a lot of questions to answer as far as how do we want to finalize [it],” Boone said. “A lot of years when you're going into the postseason, it feels like you're kind of arguing a lot of times over that 25th or 26th spot between a couple of different guys. There seems way more in play right now . . . It does seem like there's more to work through this year, especially when you consider some of [our] injuries that are potentially knocking on the door as options.”
Boone spoke Thursday of the debate about whether Cam Schlittler should start Game 1 or Game 2 against Boston. On Friday, he asked, “How many position players? How many pitchers? [Which] starters play a bullpen role potentially in any round?”
With Judge and Boone perhaps on opposite sides of a debate, that one is anybody’s guess. But the notion of adding Stanton, out since late April with three injuries to his two calves, clearly is intriguing. It not only would add a power bat and proven postseason performer but a righthanded-hitting one against a Red Sox team with a lot of lefthanded pitching.
Stanton really fits on a Yankees postseason roster only as a pinch hitter. Ben Rice is cemented at designated hitter, and moving him to first base would disrupt the effective platoon of Luis Garcia Jr. and Paul Goldschmidt.
“It's not that simple, but having the threat there is real,” Boone said. “If we feel like he's up to it and ready for it, and [given] the threat that we all know [Stanton] is, we’ve got to weigh that.”
The Yankees are contemplating carrying 15 position players, and Stanton could be one of the reasons. If he were to come off the bench to hit, someone would have to be replaced in the field. If he were to get on base, a pinch runner likely would be needed.
The Yankees already have the extremely versatile Jose Caballero, but Volpe would be even more valuable if he is comfortable at third base, a third infield position. He didn’t get a chance at third in the opener and was at shortstop for the nightcap, but Boone said there is value “being in there and thinking through the situations and . . . setting up how you're supposed to.”
The Yankees seem to be working toward striking a balance between offense and defense in which they get the most desirable hitting matchups without suffering a drop-off in the field.
“There could be a lot of moving parts within a game, [and] the more flexibility we can have with guys hopefully puts us in a position to take advantage of a good [hitting] matchup within the game,” Boone said. “We could find ourselves in the sixth inning of an important game and I don't want to hold back on this guy being able to come into the game [to hit] and I’ve got to move this guy around [in the field]. Having that flexibility is really valuable.”
A verdict on whether Judge, Stanton and/or Grisham will be ready to take on the Red Sox might not be rendered until the deadline for Wild Card Series rosters comes on Tuesday morning. There’s a lot to consider between now and then.
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
