Is Giancarlo Stanton's career with the Yankees over? Rotation takes another blow! | Pinstripe Post

It's a drive by Danny Dotson. Charles Chisholm goes deep. Hello and welcome to the Pinch Strike Post. My name is Ryan Sampson but he's the star of the show Joel Sherman. Today is Monday August 24th. Joel since the last time we spoke the New York Yankees have won two series against the Orioles and Blue Jays both division rivals who are trying to get into that wild card spot. We got some more injury news. Unfortunately John Carl Stanton suffered another setback. We'll discuss that and what it means for him and his Yankees career. We're also going to talk about Ryan Weathers landing on the aisle with a left left forearm strain and how this really impacts the rotation going forward. But before we get to any of that as always on a Monday morning Joel Sherman how you doing today buddy. I'm good and I'm up here in MLB Network got a show to do in a little bit but another interesting weekend of baseball and yeah the American League is terrible and the Yankees beat. But by the way I think the five best teams in the American League are all in the A.L. East and the Yankees beat two of them. I think that that that the Orioles or the Blue Jays would win the Central or the West. As we're speaking the West just had their third firing of a head of baseball operations. Dana Brown is out there following Perry Menazie and with the Angels and David Force with the A's. So that's three out of five there. They have no winning teams but they have three guys fired for not having winning teams in that division. So yeah it's an interesting time in the American League. Just four teams over 500 and one of them is is the Yankees. Yeah no doubt. And look Joel I do want to get into that discussion later on about just you know I know that we I shouldn't say we. But collectively we have talked a lot about the downfalls and what the heck's going on with the hitting and the offense and the Yankees shortstop position this year. But in all actuality they are one of the best teams in the American League. They have one of the best rosters I think we agree. And I think they have a chance to make a serious run. But the injuries continue to pile up and I do want to start there. Let's start with the Ryan Weathers of it all because I think that's going to have a bigger impact on in terms of the near term right now with the Yankees. Weathers was pitching phenomenally I think to like a 3-6 ERA. He had a great run here the last couple of months. He seemed to figure it out with Matt Blake and Aaron Boone changing his style I think a little bit. And at the same time it's a tough blow for a guy who we had talked about all year long it seems like he's going to be going to the bullpen Ryan most likely. Because the game of musical chairs when you get to the postseason you really only need three starters for the first two rounds of the postseason. But it just feels like this was that injury you talked about last week of they can't have another one of those Ryan. And Weathers unfortunately lands on the IL. So Joel how do they handle this going forward? He's supposed to be down two to four weeks before throwing so that's a big gap. Two weeks is what September 10th around Labor Day around there maybe that week after Labor Day. Four weeks you're looking at what one week two weeks left in the season. So how do they handle the Ryan Weathers of it all? Well I think big picture wise they don't put him in harm's way. He'll either be good enough to come back to pitch in some hybrid bullpen situation. And they'll try to do some pitching chaos with a guy like him and Clark Schmidt. Perhaps giving them some bullpen innings. But just the big picture of it all is you can't make plans about pitching and you never have enough pitching. The big picture plan say two months ago was that at some point Carlos Lagrange and Ryan Weathers were going to be power lefties and power righties pitching out of the Yankee bullpen. Lagrange hurt his shoulder and almost certainly isn't going to pitch again this year. This just happened to Weathers. And just the good news is the Yankees are I think if not leading the majors right up there in like team ERA. They are really good at run prevention. They've been good at pitching. But it has been a small kind of unit that's done it. They haven't really used the depth of a bullpen. And so they've heavily used guys. And it put them into the red on a lot of guys including Ryan Weathers who has never pitched this much in a season before. And that's just the danger point for them when they didn't add at the trade deadline an arm or two. Now now I do want to be cautious about that. If you go look at most of the pitching that was acquired. Like I think it's on the day of the trade deadline. The Yankees had acquired. You know Lasker Brazoban. People would win. Oh good. They deepen their bullpen. He's been terrible for the White Sox. Like this is you know you know Brooks Raley has blown a couple of games for the Phillies. Luke Weaver had a blow up for the Pirates against the Red Sox. You know the reality is you don't want to acquire the Elliott Ramos of relief pitchers just to say that you acquired one. And then you wouldn't be using them in the postseason. Part of the Yankees problem this year. Ryan I think is you could track to last year which is they gave up a lot of prospect collateral for Jake Byrd and Camilo Duvall. And neither guy pitched well. And so now they had less. You know they didn't have an answer with Duvall or Byrd who were under their control and they ended up trading at the deadline. Plus they didn't have the prospects. To go ahead and find the next version of that or another pitcher. And they are a team that has been you know I know that there's always a lot of. Hitting at house Steinbrenner you know like oh they don't go for it. Like one of the ways they show I mean prospects are worth a lot of money because you're not paying them a lot. There's future value there and they've traded a lot of it over the last four or five years to try to go for it. And that left them with just less to trade at this deadline. Having said that I still think they needed to find a way to an arm or two that they like just to give them some greater depth. Because they to me they're just in harm's way now. I think that what they did this week against the Orioles and Blue Jays pretty much assures they make the playoffs now. I mean they would have to like finish like eight and twenty two or something like that I think to put themselves in harm's way. And so I think that they know they're going to get in. But they still want to at minimum be the number one wild card. And the Rays are not that far ahead of them and the Rays are playing probably as bad as they played all year recently. So they want to try to catch it because whoever wins the AL East is going to be the number one seed in the league. Which is a first round by and home field advantage throughout the AL playoffs. So you know they want to go for it. And I do think they're in some danger zone with their pitching. They have a doubleheader coming up this week against Boston I believe. Which is going to challenge their pitching even more with it even with the off day today. You know they're going to have to expose themselves to some like you know Brendan Beck innings or bring back up Elmer Rodriguez. They're going to be challenged here for pitching in the short term. And it has been the strength of the team. So the loss of Weathers is significant. The best that could happen as I see it from 20,000 feet is he comes back with a week or two left. And gets enough work out of the bullpen where the Yankees feel comfortable putting him in the bullpen. Which by the way is 30 years after his father was in the bullpen and helped the Yankees win the World Series in 96. Funny how it works like that right Joel. And by the way he was acquired from the Marlins too. It was the first trade ever made between the Marlins and the Yankees was for his dad. I guess the real question there would be like did you ever think you'd be covering his son 30 years later. I've done a lot of it. You know Lance McCullers Sr. was on the first team I ever covered. And I've covered Junior. You know a lot of big Astro Yankee games. Yeah so I'm old enough when I was at UPI I covered Ken Griffey Sr. also. I covered Clay Bellinger. And I've got Cody. So yeah I'm getting old. When it comes to grandchildren it's going to be really really bad. You know look look I at UPI I covered games that Bob Boone played in. Wow. Aaron's dad. So yeah it's a it's a funny a full circle moment. And what I take away from what you're saying is the one to two weeks right at the end of the year if they can get him back and put him into the bullpen. First off you have highlighted on the show earlier this year about how difficult it is when we were talking about Legrange of converting a starter into a bullpen piece. That's going to be a challenge in itself for Weathers to now go from you know starter who was pitching the most innings he's ever pitched in his career right. Like he was trying to go the full season as a starter. Unfortunately he gets the injury and that's been a part of his career early on. But how does that like how do the Yankees have confidence in that Joel that they can just. Well they can. Yeah. Like like the confidence is he's done a little relief pitching along the way. And that but you're going to ask a guy as late as you possibly can to go into the bullpen and you know max out after an arm injury. You play tournament baseball tournament baseball and whatever you need you do. And you know I do think that the Yankees will probably feel Schlittler Cole and they hope freed. You know you want to talk about him. I'm happy to talk about him like we'll start games and that road down will start it and that you know perhaps for the road down start in particular. Like if they've got to be into a scramble each time again I will go back 30 years ago when David Weathers father helped with Ryan Weathers father David help with this. If you go look the Yankees had three trustworthy starters in 96 the fourth was Kenny Rogers. Kenny Rogers pitched terribly in each round of the playoffs and the Yankees won all three of his games. So like I know it could be done especially if you're limited to one starter who really has to you know do that for you. And we'll see like you know but that means that Cole off of Tommy John surgery has to stay healthy the rest of the way. I mean Schlittler who's already beyond whatever he's done innings wise is going to have to stay healthy. By the way this is into and through October not just to September means Max Fried who has had this elbow issue crop up now twice this season has to stay healthy. It means David Bednar who's a heavily used closer has to stay healthy. It means Hedrick and Blackburn who have never been full season relievers and are among the most heavily used the long way to cruise relievers in the sport have to say. I mean this was what I was highlighting last week is that unit of eight or nine has been exceptional but it is heavily used and there is a lot of red lines on all of them where you would have concerns. Now I'm sure I could do this for almost every contender. Pitching is a hazardous job but the Yankees have the grandest plans for this season. And that was really about how good their pitching was going to be. And it's been hit at. You know it's not going to include LaGrange. I think you have to have some real doubts. It's going to include Weathers. Wow. That's saying something Joel and that that stinks because he he again has been awesome this year. And I think he was giving them Len when they needed to protect their pen and he pitched well against some really good offenses during this period also. So it wasn't like oh he's just stacking it up against like bad teams. I thought he had really done a little bit. The guy I compared him to if it was going to work out well perhaps was Nathan Evaldi. Like the Yankees had made a trade with Miami maybe like 10 12 years ago. And Evaldi wasn't when he was not with the Yankees before he got to Yankees was an off injured guy. But everyone was like man he's so talented. What if you could keep him healthy. And the Yankees like the first year kept them healthy. I think he won 18 games for the Yankees that first year. And he was really durable. He was a great teammate. You know. And then he needed Tommy John I think in his second year with the Yankees. So hopefully that isn't going to happen for Ryan Weathers in his career. That this is something that that's gotten over. But you do see when you have a big step up in innings. It is hard to make it through the season. And they're high stressful innings too. Like again to what you've talked about. Like they're always in one run games. Ryan Weathers had all season long no run support from the Yankees offense. He was pitching a lot of games where they were down. Yeah go ahead. Can I throw like a bizarre thing that I noticed. In the last like day or two. Is. Just it's. I think offense in the American League stinks. In particular. Do you know the five highest scoring teams in nine of the top 11 are National League teams. For runs per game. Doesn't shine. I mean. 2022 we went to the Universal DH. You know used to be all AL teams led in runs per game. Right. Because that it made all sense. They had an extra hitter in the lineup instead of a pitcher. And now. The top five. Average scoring teams per game. And nine of the top 11. And. You know the Yankees are kind of like about 17th or so like they're right. They're averaging about them. The major league average. But a lot of that. Dates to earlier in the year when. Judge was playing and they did some scoring. It's a little off. I think there it bats have been a little better for. About the last week. Even as they've still struggled in a lot of these runner on third one out. No out situations to get a run in. The at bats have been a little better. Bellinger just got back. And you know I think you can see judge. Starting to appear. On the horizon as he. Increases his workload. Want me to give a guess on judge. Yeah please. So again I know how. Crap gets aggregated I have no nobody has told me a day. Nobody has told me a day but I've been around the team. And. Sometimes when you're around a team a lot just how people talk. You could start to get. Like oh. He's doing this he's feeling this and whatever. So. They play the Mets September 11th to 13th. I believe. It's not an unimportant weekend for a variety of reasons including. The 25th anniversary of 9-11 the Yankees. And Mets are playing that Friday. I'm if I had a set in over under. I would set it the day before against Colorado September 10th. I say. Like. Like DH September 10th against color and by the way again. I know how this crap goes. It's a total kind of gut from talking to people as opposed to somebody saying hey Joel you should make September 10th. The over under. But. I feel like Aaron judge if he can be on the field for that 9-11 game. We'll we'll try to be on the field for that 9-11 game again if he can't be he can't be but I think he's trending in the right way. Especially the last week. And someplace on that Rockies Mets homestand feels like. About right. And by the way that would. Considering everything where we keep saying that the Yankees keep saying he's going to be back this year. And I keep saying to them well there's a big difference of he's back in game 161 or game 141. Right like what you know where he has 20 games to kind of like get it right at because you know we talk about the pitching Ryan but you know. They need Aaron judge and Aaron judge in full especially watching this offense especially what's happened in the first inning. With this offense where they simply can't get a run across in the first inning and he's worth something. As a both a producer and a fear factor in the first inning that they desperately need. I would I think someplace on that homestand is is in play. That's that would be huge for them obviously like you said in it. It would make sense considering where he's at like you're like you've mentioned he's doing more he's hitting off a tee from what we understand. That next video or or news I'm waiting for is Aaron Boone saying he's taken live BP because that again would just mean that he's getting closer and closer to that return date. If that's what you want is is I'd like to hear he's working off of the true jacks. Yes. Which would mean he's dealing with high velocity. Yeah. And not just batting practice because to me that's how players in 2026 we in in in a different age we'd be talking about hitting on the field in batting practice, but that's still against the guy throwing 60 miles an hour and old coach throwing 60 miles an hour or going on a rehab assignment to me true checks means I'm getting ready for the major leagues. I'm getting really close where I could put a velocity machine at 95 plus and start hitting off of it regularly. So that that's the one I'm curious about and look, I think it's a a rare injury for a baseball player. He had and he's a big guy with obviously incredible strength and torque torque and everything he does. So, you know until he's back, he's not back. But I would say the last week of news since the Yankees give so little news about Aaron judge injuries, the fact that they've given some positive updates in the last week. I would think is pretty encouraged. Absolutely. Joel Yankees fans are obviously excited waiting to hear when Aaron judge is going to be back. The trajectory machine is insane. I've seen some videos on YouTube now. There's like these content creators that put like a hundred mile per hour knuckleballs and they're trying to hit off. It's insane. You can do any pitch any truth like any form spin rate, whatever you want. It's as close as possible to actually facing the real thing because it's it's really cool. How that machine works, but that's why that's what I want to hear Ryan. Like if I hear he's working off of that machine to me in the old days, we would hear a different thing in 2026. I think if you're working off of that machine, it means you are as close as you could be to getting into a game. So I think especially if you stack up dates like he's done it back-to-back days three times in four days something like that. I always think back to when Joel Sherman tells me Ryan this stuff always works itself out. There was this thought Joel of with Stan coming back obviously with Bellinger first then stay in was supposed to be that it was going to be judge that there was going to be this log jam of DHS with Ben Rice and Luis Garcia. Well, we get the news of Giancarlo Stanton re-injured or I should say has set back and injured his other calf compared to the one that he had injured two times in a row that he was originally nursing and rehabbing from before we get to the Stanton part with judge. Are the Yankees now? Okay with accelerating a little bit more and he might never turn to the field right away where it's like, hey, you can be the DH for the next couple weeks before you're ready to go into the field. I don't know, you know, the player more than anyone else Aaron judge like it feels like he's going to be I don't need the player. I literally asked Aaron Boone this question on Saturday. I was alone with him and got some time and I just said Aaron when he comes back is he the DH or the right fielder and he says the plan is for him to be a full player. So and I think that's very important for the Yankees. If he's able to come back now. Now, will they work in some DH with him? I would think so. And I think he'll be the priority and everyone else sits, you know, like if Rice has to sit. I mean Aaron judge is the priority but you know what it means if you get Aaron judge back in full you get a all-around terrific great baseball player and that includes the right field of it. And you know, it's a righty back. They badly need it. Look, they just need him. There's a presence that he brings that I think helps the whole lineup. Kind of like, you know, calm down. The heavyweight is back. If you just do your job, everything will be fine. And I think so. I think from talking to Boone. I think the plan is for him to be the right fielder most of the time when he comes back, but if he's got a DH, he's going to have priority over everybody else. His bat is going to be the priority bat and you know, right field and first base like could be a logjam. But Aaron Aaron judge is going to play every day. If he can play every day, he's going to play every day. Yeah. He's that type of player. He's going to hit every day. He's that type of player too. He wants to be in there every day. I'm sure he wants to play right field every day. And there's a long way from here to there. Let's see what happens. That's why I always say like, look, I do this with my children on real important decisions, which is make the decision when you have to make the decision. Don't make the decision today. If you've really got two weeks to do it. Yeah. There's a lot of baseball that will be played in the next two weeks. And the luckiest thing that will happen to Aaron Boone in the Yankees is if he has to make tough decisions every day on a lineup that has been disappointing for the last two months. No doubt, Joel. No doubt. With that, John Carlos Stanton. Now his season's in peril. Boone was was pretty straightforward about how there's, you know, maybe at the end of the season, I don't know if it's like a Kyle Schwarber or World Series type thing, Joel, if Stanton were to make a comeback this year. But really a tough, tough go of it. And what stinks is because I think you have said so many times, again, on this show, and we thank all the fans, obviously, who are watching Pinstripe Post. Joel has always come on here and said, I appreciate John Carlos Stanton, the human, the player. He always answers the questions that you guys ask him. He wants to be out there with his teammates. He desperately wants to be out there. But his body is just not allowing him to be on the field, Joel. Help me sort this out, right? Because there's multiple questions here about... Ryan, I'm glad you're asking about this. Because I think we've done this show long enough. You know, I try very, very hard to stay away. Like, I generally don't read my email. I generally don't look at mentions on social media. I think that it's a nasty cesspool. I think I have a thicker spine than most. But why tempt it? Because I feel like most of it is mean-spirited or purposely distorted in an attempt to just get your goat. And I'd rather not play that game. Like, if you've got to play that game, this is what you want to do, then do it. It was brought to my attention... I don't want to say the colleague's name. Because I don't know if he'll want me to do it. It was brought to my attention by a colleague. He said, do you see how Stanton is getting killed on social media? And I go, what do you mean? And he goes, people like Good Riddance get rid of him. What a dog. And I'm like, so I made the mistake and I gave myself 10 minutes of looking at it. And I'm like, now I know why I don't look at this stuff. I mean, look, I understand there's a bunch of miserable pricks in the world and they're just going to be miserable pricks and you can't do anything about it. But does the average Yankee fan think that John Carlos Stanton actually doesn't want to play Major League Baseball? Let's just take it from a selfish personal reason. He wants to get to 500 homers. That gives him his best chance to make the Hall of Fame. If you think he's a candidate or not, his candidacy improves with 500 homers. Part of his candidacy already is that he's been an exceptional postseason hitter. So if he were able to add to that, that also would help his legacy. And I'm here to tell you that he burns to want to win a championship for himself and for the others. He wants to do it. He has become kind of the wise man of their clubhouse. He has brought great leadership as far as maturity to the other players. And that's obviously a lot easier done when you're playing than when you're not playing. And so when people do the good riddance and stuff like that, it's like, look, I don't expect people to have sympathy for somebody making $25 million a year and living the professional baseball life. To kind of stomp on a grave there, there's a not 0% chance that he can't play Major League Baseball anymore. He simply can't get his body healthy to sustain anything. And I assume he wants to continue to do it. It would be no different than a singer who loses his voice. It's literally a ditch digger losing his arm. I just don't understand. And I even saw stuff like, oh, good. Why don't they just cut him now? It's like, what? You really care as a fan if he's sitting on the injured list? It's not your money. You know what I mean? It's like he's not taking anybody's space. Even on the 40 men, he's not on the 40 men. He's a 60-day IL. It's not like he's keeping somebody else from playing. Why is everybody so freaking miserable? Can I answer that, Joe, to why I think they are? And I think it has to do with, again, stuff that we shouldn't be talking about in today's episode, but it's the Hal Steinbrenner of it all and how he operates. And we've talked about this. He has one of the top five payrolls in baseball. It's every single year. They operate at the top of the margin always in baseball. But people feel like – He spent $300 million. I know. It's still the record for a player. But the fans will always tie back the John Carlos Stan acquisition to the year they didn't go after Bryce Harper. When he was a free agent that following offseason. And the money spent on John Carlos Stan, Yankees fans feel like that has stopped them from going out there and acquiring – I'm just giving you, again, the perspective of those negative Yankees fans. Let's say that's true. Yeah. Let's say that's true. Let's say it's true. Let's say Hal Steinbrenner is a cheap whatever because he's only spending $350 million plus tax on this team, whatever that is. Okay. I'm not going to go through the whole list. No, no, no. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What does that have to do with belittling John Carlos Stan? Because he's making so much money and he doesn't get on the field as much as he's getting paid. But then you, again, he doesn't get on the field, but then you would have to believe he's janking it. In other words, there's not getting on the field. You know, I believe that there's probably players who are comfortable on the IL. Right. I mean, I do think there's guys who don't mind being there. I just don't think Stanton is one of those guys. Yeah, no. And so, like, he wants to play Major League Baseball and he wants to do it for the Yankees and he wants to do it in October, and when he's had the chance, he's been great in October. And I just – I understand, like, general fan frustration. Hey, you want him to be there, or you've created this myth in your head that Hal Steinbrenner isn't spending – whatever it is, like, I get it. But what does that have to do with attacking another human being who physically is breaking down? He was running to try to heal to play baseball, and his body is – you know, I think I use this term. You know, they used to say about the banks that had to be saved by the government that they were too big to fail. I think he's too big to succeed. I just think that Judge is almost a freak, that at his size he can mainly stay healthy, doing everything he does at his size and strength. I just think that Giancarlo Stanton can't stay healthy. And that's just a reality, and I just think attacking the guy – and again, it isn't like Stanton has – like, my buddy, like, I talk to him a few times a year in a clubhouse or something like that. It's not every day, and he's never given me a story. Like, it's not my guy. I just think it's – I think he's a serious baseball player. I think he's a leader of this team, and I think he wants to play baseball, and his body's broken, and to attack him seems crazy to me, and of the time and mean, and, like, mean for what? Like, purpose. But I guess this is just the age we live in. It's the age we live in. It's the social media short-sightedness. Always got to be on the attack and take your shots when you can because you have that voice. I don't know why it's used for that purpose, but it is for most of the time, and it's sad to see. But I think what's more sad to see – It's really sad. Again, I don't do it a lot, Ryan. Yeah, no, I know. I went and looked at some of this stuff. I was encouraged on Saturday by a colleague of ours to look at it, and I looked at it, and I wish I hadn't have looked at it. We wouldn't have had these 10 minutes here, but it's a reason why I don't look at it. Right. And by the way, it wasn't even directed at me. No, no, no. It was directed at somebody I have a professional relationship with. Yeah, and it's someone that, you know, again, the Yankees can say what they want. I think they were counting on him to make a return, to be a part of their postseason plans. So talk to me, Joel, with the player and the reality of the situation, that he is going to miss another amount of significant time because it took him so long to just rehab from the first calf strain that he had, and now it's the other calf. Is it possible for him to return this year if they make a World Series run? Or, I don't know, like what are the thoughts for the Yankees as an organization for how they're going to handle the rest of John Carlos Stanton's tenure here because he is under contract for two more years, technically, with the terms. There's a club option there, but how does this all work out? Yeah, I think his chances of returning this year are pretty close to zero because I think even if you push it to late October, I would assume one of the reasons the Yankees, if they got to late October, is they're hitting enough. And to disrupt that, to bring him back when he's a guy, you know, like he very well, to walk on the field, he's probably a guy who's going to need at-bats to kind of become a threat again, and it's just going to be hard to be like, oh, we're going to deal with an 0 for 12 with 10 strikeouts in October to get him for what. So I think he returns on to the horizon for next year, and you build anticipating that he will not be a factor. And I think they're already there, right, because between Ben Rice and Garcia, they have a first baseman and a DH against most pitching, right, against most pitching being right-handed. And I think that there's some chance that if they're actually whole and Stanton is healthy but, like, not looking great, that he does, they eat the final, they're good at eating the final year of a contract. They've done this before, right, with Aaron Hicks and LeMayu. This is the reality of big market teams in general. They know they sign contracts. They lower the annual value of the contracts by stretching them out over time and knowing that the back ends are going to be problems. Every big team is eating money in some form, and I assume that it will be very difficult to get to even the finish line, which is next year on this contract because it's just sad because, again, I like covering this player, and I think he's generally been a very good Major League player, but it's hard to plan around Stanton. You know, you can't do it. Brian Cashman got killed a couple of years ago when he said injuries are part of his deal, and people were like, whatever. And all he did was say Tuesday follows Monday. He said something obvious. It's, again, I think the key word there, sad, like you said, because I can't forget that 2024 postseason run that he went on, and he just absolutely demolished everyone, even the Dodgers. He was such a big threat in that lineup. So I say it's sad. Here's something. I'm a baseball fan. I don't root for a team, you know, whatever. When you said Yankee fans are looking forward to Aaron Judge coming back, baseball fans should look forward to Aaron Judge coming back. Like, I'd like all the players to be as healthy as possible. You know, like, nobody wants to go to Broadway and see the understudies. I want to go to the ballpark, and I want to see all the best players healthy and performing at their peak and making this great. Like, there's no – I get it if you're a Yankee fan or a Mets fan or a Dodger fan, maybe you're hoping, oh, I hope the good guy on the other team gets hurt. But, like, if you're just a fan of the sport, like, man, I want to see Aaron Judge hit. That's fun to do. Yeah. It's a spectacle also whenever Aaron Judge is in the box. And like you said, it's going to be a warm welcome for the Yankees lineup if they can get him back fully like the player he wants to be, and it would be a huge threat, and it would boost their chances here in the postseason. Like Joel said, the Yankees are one of the best teams in the American League, and we kind of have to spin this positive, right? Before we get to the things that I really want to talk about with what we've seen in the past couple games, the Max Fried of it all, we have to talk about this too, Joel. You know, Boone kind of hinted at this maybe being a minimal IL stint. I'm not going to say it was a phantom IL stint because a player is going to be honest about an injury as always, and I don't think the Yankees are in that business of doing those type of things. But it kind of works out, but it doesn't at the same time with the Weathers injury. If they get freed back, this starting rotation should be the best in the American League, right? Yeah. Look, I would like to believe there are technical things that have to happen for a player to get on an injured list, and one of those includes a doctor has to sign off that the player actually has the injury you say he has. So you'd like to believe some of the chicanery is down. On the other hand, I wrote this in the post, that this felt like a Los Angeles Dodger injury, in that there's something there, but you know you're making the playoffs, and you're playing big picture, and can fill in the blank on the Dodgers over the last three or four years pitch through this or come back sooner? Yeah, but we want to make sure he's pitching great on October 1st, right? Like if you've noticed, like Blake Stealth came back recently. Tyler Glass now is starting on Tuesday. Shohei Otani is starting on the weekend. Hmm, their rotation is getting hold just as September 1st comes around. So were there injuries? I bet you each of those guys were injured, but why rush it or push it when you're expecting all those guys to make three to five more starts in October? And I think the Yankees and Freed probably felt like, hey, it's still in there. I could get through it, but it's affecting my pick the pitch, curveball, slide, whatever. Can we calm it down, and then I can make a run of like eight, nine starts from there to the finish line, hopefully including, you know, look, if they're whole, if they were fully whole with Weathers, you could say you could slot Freed in at three or four in a rotation and use him once a series. Or, you know, that kind of thing. So he's probably going to need to be used more than that now. But this felt like the kind of, there's something there. If the season were ending on September 30th, fine, just pitch through it. But for the Yankees, they're hoping it ends a lot closer to October 30th, and that's a lot of games from now to then, and I think they wanted him as good as possible. Conversely, this is now the same elbow injuries cropped up twice. So, you know, like you just wouldn't bet a lot of money that it doesn't crop up again, and it doesn't end the season at some point prematurely. This is an attempt for that not to happen in October. It makes sense what you're saying, Joel. The whole Dodgers part of it, too. And I wonder, with Freed, this is also... But, by the way, that's happened on the, can I just say this? This happened on the front end also. Like, Gary Cole could have come back earlier than he did, but they weren't expecting, like, they didn't want it to be like, he's back May 15th, and then he's not available October 15th. And so they slowed it and made sure. Could they have rushed Rodan? Could they have rushed Clark Schmitt a little? I think that this is all baked into taking care of the player and trying to see that there are a few teams that are blessed with the knowledge that they're really good and have a very strong chance to play in October, and you have to figure out how do you play in October well. And I think the Yankees are one of those teams. And the other thing I'll say, too, is the Yankees have been forcing their starters into so many high, stressful innings. For Freed to have to go through another two weeks, instead you back him off a little bit, let him calm down the elbow. You're not putting those high-stress innings on him in regular season games where they're going to make the playoffs. That is where the Yankees are. They have the best wild-card position right now. They're closing in on the Rays a little bit, who have taken a step back the last couple weeks. So we'll see how it goes down the stretch. And if he can make his return in the next two weeks, back to the rotation, the Yankees should start seeing, hopefully, that playoff rotation of Schlittler, Freed, Cole, Schlittler, Cole, Freed, however you want to mix and match those 1, 2, 3. Joel, let's talk about some positives here about this Yankees team the last couple days. I've got to start with Spencer Jones, though. Spencer Jones continues to impress me in the at-bat quality that he provides to this lineup. I know Lombard we've talked about what he provides there at the bottom of the lineup, but Spencer Jones, I think, had easily the best series of his career over the weekend against the Blue Jays. He had a big home run against the Orioles last week, and the kid just continues to go out there, whether it's like, hey, man, you might lose your spot when Aaron Judge comes back, but the kid continues to prove, Joel, that it doesn't seem too big for him right now. What are you seeing from Spencer Jones? Yeah, well, Ryan, we've done a lot of shows, and I think for at least the last 3 or 4 shows, I've been, the at-bats are good even when they end in strikeouts. This isn't a guy who strikes out on 3 pitches. This is a guy who strikes out on 3 and 2 and fouls off 2 pitches. And so, to me, the strikeout quality is good. It was like when Ben Rice's strikeout quality was good 2 years ago or when Austin Wells' strikeout quality was good. But, you know, you're getting to 3 and 2, and a guy's making a great pitch, but you force him to throw 6, 7, 8 pitches. It is a minor victory within a loss. It's a battle worth it. And it was not, these were not meek strikeouts. He, to me, has done what you would hope a young player does, which is he gets a taste of the majors, and if he's not quite up to it, he goes down and learns something and starts working on his holes. And that happened twice to Jones. And to me, since he's come back in late July, you could argue he's been their best hitter. He's had the most impact. He's had the best at-bats. By the way, to add to that, he brings real great athleticism. He steals bases. He moves around the outfield. He's, to me right now, an average outfielder, but he moves around the outfield well. He has a great arm. There's a lot to work with, and I think the comparison, there's a couple of comparisons. To me, he is what the Yankees hoped Joey Gallo was going to be, right? Like, you might live with some low batting average in strikeouts, but you'd get homers, you'd get on-base percentage, cost of walks, you'd get stolen bases, and you'd get high-end defense because of the athleticism. Gallo didn't work here, and this is a reminder why a good farm system matters, because somebody like Spencer Jones spends a couple of years in spring training around the major league team and seeing how they deal with reporters and seeing how they deal with crisis and mixing in, and so that transition's a little easier than, say, Joey Gallo's was. So there's that. I think there is, and you hate to do this, but it's Aaron Judge. He's one of the 25 to 50 greatest hitters ever, but Judge in 2016 came up and struck out 45% of the time in his cameo. That offseason, went to the lab, found a swing that worked, and came back and nearly won the MVP and did win Rookie of the Year and became Aaron Judge. Is there a potential for Spencer Jones to be 80% of that, 75%? It's an interesting lump of clay, right? There's great athleticism. When the ball hits his bat, he doesn't hit meek singles or doubles. He really rockets the ball. He doesn't give that bats away against lefty pitching. I think he's a really interesting, exciting, young player with a chance. Again, the league is going to adapt to the adapt. There is an obvious space up and especially in hard that he swings and misses a lot, but it feels like even that space is a little smaller and he got a little better at laying off some of it. Not all of it, some of it. So he's learning, and he does real damage. And since he came back, his strikeout percentage is more in the range of Murakami and Schwarzer, which is like 31%, 32%, which is high. But it's different than 38% or 40%, and it's really different if there's going to be a lot of extra base hits, including homers and walks, and in his case, stolen bases and defense. And so he's bringing something to the party. He's a really interesting, young player with a chance that he might be a 40-homer player one day because the ball comes off of his bat special. And this is the kind of thing, no matter what city he played in, you would say, like, I'd like to see some more of that just to see, does he keep growing? Because the growth this year has been real growth, and it's impressive. It really is, and I think everything you've highlighted there are things that this Yankees lineup desperately needs, especially with the athleticism, especially with getting on base and making steals when he can, defense, obviously. But the other thing is, when you talk about him and George Lombard, both of them provide those long A-Bs that this Yankees lineup has just not been great at this year. But maybe it's getting better. Like, I wonder if we're starting to see some signs, Joel, of them being a little bit more, I guess, attentive in the box and decisive in the decisions on what they're going to swing and when they're going to swing, because while I'm discouraged that they still can't get a runner in from third, there are still some signs that, hey, Jazz laid down a bunt. Spencer Jones put together a quality at-bat. Trent Grisham walks in a run. Like, there are some signs maybe this lineup is starting to turn right before the return of the big bat in Aaron Judge. Do you see that happening right now? So it's an interesting thing you bring up, and it again brings to mind, because I'm old, something from the Yankees were a very, very, very, very, add as many verys as you want, bad offensive team in the early 90s. And I think I told the story where Stick Michael started to talk about the idea of guys having grinder at-bats, and I thought that worked. And then in a move that was really more probably George Steinbrenner pushing than anybody else in the organization wanting, they brought Wade Boggs in after the 92 season. And even though it was an older version of Boggs, Wade Boggs simply would not swing at a ball if it wasn't a strike. It was incredible to watch. I'm so glad I cover baseball in New York for a variety of reasons, particularly the Yankees do this. You will see a lot of great players come through, even if it's at the end of their career, the Sheffields, the Icharos, the Randy Johnsons. They were older. They weren't the full version of who they were, and Boggs was like that. And I thought Boggs' influence on the lineup, which already was starting to trend towards grinder at-bats, really, I thought he had incredible, where, like, wow, Wade Boggs was, I mean, you don't look at Wade Boggs and go, there goes an incredible athlete, there goes, but his hand-eye coordination and understanding of the strike zone sent them to Cooperstown, right? And so they, it did it. And I do think that Jones and Lombard are having some impact on the lineup. I thought, like I said earlier in the show, I thought the at-bats had been better now for about a week or so. And I think that that, they have something to do with that. Now, I will say this is, I don't, I'm shocked by the Lombard mistakes in the field. I thought that was going to be his carrying tool, and he's blowing easy stuff, which I thought was going to be his calling card, which was just going to be, yeah, I can make the 5% or 10% tougher play also, but anything hit to me is going to be an out. And I don't know what's happened here for, like, the last four or five days, almost like he's gone through a fielding slump, because even on some of the ones that are in errors, he's getting some bobbles and uncomfortable plays, and they can't live with that. Can't, the Yankees need their shortstop to play well defensively first. The offense is a bonus from Lombard. It's okay for him to hit 90, as long as he fields the hell out of shortstop. But yes, the at-bats have been good and Jeterian, right? Again, you don't want to compare Derek Jeter as one of the five greatest shortstops ever, but like lots of balls to right field, lots of using the whole field to get hits, using his legs to get hits. So yeah, I think that they've helped the lineup. And I think with Grisham, when you see, when Grisham walks, Grisham also hits. And in about the last 10 days, he started walking a lot more again, and there's been some, you know, really timely hits. I think Austin Wells' at-bats have been longer and better in general for a while now. And look, if they could get Bellinger back to being Bellinger and Judge at some point, it makes the lineup longer and tougher. Obviously, Helio Ramos has been a real dud for them since they acquired him. So getting him out of the lineup regularly and maybe like seeing if you could salvage him by feeding him a lot of lefty pitching to see if you could get him going. Which the Yankees haven't faced a lot lately. They have not faced many lefty starters. But I mean, he's just been a bad baseball player. He's a bad fielder also. He hits into a ton of—he hits the ball on the ground a lot, so there's a lot of double plays that are rally killers with him at the plate. It hasn't worked out. I mean, look, let's be frank. Buster Posey hasn't done a lot right in charge of the Giants' front office. Making two trades with the Yankees for Duvall and Ramos has been two of them that have gone right. It's something you notice. But I think with Bellinger back, Ramos will play a lot less, and if Judge gets back, I'm not sure when he plays. Joel, this was a fun episode, man. I appreciate you taking me through all of it. It was a lot with the injuries and how this team is going to be shaped up going forward. But like you said, there's more baseball to be played in the next couple weeks, and we always appreciate you hopping on here and giving us your analysis. For all you Yankees fans who are obviously watching Pinstripe Post, make sure you hit that like and subscribe button on the New York Post Sports YouTube channel. Follow Joel on social media. He's not going to read your comments and your tags on him, but make sure you follow him for his analysis, though, because Joel is always— It's okay to write something nice, though, and break the momentum that everything has to be so mean-spirited. But yes. But certainly, we appreciate everybody who takes their time to watch this, and I know we'll be doing it right through the playoffs and towards whatever is a lockout this offseason. So we appreciate it, and thanks, Ryan. Thanks, Joel. We appreciate you, and we'll catch up with you next week.