June 19th, 2026: Lombard, Schlittler, Cole, Weathers, Stanton, Rice, Mailbag
I hoped everyone's schedule would allow the Yankees to get the Knicks to Yankee Stadium this week, and it happened Wednesday. Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart (Elston Howard’s great-nephew!) were in the Bronx, they threw out the first pitch (video), then they joined the YES Amazon booth for an inning (video). The Yankees also put a video of them chatting with players in the clubhouse on social media. Good times.
“A Knicks championship in June and a Yankees World Series in October would bring world peace,” Aaron Judge said in his Esquire feature earlier this week. I'm not sure about that, but let's give it a try and see what happens. What a fun few weeks it has been with the Knicks. Now it’s your turn, Yankees. Here is today’s post.
1. Lombard injured in Triple-A. The injury bug has reached Scranton. George Lombard Jr. “sprained a couple fingers” on his left hand earlier this week, per the Yankees. Tests came back negative for a fracture but the Yankees haven’t given a timetable for his return. It was a bad luck injury. Lombard reached for a throw on a stolen base attempt and the runner slid into his hand. Just a baseball play and bad luck.
In true Yankees fashion, Lombard stayed in the game to finish the inning, then was taken out. The injury happened Tuesday and he was placed on the Triple-A 7-day IL on Thursday. The delay (probably) can be explained by the Yankees keeping the door open for Lombard to return soon in the event it was only a day-to-day injury. (Scranton got rained out Wednesday. They didn’t play a day shorthanded anyway.)
Lombard has slashed .231/.381/.385 (110 wRC+) with 21.3 K% and 17.8 BB% in 42 Triple-A games since being promoted to Scranton. He’s really picked it up of late. He had a .127/.351/.127 (59 wRC+) line in his first 15 Triple-A games and it’s .287/.398/.525 (140 wRC+) in the 27 games since. The contact quality (exit velocity, etc.) is very strong. The whiff and contact rates aren’t great.
Lombard turned 21 two weeks ago. He’s the youngest position player in the International League. It’s okay that his in-zone contact rate is below the Triple-A average. It just suggests that maybe he’s not MLB ready despite the recent shot streak. He’s so very young. This isn’t a Spencer Jones situation where the player is 25 and you kinda have to get the show on the road. Patience with Lombard is perfectly fine.
The Yankees do like to promote their top prospects quickly though. There’s a chance Lombard was in the plans for the second half before the injury. He still might be. The injury is a bit of a mystery right now but finger sprains can be tricky. Broken bones are pretty straight forward. Ligaments are a different animal and Lombard sprained multiple fingers. The finger with the worst sprain will determine how long he’s sidelined.
Lombard’s injury could very well affect the trade deadline. Again, we don’t know how long he’ll be out and it’s possible this is a minimum IL stint, but, if he’s going to miss some time, maybe the Yankees will look a little more closely at the shortstop/third base market. I don’t think the left side of the infield is a top priority, but it is something that can be improved. The shortstop depth chart looks like this at the moment:
1. José Caballero2. Anthony Volpe3. Max Schuemann4. Ryan McMahon, apparently5. Oswaldo Cabrera6. George Lombard Jr. (finger injury)7. Jonathan Ornelas
Maybe McMahon’s out of the shortstop picture and maybe Lombard was ahead of Cabrera, but that’s the shortstop depth chart, more or less. Organizational utility guy Owen Cobb has started every game but one at shortstop for Somerset since Lombard’s promotion. It’s mid June and prospect promotions will happen soon. I would guess Kaeden Kent will man short in Double-A before long (unless he becomes a trade chip).
Hopefully it’s a minor injury and Lombard doesn’t lose much development time. That’s the real concern. I don’t think his injury will change much for the deadline or the second half, but it could, sure. I don’t really know what the Yankees have planned. Bottom line, arguably the top prospect in the system got hurt at a time when he was possibly on the verge of helping the Yankees at the MLB level. What a bummer.
2. Weekday thoughts. The Yankees have done good work boosting Cam Schlittler’s Cy Young chances. Davis Martin went into Tuesday’s game ranked second behind only Schlittler among AL qualifiers in ERA, FIP, and WAR. Then the Yankees hung nine runs on him in 3.1 innings. They took him deep three times after Davis gave up three homers in his first 13 starts. Here’s what that start did to his season:
ERA: 2.41 to 3.31
FIP: 2.38 to 2.90
WAR: +2.9 to +2.4
The at-bats were so good and the takes were so comfortable during the three-walk, four-run third inning that I figured the Yankees had something on Davis. I went back and re-watched the inning, and, sure enough, the Yankees were doing the arm-waving thing at second base. They had his pitches somehow. (Just ignore Spencer Jones swinging through the 2-0 fastball that he knew was coming lol.)
“We just trusted that we were going to get some good pitches to hit,” Jones told Bryan Hoch. “Obviously he’s got really good stuff. I think we just did a good job of laying off the pitches that he wanted to make.”
Schlittler now leads AL qualifiers in ERA by 77 points, FIP by 50 points, and WAR by 0.4 wins thanks to the hurtin’ the offense put on Martin. There is a long way to go. I’m just having fun with the Cy Young talk but it is something we can worry about in a few months. Schlittler’s been great and so too was Martin before the Yankees knocked him around the yard.
The Yankees scored 12 runs Tuesday and 10 runs Wednesday after scoring double-digit runs only twice in their previous 35 games. All nine starters had a hit Tuesday and Wednesday. It was the first time all nine starters had a hit in back-to-back games since June 10-11, 2017, against the Orioles. That series is best remembered for Aaron Judge almost hitting a retired number. Fun games, those were.
Thursday’s series finale was a game the Yankees seemed determined to lose. Stupid baserunning, Tim Hill hitting back-to-back lefties who were trying to bunt after hitting one lefty in 165 games dating back to Opening Day 2024, and Camilo Doval entering with the bases loaded in the most obvious pinch-hitting spot imaginable. After the grand slam, lefties are hitting .375/.407/.589 against Doval. That just isn't gonna work.
The Yankees scored just one run on yet another Ryan McMahon opposite field homer, so getting on the pitching for Thursday’s loss is kinda silly. 12 runs, 10 runs, one run. That’s baseball. Keep winning two of three and I’ll be happy. Not a whole lot else to talk about from the White Sox series, so let’s get into the miscellany and then the mailbag.
Miscellany
I guess only the Guardians can hit Gerrit Cole? He’s given up eight runs in his five starts this year, and six of the eight came in his two starts against Cleveland. Cole was quite good Tuesday: 6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 6 K, 1 HR on 90 pitches (video). He retired 13 straight at one point. Just keep him away from the Guardians in October, I guess … Very nice bounce back start for Ryan Weathers on Thursday: 6.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 8 K, 1 HR on 88 pitches (video). He did give up the #ObligatoryHomer, but at least it was only one, and at least it was a solo shot. Weathers had given up multiple homers in each of his three previous starts, and a bunch of those came with men on base … On Wednesday, Paul Goldschmidt went 0-for-3 against lefty Anthony Kay, and then immediately hit a home run against a righty (video). The Knicks won a championship and the universe turned upside down. Seriously though, Goldschmidt has been so good. He now has 11 homers, one more than last season, and he has six homers against righties. He had three last year … Me last Friday: “What happens first, a catcher has a multi-hit game or Judge returns?” Yankees catchers: “You idiot. You absolute moron.” The catchers had multiple hits in three straight games earlier this week. Ali Sánchez is 4-for-14 (.286) since his call up. You’re living the good BABIP life when this goes for an RBI single (video):
And finally, Carlos Lagrange’s latest Triple-A relief appearance went poorly: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 0 K, 1 HR on 32 pitches Thursday. He was on three days’ rest. It was his first time pitching on something less than what is full rest for a starter. I get not calling up Lagrange yet, but can we get Yovanny Cruz back here and see what that looks like instead of running the same guys out there? Jake Bird has allowed a run, either one of his own or an inherited runner (or both), in seven of his last 10 appearances. It’s time to try someone else.
Injury updates and roster notes
Giancarlo Stanton (calf) is shut down. He said last week’s setback was the same pain in the same spot as his original injury, and tests confirmed a re-injury. No word when Stanton will resume baseball activities. It’ll be a while, most likely … Max Fried (elbow) threw another bullpen Tuesday. It was his second. All went well and he’ll do it again Saturday. Few more of those and Fried will graduate to facing hitters in live BP. It’ll be a few weeks before he goes on a rehab assignment … Trent Grisham (hamstring) has a moderate strain and will miss a few weeks. The Yankees declined to put a number on it, so I’ll speculate 3-4 weeks and hope it’s closer to 2-3. This won’t be a minimum IL stint though … Jazz Chisholm Jr. exited Thursday's game after fouling a pitch into his nether regions. Probably not gonna be a Jazz Chisholm III after that one. I didn't see an update between the end of the game and the time I scheduled this post, but losing Chisholm would be bad (duh) … Austin Wells (neck) started a rehab assignment with Scranton this week. He went 0-for-3 and caught seven innings Tuesday, they got rained out Wednesday, then he went 2-for-4 with two homers (video) and caught all nine innings Thursday (Conor Foley says he was a few feet short of a third homer). Aaron Boone said the Yankees haven’t decided what to do with Wells yet. He could be activated today or he could play more rehab games. If they activate him, I would expect J.C. Escarra to go down. That’s what the Yankees did before Wells went to them with the injury … Clarke Schmidt (elbow) is still throwing bullpens, though it sounds like he might not face hitters before the end of the month like he hoped. I don’t know if that means he had a little setback or if he was just optimistic with his timeline … Jasson Domínguez (tooth) missed Tuesday’s game after getting a tooth pulled because of an infection. Tooth infections are no joke. I had one last year and it was a top five painful experience in my life. Anyway, Domínguez was back in the lineup Wednesday and is fine now … And finally, the Yankees released Seth Brown earlier this week. He probably used an opt out. Brown, 34 next month, hit .235/.327/.426 (97 wRC+) with nine homers and 33.2 K% in 53 games with Scranton. I’m not sure he was next in line for a call up even with the injuries. (It’s probably Oswaldo Cabrera.)
Up next
The parade of Central teams continues this weekend with the Reds, who took two of three from the Mets earlier this week but are 15-27 since May 1st. There was a brief period earlier this year when all five NL Central teams had winning records, but that was never gonna last. The Reds have crashed and the Pirates are barely keeping their head above water. Here’s the weekend ahead:
Friday vs. Reds: RHP Cam Schlittler vs. RHP Rhett Lowder (7pm ET on YES)
Saturday vs. Reds: RHP Will Warren vs. LHP Andrew Abbott (1:30pm ET on YES)
Sunday vs. Reds: RHP Gerrit Cole vs. RHP Chase Burns (1:30pm ET on YES)
Monday at Tigers: TBA vs. TBA (6:30pm ET on YES)
(Monday’s TBAs line up to be Carlos Rodón vs. Framber Valdez.)
The Yankees caught a break because Elly De La Cruz, who’s been out with a hamstring strain since June 1st, will be on a rehab assignment this weekend. He won’t be activated until Tuesday at the earliest, the Reds said. De La Cruz is hitting .280/.346/.509 (132 wRC+) with 12 homers and 10 steals this year. He’s electrifying. I’m sad I won’t get to watch him this weekend but not sad the Yankees miss him.
Burns, the No. 2 pick in the 2024 draft, made his MLB debut against the Yankees last July 24th. He struck out seven of the first 10 batters he faced, then the Yankees got to him the second time through the order. Burns has been ridiculous this year: 2.01 ERA (3.16 FIP and 2.90 xERA) with 29.8 K% and 8.2 BB%. He throws 95% fastballs and sliders, and, well:
Between Burns, Jacob Misiorowski, and Paul Skenes, there is some serious pitching talent in the NL Central. Don’t forget Hunter Greene either. He had surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow in Spring Training and hasn’t pitched yet this season, but he’s still only 26, and he had a 2.76 ERA (3.39 FIP and 3.03 xERA) with 29.2 K% from 2024-25. Some damn good arms out yonder in the NL Central.
3. 2026 draft prospect: California HS SS Tyler Spangler. The 2026 MLB Draft will take place the weekend before the All-Star break and the Yankees hold the No. 35 pick. As I do every year, I’ll preview prospects the Yankees are said to have interest in, players who fit the team’s M.O., and players I like for whatever reason. Here are the draft prospects I’ve already covered.
Spangler, 18, entered this year as a middle of the first round prospect, but he missed the entire spring with a back injury. He is on the roster for next month’s Draft Combine. Spangler will be able to take a physical and go through workouts to show everyone he’s healthy. Otherwise, they’re relying on past looks, including summer showcases. Here’s where Spangler sits in the most recent draft rankings:
Baseball America (subs. req’d): No. 32
ESPN: No. 33
FanGraphs: No. 11
Keith Law (subs. req’d): No. 61
MLB Pipeline: No. 49
The FanGraphs ranking reflects Spangler’s draft stock coming into the year. The others are more recent and reflect the back injury. There’s speculation that, if he gets a clean bill of health at the Draft Combine, Spangler could still wind up as a top 11-20 pick. We’ll see. Here’s video and here’s a piece of Baseball America’s scouting report (subs. req’d), which is most informative:
Spangler has a tall and lean 6-foot-3, 195-pound frame with high-end strength projection and an accurate barrel from the left side. He’s a long-limbed hitter who is able to make contact at a high clip, with quiet hands that he fires quickly into a compact, direct swing with a mature approach for his age. It’s an easy swing that delivers consistent quality contact, and Spangler has the bat speed and physical upside to project above-average-or-better power once he’s in his prime. He’s an above-average runner with good lateral agility and body control at shortstop for his size. Depending on his physical development, there’s a chance he could outgrow the position and go to third base, but his fluid actions, soft hands, strong arm and instincts all fit well at shortstop.
Big left-handed hitting high school shortstops inevitably get compared to Corey Seager, which isn’t fair to them. Spangler, at least when healthy, does fit that archetype more than most though. He’s a mature hitter with reasons to believe there’s power on the way, and the defense skills are shortstop caliber even if he may outgrow the position. You can understand why he was considered a first round lock when healthy.
Spangler is committed to Stanford and there is chatter he will be difficult to sign. The No. 35 pick comes with a $2,826,700 slot value and the Yankees could stretch that to $4M through below slot bonuses with later picks and the 5% overage before the real draft pool penalties kick in. $4M is roughly No. 22 pick money. Would that be enough? Beats me. Stretching to $5M (No. 16 pick money) would be tough.
(Taking a physical at the Draft Combine guarantees the player 75% of his slot value, which would be $2,120,025 for the No. 35 pick. I doubt that would come into play with Spangler though.)
4. Rapid fire thoughts. Ben Rice wants to do the Home Run Derby. “If I were to get asked to go, I would love to do it. I have not heard anything about it, but sure, I’d be interested. I’ve watched it every year. It would be fun,” he told Dan Martin. Concerns about the Home Run Derby ruining a player’s swing are deeply overblown and not rooted in reality. MLB will want a Yankee in it, and if Rice wants to do it, I say let him. It will be fun to have a Yankees to root for … In other Home Run Derby news, MLB has tweaked the format again. They’re dumping the clock and going back to a swing-based contest. Hopefully this doesn’t mean the Take Pitches Derby will return. The Home Run Derby could be a real slog before the clock.
Mailbag Question of the Week
Adam asks: Given the Yankees roster construction, the general injury risk associated with pitchers - especially hard throwers - and the possibility that Cam Schlittler’s trade value may never be higher than it currently is, is there an argument to be made that dealing him for a catcher or shortstop would improve the team/represent the most prudent long-term move?
You’re gonna get me yelled at with this question. You can absolutely make this argument, especially since the Yankees aren’t lacking quality starters. Trade Schlittler and you can still go into the postseason with Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, and Carlos Rodón as your 1-2-3, then pick from Will Warren and Ryan Weathers as the No. 4 starter who will barely get used anyway. (Assuming everyone is healthy, of course.)
Schlittler has five years of control remaining after this season and the best (only) recent example of a very good starter traded with that much control is the Michael Pineda for Jesus Montero swap. Zac Gallen was still a prospect when the Marlins traded him for Jazz Chisholm Jr., and others like Luis Castillo, Garrett Crochet, Sonny Gray, Jesús Luzardo, and Chris Sale were traded with fewer years of control.
The Pineda/Montero swap didn’t work out but Pineda went to the All-Star Game as a 22-year-old rookie in 2011. He finished that season with a 3.74 ERA (3.42 FIP) in 171 innings, and had a 24.9 K% and 7.9 BB% at a time when the AL averages were 18.0 K% and 8.9 BB%. It was a very impressive rookie year. Then Pineda got hurt, which pitchers tend to do. Hence injury being a consideration in this “trade Schlittler?” question.
The Yankees are a win-now team and you can’t trade Schlittler for a prospect, even a great prospect like, say, Leo De Vries or Jesús Made. So many great young position players sign extensions now that it’s hard to match up on control years. Schlittler for Drake Baldwin, Schlittler for Jackson Chourio, Schlittler for Pete Crow-Armstrong, Schlittler for Kevin McGonigle. Those are the trees I would bark up.
Yes, there’s an argument to be made that trading Schlittler is a smart move in the big picture. These kinda trades are not easy to swing because young players are like children, everyone loves their own more than they love everyone else’s, and prying away the young talent it would take to trade Schlittler will be difficult. (There’s no reason to think the Yankees will trade him anytime soon. We’re talking hypotheticals here.)
Many asked: What about various Giants players?
Earlier this week Buster Olney and Ken Rosenthal (subs. req’d) reported the Giants, who took a 31-43 record into Thursday’s game, are open to trading anyone with a big money long-term contract except Logan Webb. So, basically, they want to trade the high-priced players who are underperforming and the biggest reason they’re 31-43. I wish them luck with that.
The Giants have seven players signed through 2027. One is Webb. Two are Harrison Bader and Adrian Houser, who have been terrible or injured or both. Here are the other four, listed alphabetically.
SS Willy Adames ($140M from 2027-31): Adames, 30, has been the worst version of himself this year. He started slowly, then he began pressing, which led to more chases and continued poor results, which led to more pressing, etc. Adames fell into this trap at times with the Brewers too. If anything, the guy cares too much. He’s hitting .229/.274/.434 (95 wRC+) with 27.4 K% and 5.5 BB%. From 2023-25, it was a 25.7 K% and 11.2 BB%. His defense has slipped as well (-13 OAA after +21 from 2023-25).
The Yankees reportedly had interest in Adames as part of Plan B two offseasons ago and I didn’t like it at the time, and I like it less now. Yes, he would give the Yankees a needed righty bat and long-term middle infielder, but Adames is in his decline now, and really, do you want to be saddled with this player another five years after this one? The Giants will have to eat at least $50M or so to make Adames remotely enticing, and even then I’m a hard pass. Long-term deal for a non-elite player is a nope from me.
3B Matt Chapman ($100M from 2027-30): On the surface, Chapman is having a typical Chapman season: .252/.337/.400 (109 wRC+) with plus defense. The guy reliably puts up a 110-ish wRC+ every season. He has needed a hot streak to get up to that level though. Chapman was hitting .227/.309/.328 (83 wRC+) as recently as June 3rd, and the hot streak comes with improving under-the-hood numbers:
Chapman just turned 33 and $25M a year for his age 34-37 seasons isn’t horrible. It’s bad, don't get me wrong, but it won’t kill a team with the Yankees’ resources either. Get the Giants to take Ryan McMahon in the trade as a salary offset and Chapman is effectively a $9M player in 2027. Then Giancarlo Stanton comes off the books, and Chapman’s $25M a year from 2028-30 steps into Stanton’s salary “slot.” It’s bad, but doable.
1B Rafael Devers ($211M from 2027-33): Devers is a 75% first base/25% DH guy this season and he’s surprisingly capable at first. He won’t win a Gold Glove anytime soon, but this isn’t a Gary Sheffield/Alex Rodriguez situation either, where he looks like he never played the field in his life. Since May 1st, Devers is hitting .263/.337/.533 (139 wRC+), which is more or less typical Devers. He’ll turn 30 in October though, and the strikeout rate is booming:
Unless you’re willing to put Devers back at third base, there’s no room for him on the roster. The Yankees already have a better lefty hitting first baseman, and they need the DH spot long-term for Aaron Judge. The contract is really bad too. Even if the Giants pay down, say, $10M a year, it prices Devers as a $21M a year player for his age 30-36 seasons. I think there’s a chance he’s an above-average hitter for most of those years, maybe even an elite one for a period, but yikes. Stanton was at least coming off a 59-homer season and an MVP when the Yankees got him, you know?
(Self-promotion: I wrote a thing at CBS on the one-year anniversary of the Devers trade earlier this week.)
OF Jung Hoo Lee ($63M from 2027-29): Still only 27, Lee is having a really great season: .325/.357/.448 (126 wRC+) with 9.3 K%. He is cut from the Luis Arraez/Steven Kwan cloth as a low exit velocity guy with an elite sweet spot rate (i.e. batted balls in the ideal 8-32 degree launch angle range). I would hammer the under on a .325 AVG the rest of the season and the rest of his contract, but if you get something close to Lee’s career .281/.332/.406 (109 wRC+) MLB line, that’s a valuable hitter, though not a great one.
The downside is that Lee is a bat-only player. He was so bad in center field the last two years (-20 DRS and -6 OAA) that the Giants had to move him to right field this year, where he still rates poorly. If he were even an average defender, someone who could split his time among the three outfield spots, Lee would be much more appealing. A league average-ish bat with no power and poor defense is a hard sell. Arraez is a much more accomplished hitter and look how the market treated him as a free agent. (Lee can opt out of his deal after 2027. He’d leave two years and $41M on the table.)
The great unknown is how much money are the Giants willing to eat to facilitate trades? The more they eat, the more appealing these players become, and of course the more you’ll have to give up to get them. In terms of their future outlook and how well they fit the Yankees, I’d rank these four players like this:
1. Chapman(gap)2. Lee(gap)3. Adames4. Devers
The time to get Chapman was three years ago, when he was willing to take a short-term contract. He signed a three-year, $54M deal with opt outs going into 2024, a season in which the Yankees started Jon Berti, Oswaldo Cabrera, and late career DJ LeMahieu at third base 113 times. If the Giants take McMahon in the trade and eat, say, $5M a year from 2028-30, Chapman isn’t a terrible idea. The other three guys don’t do anything for me. Lee is the least bad of three bad options.
Chris asks: So does it make sense to consider putting Weathers in the pen? He’s worst in the first inning - 7.62 ERA, 1.69 WHIP, .304 batting average against. After 4 terrible starts out of his last 5 I wonder if we wouldn’t be better off w ER(C) or Brendan Beck, and send Weathers back down to fix whatever is wrong with him. But beyond that, even if he stays in rotation for now, whenever Fried is fixed I don’t see him as a good pitcher out of the pen.
Chris sent this question in before Thursday's game. I wouldn’t sweat the first inning numbers too much. Weathers has really only had two bad first innings in his 14 starts. The Angels got him for three runs (remember the back-to-back-to-back homers?) in the first inning on April 14th, then the Blue Jays got him for three runs (two homers) in the first inning last Friday. It’s six runs in those two first innings and five runs in his other 12 first innings.
Weathers has bullpen experience and was good in that role with the Padres (2.49 ERA and 3.45 FIP), but that was also his rookie season in 2021, which is so long ago that I’m not sure it tells us much. So much can change with a move into the bullpen that it’s hard to know how it’ll go. His velocity could jump, they could (probably will) focus on his two best pitches, etc. The bullpen is a different animal.
Prior to Thursday, Weathers had been really bad and homer prone in his previous five starts, though I’m not sure we’re in “send him down to work on things” territory yet. This is gonna sound dumb, but it's really just the homers. 17 of the 22 runs Weathers has allowed in his last six starts came on homers. One or two swings a game have swung his starts. Do a better job keeping the ball in the park, and things will be better.
Alex R. asks: With all the injuries, if it becomes glaringly obvious that Jones is over his head, would the team consider moving Jazz to CF occasionally if that’s what it took to put the best lineup on the field?
I can’t see it. Put Jazz Chisholm Jr. in center field and you’re sitting either Jasson Domínguez or Spencer Jones to squeeze who into the lineup, Amed Rosario or Anthony Volpe? Maybe George Lombard Jr. (who is now hurt)? Chisholm played 1.5 years in center with the Marlins, and I’m sure he’d do it if asked, but I think the best offense and the best defensive alignment until Trent Grisham and Aaron Judge return has Jazz at second, Jones in center, and Jasson in right. Jones will run into enough mistakes to prevent this from becoming a big problem, I think.
Mark asks: With the Knicks winning the NBA championship in such an inspiring way wouldn’t it be a very Boone thing to ask Jalen Brunson or Mike Brown to speak to the Yankees prior to the playoff run or a big playoff series? Certainly better than showing “highlights” of the 2003 collapse against the Red Sox.
Aaron Boone has a thing for guest speakers. The search engine formally known as Google is letting me down, but he’s had a bunch of guest speakers come in over the years, mostly in Spring Training. (Russell Wilson shows up to Tampa every year.) Boone has brought in college football coaches, military personnel, people from all walks of life. Guest speakers are very much his thing. I’m not sure Brunson would be the best candidate. His interviews/press conferences make Aaron Judge’s look riveting, though perhaps he has a different voice in the locker room. Brown (the Knicks head coach, for those unaware) could work, for sure. I can see Boone trying this, and if their schedules line up, it might actually happen.
Michael asks: If Judge is Brunson, who are the rest of the Yankees as Knicks?
Aaron Judge is Jalen Brunson because he’s the captain and the best player and the New York icon. That’s the easy one. Here are some other Yankees as Knicks.
OG Anunoby: Cody Bellinger, because they’re both so good at everything.
Karl-Anthony Towns: Gerrit Cole. The former No. 1 overall pick who grew up rooting for the team he plays for. They’re both super thoughtful too.
Josh Hart: José Caballero. Chaos in ballplayer form.
Mikal Bridges: Jazz Chisholm Jr. Sometimes he’s invisible and sometimes he’s the best player on the floor field, and you wonder why he can’t be that guy more often.
Mitchell Robinson: Giancarlo Stanton. Not always available, but often changes the game when he is.
Landry Shamet: Fernando Cruz. Shows up, does whatever needs to be done, and occasionally looks like a psychopath while doing it.
Deuce McBride: Tough one. He gives off Caballero vibes too. I’ll go with Will Warren as the later draft pick who slowly and methodically developed into a contributor.
Jose Alvarado: Anthony Volpe. The local kid known for defense.
Jordan Clarkson: Amed Rosario. The bench guy with a specialty (Clarkson scores, Rosario mashes lefties) who always seems to be first out to congratulate his teammates.
(Send your questions for Friday's mailbag to RABmailbag at gmail dot com. The random Yankee series is on hiatus, but feel free to send in requests for if/when it returns.)