More bad news for my Yankees -- Tanaka just joined Sabathia and Pineda on the DL -- that's three-fifths of our starting rotation.
Pineda is out for the year. No telling how long Sabathia (knee) and Tanaka (shoulder) will be out.
It's a good thing we picked up Sonny Gray. He's 0-2 as a Yankee, but has pitched decently in his two starts (3.00 ERA). Jaime Garcia has been battered in his two starts, but the he kept it close last night and the Yankees managed to rally to beat the Red Sox.
We got Aaron Hicks, who has been out a month, back for that one and he had a big night -- a homer, a double and he threw out the tying run at third base in the ninth.
We've really missed Hicks (.909 OPS). Now, if we could just get Starlin Castro (.816 OPS) back, maybe we can stay in the race until Tanaka and Sabathia return. Until then, a lot of Chad Green, Bryan Mitchell and Luis Cessa starts. Plus, Jordan Montgomery is back after a brief trip to SWB. He's probably our No. 3 starter at the moment after Severino and Gray.
The other question is Aaron Judge. Statistically, he was the best player in baseball up to the all-star break -- better than Trout, Harper or anybody else. Since the break, he's been pathetic. He's gone from a 201 OPS-plus (meaning he was twice as good as the average MLB hitter) to an 87 OPS-plus (13 percent blew average) He wouldn't be that good, except he continues to walk at a high rate.
If Boston could get it together and play up to their abilities, I'd turn my focus to the wild card. But even with their recent win streak, they allow us to stay in it. But we need a lot more help .. or health.