- 2 days ago
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00The New York Yankees coming off of a four-game series against the Anaheim Angels, and it was a rough
00:06one for the Yankees in terms of pitching, but now they're going to look to bounce back this weekend against
00:11the Kansas City Royals at the stadium.
00:13So we're going to talk a little bit about what we can look forward to this weekend with the Yankees
00:17as they host the Royals and look a little bit back at that series against the Angels.
00:21We're going to do that with our beat writer here at the New York Post. It's my guy, Greg Joyce.
00:25First time I'm talking to Greg this season. Greg, how you doing, man?
00:28Doing well, Dexter. How are you doing?
00:30I'm doing good, man. I'm doing good. Baseball season. Look, it's still early. Some fans are panicking a little bit
00:37when things don't go right in the early season, but we know it's still only April 17th.
00:41We've got a ways to go. Greg, let me ask you this. Let's look back at the Angels series for
00:46the Yankees here.
00:47How concerning was it what we saw from the Yankees pitching staff, especially to give 30-plus runs in the
00:53series, a bunch of home runs over the four games?
00:56How concerned were you with what we saw from this Yankees pitching staff?
01:00Yeah, it was a weird one. I mean, the pitching staff had largely kind of carried them through that early
01:04strong start they had getting up to 7-1.
01:06And coming into the series, in 15 games, they'd given up just three home runs, which obviously that low of
01:12a clip was not sustainable.
01:13But then they gave up 13 home runs in four games against the Angels, which obviously is a huge number
01:19for four games, especially when it's five to Mike Trout, two to Oswald Peraza, who looked like the kind of
01:25player the Yankees thought they had a couple of years ago and never really saw consistently.
01:30And two from Joe Adele, including a grand slam that kind of served as the ultimate knockout punch in the
01:35last game.
01:36So, you know, it was a strange one.
01:38You know, a lot of it was a lot.
01:40You know, I think the bullpen gave up 14 runs in 17 innings, which, you know, before the series, they'd
01:45been fine.
01:47You know, the first week, 10 days, they'd been pretty good.
01:49And then they had to pickups along the way.
01:51And then if you were concerned about the bullpen, you know, all those fears were kind of confirmed during the
01:56series.
01:57But they didn't get great starting pitching either.
02:00You know, Max Freed had been so dependable for them for his first couple of starts of pitching the seventh
02:04inning, into the seventh inning, at least every time.
02:07And yesterday, couldn't make it out of the sixth.
02:11You know, Ryan Weathers on the Tuesday night game, he gives up back to back to back homers in the
02:15first inning and settles in and strikes out 10 over five plus innings.
02:18So, you know, Will Warren went short the Monday game.
02:21Luis Hill didn't look great.
02:23And he's in the Wednesday start.
02:24So, you know, the pitching had been so good early on.
02:27And then everybody just kind of had a clunker in that Angels series.
02:30So, you know, like you said, it is still early.
02:32So you're trying to kind of figure out which, you know, what's real, what's not.
02:36Obviously, kind of one to forget that, you know, it was some bad pitches, some bad pitch locations.
02:41And the Angels just all series.
02:43I don't know if they're going to be that good this year, but they definitely opened some eyes.
02:46I think just the way they grinded out of bats and obviously the power.
02:49And Mike Trout looking like, you know, his old self there, too.
02:52So it was, you know, the Yankees are the use of the ones, usually the ones out homering everybody.
02:57But the Angels are out homering them 13 to 9.
02:59So, yeah, they obviously got to fix some things heading into this weekend against the Royals.
03:04Yeah, they got to fix some things there for sure.
03:07And then the offensive output by the Angels was stunning.
03:10You're right.
03:10It's usually the Yankees the other way.
03:12Now, you mentioned the bullpen there, Greg.
03:14You just wrote about this recently.
03:16Secondly, how much of what we saw even from the pen, even when the series against the Angels, is it
03:20just, you know, early season volatility versus a real structural issue with depth and reliability?
03:27Because that was a concern for some Yankees fans heading into the season, excuse me, about the depth with the
03:32bullpen.
03:33But what do you think it is?
03:34Or do you need to see more?
03:36How do you look at the bullpen right now?
03:37Yeah, I think it's a little bit of both.
03:39Obviously, it's early season, the results can be volatile, and the bullpen is the most volatile group of any, you
03:45know, in baseball.
03:46Just, you know, they can look great one week and look absolutely terrible the next with some terrible blow-ups
03:51that cost you games and all that.
03:52But like you said, this was a kind of a concern, arguably their biggest concern leaving camp.
03:57Didn't do a whole lot to address it over the offseason.
04:01And, you know, in the first week, they got off to a good start.
04:04And, you know, if you wanted to take the optimistic route, you could kind of look and see some guys
04:08that, you know, look pretty sharp early.
04:11And you could see kind of emerging as contributors.
04:13But then, you know, in the last week, 10 days, if you were concerned about it, you kind of had,
04:18you confirmed all that.
04:20So I think the biggest thing is just like when you talk about, you know, Aaron Boone's circle of trust
04:25in those late innings,
04:25if they have a one or two run lead, you don't feel great about the number of guys that you
04:29can throw into that group.
04:30Obviously, you know, David Bednar has a track record, has five saves.
04:35He's had, you know, his velocity is a little bit down.
04:37They say it's just because of the weather, the early start.
04:39So you kind of give him the benefit of the doubt.
04:41Tim Hill has been really good.
04:43Fernando Cruz, for the most part, has been sharp, aside from yesterday.
04:46You know, the walks have been the biggest concern with him early this season.
04:50He kind of needs to get more in the zone so his splitter can play up.
04:54But you kind of, you know, he showed it enough last year that he can be a fairly reliable guy
04:58for you.
04:58You know, Camilo Duvall, you know, the first week that that opening series against the Giants,
05:02like that looks like the guy that the Yankees thought they were trading for, where he was dominant in some
05:06of those games.
05:07And then since then, he's had some hiccups and, you know, it gets a little hairy.
05:11And they're kind of encouraged by what they've seen, the uptick in velocity with him the last couple of games.
05:15So kind of see how that plays out.
05:18And then, you know, if you're looking for a guy that kind of kind of grab a role like Brent
05:22Hedrick has looked pretty good,
05:23though, they've used him a ton.
05:25And I think, you know, coming into yesterday, he led the majors with 12 appearances, which obviously is not sustainable.
05:30And some of that was just them taking advantage of early off days that they were able to kind of
05:34use him so much.
05:35But, you know, this is a guy not a proven guy.
05:38So we'll see whatever what he does over the course of a long season.
05:41But then, you know, they got like Ryan Yarbrough and Paul Blackburn, two long men that they're trying to kind
05:47of fit in.
05:47And so it's not the greatest fit of like, can you use those guys in high leverage like they have
05:52at times and sometimes it's worked and sometimes it hasn't.
05:55And then that last spot is just, you know, it was Jake Bird, who, again, like had looked really good
06:00in a couple outings and then looked really bad in a couple.
06:02And now he's back at AAA.
06:04And then Yari De Los Santos came up for a day and gave up runs back at AAA.
06:08Angel Chaville came up yesterday, gave up a home run to Mike Trouto, almost everybody did in that series.
06:14But it seems like that last spot's kind of got to be a little bit of a revolving door until
06:18they can figure out somebody who grabs a hold of it.
06:20And obviously, you know, when Garrett Cole and Carlos Redon come back, which they hope is next month, like they're
06:26going to be able to fold some starters potentially into the bullpen and see what that looks like.
06:29So it's going to be a, you know, revolving door a little bit there.
06:34And it's going to look a little bit different by next month already.
06:36But they've got to get there.
06:38And these early season games, you know, still matter as much as they do later in the year as, you
06:43know,
06:43as they found out the hard way last year.
06:44So something they definitely got to shore up.
06:46And there's a lot of ifs there, I think, on the back end.
06:49And they need some more sure things.
06:52Yeah, definitely do need some more sure things.
06:53It's still early.
06:54Like I said, it's still early.
06:55You're going to see a lot of that volatility in the bullpen.
06:57And as you said, it's the most volatile part of a baseball team generally.
07:00Now we move to this weekend, Greg, and you got a Royals team.
07:04They come in here to the stadium and they're struggling.
07:08So do you look at this as the perfect get-right spot for the Yankees here this weekend?
07:13Or is it the kind of series that can be dangerous if the same issues that we saw in the
07:18Angels series shows up?
07:20How do you look at this series for the Yanks?
07:21Yeah, I think it has the potential to be a get-right.
07:23Although the Royals are probably kind of viewing the same thing.
07:26Like they need a get-right series and they're, you know, coming in to face a Yankees team that's lost
07:307-0-9.
07:31So it's two teams that kind of are looking to get back on track.
07:34You know, in two of the games against the Angels, you did start to see the offense kind of get
07:39rolling a little bit more.
07:40So like Yankees are kind of banking on that being the start of a breakout after they've really gone a
07:46week to 10 days where it was some rough go for the offense.
07:50You know, not just the bottom of the order, but certainly them too.
07:53So they need to kind of get guys clicking at the same time and also get that from the lineup
07:58and the pitching.
07:59Like they started to get it from the lineup a little bit in this series and then the pitching took
08:02a step back.
08:02So you kind of need to sync all that up.
08:05One thing is that, you know, the Angels or the, sorry, the Royals are starting Michael Walker tonight, who's gotten
08:10off to a strong start.
08:12And then they throw two lefties the next two days in Reagans and Cameron, who, you know, the Yankees did
08:18well against lefties last season.
08:20And it kind of structured their bench built to be able to face lefties with all the right-handed bats
08:26that they brought on their bench.
08:27And so far this year, they haven't done a very good job of that.
08:30So like you said, it's a small sample size, it's earliest, but they're going to get another chance this weekend
08:34to show that they actually, you know, can be better against left-handed pitching than they have been so far.
08:39That's going to be a good test for them.
08:40See, that kind of leads me to the last thing I wanted to ask you here, Greg, because, you know,
08:44that's something to keep your eye on in the series, how they can handle left-handed pitching in this one.
08:48Do you have maybe a couple of other things that you think Yankee fans should, you know, keep their eye
08:53on this week that they'll feel like, hey, this team is back on the right track?
08:57What are maybe one or two things Yankee fans need to see this weekend to know this team is back
09:01on the right track?
09:03Yeah, I mean, I think Cam Schluzer had the chance to kind of put them on the right foot tonight
09:06if he can kind of go back to what he looked like, you know, in his first two starts, pretty
09:11dominant stuff.
09:11Obviously, it's not going to be like that every single time out, but he's, you know, the Rays touched him
09:15up pretty good last time out, and I know he was not happy about that.
09:19I think he called it embarrassing, even, you know, giving up a couple of runs, and I think it was
09:23seven hits against the Rays.
09:25So it wasn't his best stuff, so he has a chance to kind of bounce back from that tonight.
09:28And then just really just, you know, some key guys that they're still trying to get going in the lineup.
09:33Obviously, Ryan McMahon is one of those guys, but, you know, I think not as much of what was expected
09:38out of him as it was for Jazz Chisholm Jr.,
09:41who's gotten off to a slow start as well, and that's a guy that, you know, he went 30-30
09:45last year while missing a month,
09:48and you kind of saw his impact on a daily basis of what he can bring.
09:51You know, he's been active on the base pass so far this season, but he hasn't shown any power.
09:55He's really struggling, you know, hitting in the 100s, struggling to kind of hit consistently.
09:58He said last week he's just popping everything up, doesn't know why he's trying to make some adjustments, but that's
10:02a guy that seems key to get going.
10:05You know, they dropped him a little bit further down the lineup last night, or yesterday, hitting seventh.
10:09So he's a guy that, you know, that they expect a lot from, and they kind of need to get
10:13his back going because, you know,
10:15he's right in that middle of the lineup that can make an impact on a daily basis, not just with
10:20his legs, but with his back, too.
10:21I think he's a guy that, you know, as this weather warms up and, you know, start to get to
10:26more games under your belt,
10:27he's a guy that needs to show that he can be the, you know, consistent threat that he was for
10:32them last year.
10:33Yeah, need to get Jazz going.
10:35That would be nice.
10:36And then you're also right, Shuttler would start on Friday night.
10:39We'll see if he can get things pitched off, tipped off, pitched off, leading off.
10:44Sorry, I was trying to use a baseball term there.
10:45Right for the Yankees this weekend.
10:47They look to bounce back from the tough series against the A's.
10:50We'll see if the pitching can get better and the hitting can get right as well.
10:54That is Greg Joyce.
10:55Check him out.
10:56Does a great job for us covering the Yankees here for the New York Post.
10:59Greg, good to see you.
10:59It's been a while.
11:00Glad we got to talk some Yankees baseball.
11:01We'll do it again soon.
11:03Thanks, guys.
11:04Good catching up.
11:05Yep.
Comments