00:00Yankees anemic offense flops again in latest loss to rival Rays.
00:05That's the headline of our Yankees beat writer for the post, Greg Joyce's article that's up on the website.
00:11Go check it out.
00:12But that's the least of the Yankees problems right now.
00:16So the man, the myth, the author, Greg's here to talk all things Yankees.
00:20Live from down in St. Pete, Florida.
00:23Greg, appreciate you hopping on with us.
00:25Love the read.
00:26Pete, now let's tell the people all about Yankees baseball and the state of it right now.
00:30It seems like this team's bats always start the season off just hot.
00:36And then they cool down in the summer.
00:3845 strikeouts, I believe, in three games this series.
00:42How much longer of watching bad offensive baseball do fans have to suffer?
00:47And what's the cause of this recent slump?
00:51Yeah, well, it's not going to get any easier today because they have to face a raised all-star,
00:56Drew Rasmussen, who is usually, you know, pitched pretty well against them, including 13 shed outings this season.
01:01So, you know, the thing is, like, they have all these guys struggling at the same time.
01:06And it's not like they have anybody, you know, on the cusp of returning.
01:09Aaron Judge and John Carlos standing arm close to coming back and helping them.
01:13So, and, you know, the trade deadline's still a couple weeks away and usually you don't see guys moved until
01:19closer to the deadline.
01:20So, you know, in the immediate, it's going to have to come from within and get some guys, you know,
01:25out of these deep slumps.
01:27You know, Paul Goldschmidt, who for most of the first three months of the season was playing at a really
01:32high level
01:33and kind of a nice surprise.
01:34He's open 34.
01:36Cody Bellinger, who's going to the all-star game, had a great first two plus three months.
01:41He's in a deep slump himself.
01:44I think it's eight for his last 70.
01:46Ben Rice kind of seems to be coming out of his slump, but, like, he's the only guy that has
01:50been providing some slump here.
01:53You know, the only thing they're doing consistently is just not hitting.
01:55Like, you know, you get some bad pitching performances here and there and some better ones a little bit.
02:00You know, we saw Cam Schulte basically win them a game on Monday night to, you know, make a couple
02:05home runs stand up.
02:06Gary Cole pitched well last night, but it didn't matter because the offense couldn't do anything.
02:11So, it's been rough.
02:12There's no – I mean, none of it's been good.
02:16They've been striking out a lot.
02:18Struggling to put the ball in play.
02:19Like you said, I think they only have two walks in this series.
02:23Both came Monday night.
02:25And usually that's part of their DNA is, you know, kind of controlling the strike zone and working something bad.
02:30And that's kind of gone missing.
02:31So, it's all bad right now for the offense.
02:33You talk about guys stepping up from within and a guy that I would hope would have stepped up since
02:39he got called up from AAA.
02:41That's Anthony Volpe.
02:42He's another headline to a recent article that you wrote in a major storyline here in New York for like
02:48the third straight year.
02:50The headline is, fiery Anthony Volpe hits back at rumors of Yankees position switch drama.
02:56It's just kind of BS.
02:59So, can you give us everything you know about Anthony Volpe either wanting or not wanting to play another position
03:05outside of shortstop?
03:07You got the exclusive.
03:08You got a chance to talk to him.
03:10So, what do you say about that?
03:12Yeah, so, for a guy who's pretty, you know, usually soft-spoken and fairly reserved in his comments to the
03:18media, he talked to, you know, all the reporters that were here yesterday at the CHOP.
03:22And he was pretty passionate, you know, pretty human.
03:25Kind of felt like his character was coming under attack just because of, you know, if he – the story
03:32that he had refused to play second base, like, that would have been a bad look.
03:37And, yeah, I think he knows how that would have looked in the clubhouse.
03:41He said he hopes that his teammates, like, know that it's his character and, you know, haven't been here for
03:45three-plus years now.
03:47He says that, you know, while he was coming back from his shoulder surgery and the offseason, he kept on
03:53checking in with the team, like, what do you want from me?
03:55Where do you – you know, for a while, all they could do is take ground balls.
03:57And he kept on asking, like, where do you want me to take them?
03:59Like, what do you want?
04:00And the message was consistently shortstop.
04:02Obviously, Jose Caballero played, you know, at a really high level for the first month of the season while Volpe
04:07was still finishing off his rehab.
04:09And that kind of changed those plans.
04:11And then he said that, you know, when they – he claims that when they started to, you know, talk
04:16about maybe playing some other positions, he told them he would do anything.
04:19He said he even told Aaron Boone before he got off him that he would play catcher because I think
04:23at that point it was clear that he wasn't going to come back to play shortstop.
04:27Obviously, then Caballero gets injured, Volpe gets called up to play shortstop, and then when Caballero was coming back, then
04:33they start to talk more about maybe, you know, introducing some other positions,
04:36which Volpe has taking ground balls at second base on occasion when he's not been in the lineup.
04:42But it hasn't gotten to a point yet where they're comfortable putting him there in a game, I don't think,
04:46especially just because they have other guys.
04:48You know, if you're going to play anybody at second base other than Jess Chisholm, you know, Jose Caballero has
04:53some history there.
04:55They feel more comfortable with him there at this point.
04:57Maybe that changes down the road, especially next year for Volpe.
05:00But he was pretty – you know, he was passionate and kind of defending himself, talking about how he'll do
05:07anything to help the team win.
05:09And he knows that it's been a struggle for the better part, you know, for all this season.
05:14And really, since he's been up, you know, we've seen flashes of a great player there, but a lot more
05:20kind of, you know, deep, deep spirals of, you know,
05:24zeros offensively and some bad defense, especially late, you know, during the summer last year.
05:30So, yeah, I mean, it was – I thought it was kind of a human moment for him, but him
05:35kind of being real and, you know,
05:38defending himself, and he's pretty passionate.
05:39So, yeah, it's obviously – we'll see how they handle it moving forward.
05:44But at this point, it doesn't seem like there's anything imminent on him playing any other position than shortstop.
05:51Look, I love the passion, but you know, of all people, this here is New York.
05:56He's a Yankee.
05:57Passion can turn to frustration.
05:59And we've seen fans and players get frustrated.
06:02Now it looks like the coaches are starting to lose their cool.
06:05And we saw it Wednesday night, Aaron Boone and bench coach Brad Ausmus both got ejected in the sixth inning.
06:12Is this slump or, I guess, this string of bad baseball, in your opinion, starting to get to Aaron Boone?
06:21And is that a bad look for the franchise with everything that's going on right now?
06:27Yeah, I think it was a frustration on a couple levels last night.
06:30They were upset with the umpiring crew on Monday when they didn't allow Jason Dominguez to challenge the pitch,
06:36which happened last month at Yankee Stadium with the same umpiring crew.
06:39So there's some history there that had kind of been simmering a little bit.
06:43But I do think, you know, the Yankees play of late also kind of played a factor in that frustration.
06:48And then, you know, kind of boiled over last night when they tried to challenge a play at second base.
06:53They were told that they were too late.
06:55And Boone did say he regretted getting tossed there because, you know, he didn't know that Brad Ausmus had gotten
07:01ejected first.
07:02And then he went out to argue.
07:04Boone did and got ejected himself.
07:06He said, you know, he said he can't get tossed there once Brad gets tossed.
07:10Maybe he had known that Ausmus was the one that got ejected first.
07:14You know, you've got to do a better job of staying in the game.
07:16He said he made it personal, which he didn't want to, you know, doesn't want to do there.
07:19But, you know, at that point, then all of a sudden you lose your manager and your bench coach.
07:24And, you know, there's ways for them to still, you know, have a hand at the game for the last
07:30couple of innings.
07:31But, yeah, obviously not a great look, especially with what the Yankees are going through.
07:34And, you know, sometimes to see a manager, you know, get ejected to try to spark his team, I don't
07:39think that was necessarily this.
07:41I think it was just some frustration with the umpire crew.
07:43But, yeah, even Boone admitted later he regretted that and it was not the right move in that spot.
07:50Let's talk about what they're going through.
07:5211 losses in their past 13 games.
07:54They've now dropped to five games back of the race for the division lead.
07:59Trade deadline, it's like not around the corner, but it's not coming up, but it's like around the corner, it
08:06feels like.
08:06Is there anyone out there that you think the Yankees need to target to come in and maybe help clean
08:14this mess up?
08:16Yeah, so the MLB drafted this weekend and usually once you get past that, then the trade chatter starts to
08:22pick up a little bit more ahead of the August 3rd deadline.
08:25So, you know, maybe by next week there's some more realistic conversations starting to happen.
08:31You know, their list of needs, you know, you talk about a catcher, you know, somebody who can bring some
08:36offense from that position.
08:37Obviously, you know, they, it seemed like all along they'd need some bullpen help, even though the bullpen has actually
08:42been okay.
08:43But, you know, they certainly need some reinforcements there, especially with Carlos Legrane probably being out for the year.
08:49They thought he might help with AAA.
08:52You know, you wonder about the rotation that, you know, Carlos Rodon was a lot, the most recent one to
08:57go on the injured list.
08:58They still have Max Freed on the injured list.
09:00Those two guys can come back from, you know, maybe by early August from the IL, but they got to
09:04get, you know, another month maybe until then.
09:06You know, today they're using a bullpen game because they didn't, they thought that would give them a better chance
09:10to win than on up a guy from AAA.
09:12So, you know, do they need a guy that they can plug into the rotation for at least until they
09:18get a little bit healthier?
09:20And then, like, do they, do they add an infielder, you know, on the left side to kind of help
09:25with some of the issues there?
09:26So, I think the biggest one is, you know, the most obvious one is the catcher.
09:30You know, a lot of people, you know, have pointed to Ryan Jeffers from the Twins, a guy who's hit
09:35well this year.
09:35The only thing is he's, he's currently on a rehab assignment from a broken handmaid bone.
09:39And sometimes it takes guys to get, you know, a while to get their full strength back, full power back
09:43from a handmaid injury.
09:44So, we'll see what that looks like.
09:46But he does have some history with Tanner Swanson, who's the Yankees director of catching.
09:50So, that could help smooth the transition a little bit for a tough spot to join on the 5th season.
09:56Yeah, Austin Wilson has had a rough, rough year.
09:59I think he's hitting 148 now.
10:01They could certainly use somebody to either platoon or take over a bulk of the catching duties
10:07and try to bring some more pop from that position than they've gotten this year.
10:11Real quick, before I let you go, because I know you've got to get to the clubhouse.
10:14You had briefly mentioned about John Carlos Stanton not looking like he'd be, he'd return pretty soon.
10:19Is there any details you can give us on where Big G is in his return back to the, back
10:26to the field?
10:27Yeah, so it seems like a much slower buildup this time after, you know, he had the setback.
10:32He originally got injured late April, then he had a setback in the middle of June.
10:35He was about to come back.
10:36He was a couple days away from coming back.
10:38And he had the setback running the bases.
10:40So, it seems like they were kind of slow, taking it slower this time.
10:44He hasn't, you know, at least as a couple days ago, he still hadn't started running.
10:47He was kind of relegated to just, you know, doing some treadmill work and, I think, hitting off some high
10:54-velocity pitching machines,
10:56which he had been doing all along before the setback.
10:58So, it doesn't seem like that's much progress.
11:01So, the answer is no, there's not a ton of updates, which makes you think that he's not really anywhere
11:06close to coming back.
11:07But, you know, at this point, you know, heading into the All-Star break, it almost seems like August would
11:12be a best-case scenario for him.
11:14So, yeah, they obviously got to get him right.
11:17You know, same with Judd.
11:18He still hasn't gotten the re-imaging yet on his rib.
11:21So, you know, we're in week five, I think.
11:24And heading almost into week six from the four or six weeks that they said he would get re-imaging.
11:28So, we'll see if maybe that happens over the All-Star break.
11:31They haven't said yet, you know, hoping to get some kind of an update on him.
11:35But that's time to come by.
11:36So, for both guys, you know, still weeks, if not months, away from the tournament.
11:42All right.
11:43Greg, appreciate you hopping on with us, man.
11:46Have a great night tonight.
11:49You got it.
11:49Thanks, Brandon.
11:50Thanks, Brandon.
11:50Thanks, Brandon.
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