The Rays were 39-61 when the Yankees rolled into town. They are now 42-61. The Yankees have been swept by the lowly Rays, the final blow coming in a 5-3 win Sunday, and New York’s season was swept away too. While the Yankees did play a game on Sunday, and while they were in fact swept by one of the worst teams in baseball, the story of the day isn’t the game itself. In a way, Sunday’s loss was a complimentary component of the story, a piece of evidence in a larger indictment of the team. The story on Sunday wasn’t the loss, it was the long-foretold trade of Andrew Miller.
The baseball details of that trade can be found here. What matters the most, though, is not how good Clint Frazier is at baseball, or how good Andrew Miller is. It’s that Hal Steinbrenner and the Yankees brass saw fit to ship out an important asset for a massive return, and that they recognized that the Yankees aren’t going anywhere.
Take Sunday’s game for example. The Yankees lost 5-3, once again failing to put up anything resembling a dangerous offensive threat. Rookie starter Blake Snell, one of the best pitching prospects in all of baseball, struck out nine Yankees in 5 1/3 innings. The lefty was a little wild, but still held the New York off-balance for his whole outing. Meanwhile, Michael Pineda surrendered five earned runs while striking out eight over six innings of work.
Once again at .500, the fate of the 2016 Yankees is sealed. For the first time in nearly a generation, the team is selling, and will not actively attempt to contend for the playoffs.
Welcome to the new reality.
The Play: Didi Gregorius grounds into an inning-ending double play (-.180 WPA)
The Yankees had the bases loaded here, and then Didi came up short. It felt like a microcosm of the entire season.
Top Performers
Yankees: Brett Gardner (2-4, BB)
Rays: Corey Dickerson (2-3, 2B, BB, R)
Notes
- Today was the first time that Snell faced a big league team for the second time. He had faced the Yankees in April in his major league debut.
- Alex Rodriguez pinch-hit for Aaron Hicks in the ninth inning and looked absolutely feeble against Alex Colome. Colome certainly isn’t an easy pitcher to hit against, but it wasn’t pretty.
- Carlos Beltran went deep for two of the Yankees’ three runs. It was the only New York extra-base hit, and it may be Beltran’s last homer in a Yankee uniform.
- It was surprising to see Beltran in the lineup, given his trade candidacy and older age. A pulled hamstring the day before the deadline would not have been a good look.
- Luis Severino came on in relief of Pineda and threw two scoreless innings. Severino was throwing exceptionally hard and it’s easy to see why many talent evaluators think his destiny lies in the bullpen.
- Joe Girardi confirmed before the game that Dellin Betances would be the closer going forward.
The Quote
“[He’ll] show up for the National Anthem in a dirty uniform.” – Brian Cashman, on new Yankees top prospect Clint Frazier.
The Highlight: Beltran obliterates a poor, unsuspecting baseball
Oh my. If this is it for Beltran as a Yankee, it was certainly fun. Whoever gets him will be quite pleased.
Up Next
It’s time to Meet the Mets! The Yankees ship out for the untamed wilds of Queens to take on the Amazin’s for two, before returning to the Bronx for two more with the crosstown rivals. CC Sabathia and Logan Verrett will face off in a pitching duel for the ages on Monday night, well after the 4 p.m. trade deadline. Any more moves that the Yankees make will happen before game time.
Photo: Kim Klement / USA Today Sports