With Cody Bellinger sidelined, Yankees’ trade deadline must include adding bats
CHICAGO — The lineup manager Aaron Boone sketched for the New York Yankees on Monday against the Chicago White Sox looked like he copied it from a spring training road game in early March.
It featured utility man Max Schuemann leading off and playing left field, another utility man in José Caballero at third base and Ali Sanchez, the third-string catcher at the beginning of the year, behind the plate. There was no Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton or Cody Bellinger — players making a combined $121.5 million this year.
The Yankees can’t go like this much longer, and — with the club learning Monday that the Grade 2 left hamstring strain Bellinger suffered over the weekend will keep him out between four and six weeks — there will be a greater need for New York to add offense before the Aug. 3 trade deadline.
Boone said he didn’t believe the injury to Bellinger, the Yankees’ highest-paid player this season at $52.5 million, would pressure the front office into changing its plans.
“I get the sense that they have been working on this in different ways, shapes or forms in the last several weeks,” Boone said before Monday’s game, “getting ready for trade deadline stuff. I expect them to try and do all they can to improve our team.
“But again, you never know how that’s going to shake out. But we’ll see. You’ve still got teams out there defining what they are and they’re even going to do a couple weeks from now or whatever it is. No. I think they’re eager to improve our club if they can. But things got to line up, too.”
According to FanGraphs, the Yankees have the weakest strength of schedule the rest of the season in the American League East. But they have had massive trouble scoring with Judge (first right rib stress fracture) out of the lineup. Judge last played May 31. Since then, the Yankees have scored just 183 runs — the 26th-most in baseball and 10 runs behind the New York Mets, whose season is essentially already over.
Aaron Boone discussed Cody Bellinger’s injury Monday, and said he didn’t think it would put pressure on New York’s front office to change its trade-deadline plans. (New York Yankees / Getty Images)
Bellinger had struggled of late, posting just an 88 wRC+ in 44 games since Judge’s injury. But he had shown signs of life over the past week, going 5-for-13 (.385) with two doubles over his last four games. Plus, he’s been one of the best left field defenders in baseball. With Bellinger out, the Yankees will shift to a combination of Schuemann and Spencer Jones in left field, but both are significant downgrades from Bellinger on both sides of the ball.
The Yankees went into Monday in a solid spot. While they were three games back of the first-place Tampa Bay Rays, they were six games up for the first wild-card spot.
But there’s a possibility that Bellinger won’t return until mid-September. The Yankees also don’t seem to know when Judge will return, though publicly, they remain adamant he will be back this season. The same with Stanton (right calf strain), who hasn’t played since April 24. Stanton and Judge joined the Yankees in Chicago, though Boone had little in terms of injury updates on either on Monday.
It could be argued that the Yankees are weak at every position outside of designated hitter/first baseman Ben Rice. On Monday, Rice was their only starter with an OPS above .800. First baseman Paul Goldschmidt was at .799. Regular center fielder Trent Grisham was on the bench, and though he offers pop, the Yankees don’t trust his bat against lefty pitchers (.698 OPS this season, .717 career).
New York has checked on Washington Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams, according to The Athletic’s Spencer Nusbaum and Will Sammon. The Yankees could look to upgrade at shortstop, where a combination of mostly Anthony Volpe and Caballero has given them a 100 wRC+. They have been in the market for a right-handed hitting catcher who would serve as an upgrade to the struggling Austin Wells.
They have long known they need more offense — and it wouldn’t hurt to target a righty-hitting outfielder. With Bellinger out, they’re going to need help hitting enough through August and possibly part of September. Lane Thomas of the Kansas City Royals has a .799 OPS vs. lefties this year and could be a potential target. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Angels’ Jo Adell (.951 OPS) and the Cincinnati Reds’ Spencer Steer (1.062 OPS) have hit lefties well, too.
“You never know,” Boone said, regarding the trade deadline. “You go in looking to try and improve in some areas. Sometimes it lines up. Sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes you’ve got to pivot and add to a strength. You never know how it’s going to go.”
Except now, with Bellinger potentially out six weeks, it’s clearer than ever that the Yankees need to push to add offense at the deadline. Otherwise they’re going to have to try to continue making a playoff push with lineups that look pulled straight out of the Grapefruit League.