The New York Yankees are in a fight for first place with the Boston Red Sox. The Yankees trail the Red Sox by 3.5 games.The teams at the top of the American League are very strong. Cleveland will win it's division easily. Houston, New York, Boston and Cleveland could all win 100 games. A Seattle is having a good year, too.
Either the Yankees or the Red Sox will play a one game play off. One of those teams will get in as a wild card. There is a big difference between winning the division and being forced to play a one game playoff. Neither team can take anything for granted in the second half of the season. Both teams need to try and win the division.
The Yankees, despite a stellar everyday lineup, are vulnerable because of their inconsistent starting pitching. Besides Luis Severino, who is a CY Young candidate with 14 wins and a good ERA, the Yankees have uncertainty within their rotation. Masihiro Tanaka is injury prone and has 4.68 ERA. CC Sabathia, although he is having a good year, is 37 years of age and vulnerable to the vagaries of age. Domingo German is 2-4 with an ERA of 5.06. Sonny Gray has struggled this year with a 5-6 record and a 5.46 ERA. On the plus side, Jonathan Loaisiga is 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA.
Thankfully, the Yankees bullpen has been good. Aroldis Chapman has anchored the bull pen with a 3-0 record, 25 saves and a 1.30 ERA. He has been one of the best closers in baseball. Chad Green is 5-1 with a 2.23 ERA. Dillon Betances, despite being 1-3, has a 2.68 ERA. Finally, David Robertson is 6-3 with a 3.19 ERA. The Yankees bullpen has been reliable and solid.
Nevertheless, the Yankees need depth in their starting rotation. They could consider bringing up a promising minor league starter. There are several to choose from their triple A and double A affiliates.
At Scranton, the Yankees triple A team, Josh Rogers is 6-6 with a respectable 3.55 ERA. Prize prospect Justus Sheffield is 3-3 with a good 2.53 ERA. At Trenton, the Yankees double A team, Dillon Tate is 5-2 with a 3.38 ERA. Michael King is 2-2 with an impressive 2.17 ERA. Finally, Domingo Acevedo is 2-1 with a good 2.66 ERA.
The Yankees may think that their minor league pitchers are not ready for the major leagues. Additionally, these pitchers are probably on a pitch count. So, it's uncertain how many more innings they will pitch for the rest of the year. They Yankees may not be able to count on them for the stretch fun.
The Yankees could consider trading for a big league pitcher who is having a good year. JJ Happ, Blake Snell and Cole Hamels have been mentioned as possibilities. The Yankees would have to part with good prospects, but not necessarily their prize prospects to land these pitchers.
If the Yankees want to land Jacob DeGrom or Noah Syndergaard from the New York Mets, the Bronx Bombers would have to part with top prospects or players such as Glaybor Torres, Miguel Andujar and Justus Sheffield. A trade for DeGrom or Syndergaard would probably have to include a combination of those three players. The Yankees seem reluctant to part with Torres and Sheffield. Parting with Andujar would be difficult, but the Yankees seem willing to do so in order to obtain an ace.
The Mets should not trade DeGrom or Syndergaard unless they can get back at least Torres or Sheffield. The Mets should probably insist on receiving both Torres and Sheffield for DeGrom - who has the best ERA in baseball and has a team friendly contract for the next two seasons.
Thee Mets have all of the leverage in a possible trade. The Mets will not make the playoffs this year. They are rebuilding their team, whereas the Yankees want to win now. The Mets should get a king's ransom for either DeGrom or Syndergaard- especially DeGrom. The Mets can play the Yankees off of other teams that need starting pitching including the other contenders in the American League.
Given all the the Yankees need to give up for DeGrom or Syndergaard, they may be better off trading for a third or fourth starter who could stabilize or add depth to the rotation rather than an ace. It will be interesting to see what the Yankees do in the coming days and weeks.
The Red Sox have had a little more consistency in their rotation. Chris Sale is 10-4 with an ERA of 2.23. Rick Porcello is 11-3 with a respectable ERA of 3.58. Eduardo Rodriguez is 11-3 with a decent ERA of 3.62.
However, the Red Sox has issues with their rotation as well. David Price, whose tenure with Boston has been disappointing, has an ERA of 4.42 despite winning 10 games. He has also not pitched well against the Yankees. So, while the Red Sox have had more consistency with their top three starters, their rotation is not flawless.
Nevertheless, the onus falls on the Yankees to improve their rotation because they trail the Red Sox in the standings. They are trying to catch Boston. The Yankees are the team that must make up ground.
Offensively, the Yankees have been a juggernaut. Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton have both picked up where they left off last season. Judge has 25 homeruns, while Stanton has hit 22 round trippers. Didi Gregorious and Aaron Hicks both have 16 home runs. Before his injury, Glaybor Torres was hitting .294 with 15 homeruns. Miguel Andujar, like Torres, is a rookie of the year candidate. The Yankees are consistently scoring runs. They simply must stabilize and strengthen their starting rotation if they want a chance to make it the World Series this year.
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