What happened? That was the prevailing consternation emanating out of Queens and the Bronx last week as both the Yankees and the Mets engaged in simultaneous 13-day pratfalls that raised legitimate concerns as to just how good our locals really are.
It all began June 13 — Friday the 13th if you will — the day after Kodai Senga went down with a hamstring pull for the Mets and the Yankees had just completed an exhilarating sweep of the Royals in Kansas City. At the time, the Mets were leading the NL East by 5 ½ games with the best record (45-24) in baseball. Minus their ace, they then began a streak of nine losses in 10 games against the Rays, Braves and Phillies, arguably one of the toughest stretches of the schedule, in which almost every aspect of their game — starting pitching, bullpen and clutch hitting — failed miserably.
The starting pitchers ceased giving them innings, the overworked relievers had numerous failures and during that time the Mets hitters batted .217 with runners in scoring position, according to the Elias Bureau, that was only made better by their 7-for-13 in their last two winning games against the Braves. And along the way they demoted struggling Francisco Alvarez to Syracuse. By week’s end their lead in the NL East had all been erased and they weren’t able to regain first place until Thursday thanks to an almost as grievous hitting malaise by the Phillies who, still minus Bryce Harper, were swept in Houston by the Astros where they managed just one run in three games and struck out 32 times.
Before the last game against the Braves Thursday, Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns felt compelled to address the media during which he acknowledged the team’s multiple failures during the 9-of-10 slide, but insisted he still has a very good team — which it is. At some point the Mets are going to have to settle on a third baseman, but Senga will be back soon, Frankie Montas was excellent in his first start, Sean Manaea is due back soon and both Nolan McLean at Syracuse and Jonah Tong at Binghamton are both having standout seasons if needed. Conceivably the historically conservative Stearns will focus on additional bullpen help at the trade deadline, although Dedniel Nunez’s lightning performance against the Braves Thursday night gave reason to think there may not be a need to add multiple relievers. The fact the Mets are hitting a woeful .221 with runners in scoring position — 23rd worst in baseball — may be frustrating but there’s nothing a GM can do about that except hope that it turns around.
On the other hand, the Yankees, after completing that sweep of the Royals that increased their AL East lead to 4 ½ games on June 13, lost their next six in a row to the Red Sox and Angels (each with losing records) scoring a total of six runs, while batting a horrendous .165 with runners in scoring position, next-to-last in baseball during the period. The Yankees’ slump exposed a whole lot more flaws than the Mets’ and for the first time this season they may have a serious challenger in the resurgent Rays, who had closed to a half-game of them as of Friday night.
In particular, there is the infield where everyone agrees Jazz Chisholm is far more adept at second base — while Anthony Volpe has regressed both with the bat and in the field from last year and has scouts wondering if the Yankees can get to the World Series with him as their shortstop. Here’s what one scout told me last week: “I know of folks are down on him right now. He’s made some bad throws in the field and he strikes out too much and is prone to streaks, but I’d be careful. He’s only 24 years old and [Yankee GM Brian] Cashman is highly protective of his homegrown guys.
“No way he’s gonna give up on this kid, and besides, where’s he gonna go?”
Precisely. There are no shortstops near ready in the Yankee system — their top prospect George Lombard Jr. is at least two years away — and there are no quality shortstops on the trade market better than Volpe. It’s going to be difficult for Cashman to fix the infield, certainly not as long as he’s convinced DJ LeMahieu still has enough bat left. Forget about the pipe dream rumors about a trade for Eugenio Suarez, who may or may not be put on the market by the Diamondbacks. Suarez’s major league-leading 67 RBI notwithstanding, there’s no way Cashman would sacrifice top prospects for a soon-to-be 34-year-old rental player.
No, Cashman, like Stearns, will likely concentrate on bullpen parts at the trade deadline and perhaps a utility infielder. For all the concerning issues that manifested themselves during the mid-June slump, especially the lack of clutch hitting, the Yankee starting pitching wasn’t one of them and it is on the arms of Max Fried, Carlos Rodon, Clarke Schmidt and now Will Warren that they will hopefully ride all the way to deep October. Indeed, when it comes to starting pitching, the only question the Yankees have is how long are they going to keep the 6-6 righty Cam Schlittler (2.18 ERA, 97 Ks in 74.1 IP) waiting in the wings at Triple-A Scranton?
ITS A MADD, MADD WORLD
By far, the happiest man in baseball right now is Tampa Bay Rays owner Stu Sternberg, who is already looking at making at least a $1.5 billion profit according to the latest Forbes evaluations when he is expected to sell the team sometime in the coming months. In the meantime he will also be getting out of the bulk, if not all, of the remaining $164 million on the 11-year, $182 million contract through 2032 with shortstop Wander Franco, who Thursday was found guilty in the Dominican Republic of sexual abuse of a minor. Franco was given a two-year suspended sentence but it is unlikely as a convicted felon he will be able to obtain a work visa in the U.S. and even if he is, he would likely receive a further ban from MLB under their severe sexual abuse/domestic violence policy. Franco is currently on MLB’s suspended list — and not being paid — ever since the charges were filed against him last year. … A most unexpected feel-good story unfolded in Detroit on Thursday when 34-year-old Dietrich Enns, a much traveled former Yankee lefty, pitched five scoreless innings against the A’s to get the 1-0 win in his first appearance in the majors in 1,371 days. Enns was a 19th-round draft pick by the Yankees out of Central Michigan in 2012 and although he pitched well in five minor league seasons with them, including a 14-4, 1.73 ERA at Double-A and Triple-A in 2016, he never got a call to the Bronx and was traded to the Twins the following year. He did manage to get two wins in relief for the Rays in 2021, then spent the three years in Korea and Japan. … When the Brewers’ Jacob Misiorowski won the duel of the 23-year-old phenom flamethrowers against the Pirates’ Paul Skenes last Wednesday with eight strikeouts in five shutout innings, while also averaging 99.5 mph on his fastballs to his rival’s 98.5, he also became the first pitcher since 1900 with as many wins (3-0, 1.13 ERA) as hits allowed through his first three major league outings (minimum 15 innings), according to ESPN.
