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Luis Severino is currently the Mets’ best starter — and advance scout.
His ex-Yankees teammates recently were ribbing him in a group chat for not starting in the Subway Series and he responded with a body blow that he revealed publicly last week — “I’m not afraid. Right now, you only have two good hitters. I can walk those two guys.”
Those two hitters, Aaron Judge and Juan Soto, were walked a combined five times Tuesday night in the Subway opener. Four were to Judge. The first three unintentionally intentional and the other intentional. Why not? For the past six weeks, the Yankees have essentially been having a reality show — Who Wants to Bat Leadoff and Cleanup?
The choices Tuesday — in the first game of the Subway Series — were Jahmai Jones and J.D. Davis, two guys you could forget were even on the roster. Those two were a combined 0-for-6 with four strikeouts and a double play. With Davis at cleanup, Mets starter Jose Quintana was more likely to ask Judge to dance than to actually challenge him with a strike.
Davis was brought in to hit lefties and so far is 0-for-12. He had not played since July 4 and looked so feeble you wondered if he might become the first-ever player designated for assignment during a game. In all during a 3-2 Mets victory, the Yankees managed five hits, were 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and underscored loudly once more just how badly Brian Cashman must find not just two relievers in the next week, but at least two useful bats as well.
Even the two runs the Yankees managed came with the bad news tied to the good: Gleyber Torres homered — his first since June 28 and just his second extra-base hit this month. Alex Verdugo doubled in a run — his first extra-base hit since July 4.
In this tight market it will be difficult to add impact and the Yankees could be looking at walk-year complementary players such as Tampa Bay’s Brandon Lowe (who has a 2025 club option) and Amed Rosario and perhaps invest more for a potentially difference-making reliever such as Miami’s Tanner Scott.
Yet, even if there is greater impact to unearth, Cashman cannot solve all of the Yankee problems before 6 p.m. on July 30. Some of this — maybe most — will have to be solved internally.
For the offense so far has many overtones to 2022. The Yankees were second that season in runs per game at 4.98, but it was deceiving. So much of it was based on Judge’s historic production, especially in the second half when his slash line was .349/.502/.784 and the rest of the lineup was .223/.292/.360. Thus, when the Astros unplugged Judge in the ALCS, they also shut off the Yankees.
Going into Tuesday, the Yankees were again averaging 4.98 runs per game, tied with the Orioles for the best in MLB. But Soto and Judge had combined for a slash line of .311/.435/.635 while the rest of the team was .231/.300/.373. And the situation was worse against lefties with Soto/Judge at .310/.465/.609 and the others at .213/.286/.311 (thanks to Eric Nehs of MLB Network research).
“It is a good question, but there is nothing in my head for a singular reason why we have struggled against lefties,” hitting coach James Rowson said.
The Mets didn’t start Severino to make sure to go with two lefties in Quintana and Sean Manaea. Until the Yankees do something about this, they should expect to see as many lefties as opponents have and for Judge to not see many hittable pitches. Perhaps the return of Giancarlo Stanton, who has been hitting on the field and doing agility work, will help, but he is still at least a few days away; plus his OPS vs. lefties was just .670. Aaron Boone mentioned switch-hitter Jasson Dominguez (oblique) as likely to return to Triple-A action by the end of the week and be a MLB consideration soon.
The Yanks pretty much must find a righty complement for Verdugo (.196 batting average .556 OPS vs. lefties) whether it is Dominguez or whether it comes from the outside. This is just another area Torres (.108 vs. lefties) and LeMahieu (.135) were hurting the Yankees.
Judge had a chance to play hero in the ninth inning when he came up as the walk-off run with Soto on first. But Jake Diekman struck him out. Judge and Soto were basically unplugged — and it was 2022 all over again.
It is hard to see the Yankees surviving rounds of the playoffs with a two-man offense. So, yes, Cashman has to find some help — at least quality supplementary help in the next week — but mostly this has to come from the secondary group that has been so disappointing so far.
