SSTN Mailbag: Lefty Starter, 40-Man Roster, And Playoff Lineups!

I've been remiss this season. I look back at the posts I've written this year, and other than in discussion of his scary forearm injury, I have hardly discussed the incredible season that Aaron Judge has put together. Somehow, I've become almost numb to Aaron Judge's greatness on the field. I don't mean that in a negative way; I love watching Judge play baseball, but I've become so accustomed to hist incredible feats on the field that I have just come to expect Judge's greatness, and that's not fair. I'm sure that many Yankee fans feel similarly.

Aaron Judge began this season on a historic pace before injury slowed him down a touch. Even Judge's slump in mid-summer would constitute valuable offensive contribution for most players, but to Yankee fans like me, it felt like a rough patch. If that feeling alone doesn't explain Judge's greatness, I don't know what does. His growing list of accolades does that almost as well.

Assuming Aaron Judge wins the batting title this year, he will become just the second player besides Mickey Mantle to hit 50 home runs in a season in which he wins the batting title. He is just the 4th player to produce four 50-homer seasons; Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa are the other 3. If the writers get it right (and they already got it wrong with Judge once), Aaron Judge will win his 3rd MVP this year. He won the Rookie of the Year award. He has now produced 3 seasons with 200+ OPS+/wRC+. He's a good enough defender that he was able to play CF last season, and while he wasn't terribly good there, he was viable, which is saying something. Judge isn't just a slugger; he's one of the most well-rounded players of the modern era.

I used to say that I felt unlucky that I got to watch Mike Trout so little when he was basically playing the game like a modern-day Willie Mays. I feel like the Baseball Gods have paid me back, and then some, by having the opportunity to watch Aaron Judge everyday. If the Yankees win a World Series this year, Aaron Judge will be a huge reason why, and it might just be the missing piece to the puzzle to cement him as an all-time great.

As always, thanks for the great questions and keep them coming to SSTNReadermail@gmail.com. In this week's SSTN Mailbag, we'll talk about a lefty starter for next season, 40-man roster additions, and a lineup idea for the playoffs! Let's get at it:

Fuster asks: suppose that the Yankees, in advance of the 2025 season,  are in the market for a third lefty starter, and are planning for the possibility of a six-man rotation with three lefties and three righties, planning to replace one of the righthanders with Cole when he is fully ready,

Framber Valdez may well be available and might be a good choice, costing little other than salary, but the salary cost will be far from little.

I've seen Mackenzie Gore mentioned as being available but know little about him.

can you suggest other, perhaps more desirable  lefties, either  free agents, farmhands or guys available in trade? 

I am a hard, hard "no" on Framber Valdez. He has significant stretches of brilliance and I know he has plenty of talent, but his incident a few weeks back with his catcher cements my feelings about him. Anyone who is willing to intentionally throw a mid-90s missile at an unexpecting person is not someone I ever want on a team for which I root. I think he's going to get paid this offseason, but I don't think it should or will be the Yankees who fork it over; remember, they had a front row seat to his bewilderingly dangerous behavior.

Mackenzie Gore is rumored to be available only if the Nationals get a premium piece in return. Gore is fantastic, and likely to be good for a long time, but I don't think the Yankees have the horses to get him in the Bronx. Anyone the Yankees could deal from the big league club to entice the Nationals would cause the team to take steps backwards, and I don't think that's of interest.

What I think the Yankees will be looking for is someone who can soak up innings better than the Marcus Stromans of the world. There isn't much in that mold available on the free agent market this offseason, but here are the names I came up with:

• Tyler Anderson

• Patrick Corbin

• Nestor Cortes

Anderson came back to Earth quite a bit after his huge season with the Dodgers a few years back. He's bounced back from a horrific campaign to be a solid innings eater, whose performance ranges from slightly below average to slightly above. Entering his late-30s, it will be interesting to see if he continues to pitch or hangs it up, given his significant injury history. Given the mileage, it's also possible that Anderson's performance nose-dives any year now.

I'll never forget how hard some people pushed for the Yankees to sign Patrick Corbin, as he hit free agency in our first full offseason here at SSTN. Thankfully, the Yankees didn't do that, and aside from one excellent campaign, Corbin's career has been replacement level or worse since signing with the Nats in free agency. Corbin manages to throw 150+ innings every year, limits walks, but he just doesn't have the stuff to do much more than that. I'm not sure I'd go this route either.

Nestor is the familiar name, and one I'd be open to seeing in pinstripes again. Nestor's shoulder remains a problem, as he's lost large chunks of this season to shoulder issues, but when healthy, he's been reasonably effective (don't let a clunker or two that has negatively impacted his small sample size ERA fool you). I think he'd be an effective swingman between the bullpen and rotation, but it's also possible he's damaged goods at this point. I hope I'm wrong about that, but it's a real possibility.

None of those are exciting names, and it's too early to look at availability on the trade market. Ryan Yarbrough might be the best option of the lot.

Alan B. asks: Andy: Chase Hampton, Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz, Carlos Lagrange, and Spencer Jones will be added to the 40 man roster this winter. I'm not sure about Brock Selvidge or Eric Reyzelman. I don't think they add T.J. Rumfield, Bailey Dees, or Henry Lalane (too far away). Any sleeper pick I'm missing? Your thoughts?

Rumfield has been good enough, and there's enough daylight at 1B next year, that I might consider giving him a 40-man spot. Someone should give him a shot in the big leagues.

Aside from the names Alan mentioned (and I'm a hard "no" on Reyzelman, Selvidge, Dees, and Lalane), there's one name that represents a glaring omission: Brendan Beck. Beck is Rule 5 eligible this offseason, and he was the most viable depth the Yankees had at AAA before ERC got there. Beck is a viable starter, and I think if he stays healthy, he's a got a shot at a solid MLB career.

Other than Beck though, I don't think I have any other additions that need to be made to the 40-man this offseason.

David asks: We've seen Boone try a bunch of different lineups in the last few days as he prepares for the playoffs. Is there anything you haven't seen that you think Boone should look at in the coming days?

Well, I would have said to make sure Ben Rice catches Max Fried, but that happened last night. Aaron Boone is showing more willingness to play different match-ups and use his flexible pieces in ways that make sense. Not as much as I'd hope for, but still, he's doing it. There is one combination that I've liked since the beginning of the season, but Boone has hardly done it at all.

There is a way to get all of the Yankees best hitters (sans Austin Wells) in the lineup all at once: play Cody Bellinger at 1B. The lineup would look something like this:

1. CF Grisham

2. RF Judge

3. 1B Bellinger

4. DH Stanton

5. C Rice

6. 2B Chisholm

7. LF Dominguez

8. SS Caballero/Volpe

9. 3B McMahon

It would require Boone to make a fair amount of defensive switches as the game moves along, but this lineup against righties is probably the best lineup the team can throw out there. I know that Dominguez is a bit scary in LF in a playoff scenario, but getting him a couple of at-bats instead of Goldschmidt works. I'd love to see Boone try it once against the Orioles.

I highly doubt this will happen, and the Yankees have telegraphed that they will largely save Dominguez for pinch running situations in later innings. Bellinger has also been so good defensively in the outfield that I don't think they'll bring him back to the infield dirt. I might even be talking myself out of the idea, as it might look better on paper than it does in real life. But I can't deny that the above lineup looks really good on paper against right-handed pitching.