SSTN Mailbag: Playoff Pitching, A Crazy Trade, Lagrange, and Judge!

I was very interested to read about an exchange between Aaron Boone and a Yankee beat reporter yesterday (I apologize, I can't remember who the beat reporter was). The reporter asked Aaron Boone about the Yankees' annual struggles (what many around here call the annual "Boone Swoon") when the calendar flips to the dog days of summer. Boone noted that every season has a very different set of circumstances and made it reasonably clear that the narrative regarding the Yankees' mid-summer struggles bothers him.

On the one hand, I understand Boone's response. He's right that every season has its own unique twists and turns. He also, as a leader, can't publicly lean into the narrative surrounding the Yankees' struggles in the middle of basically every summer since 2021. Baseball is a long season, that inevitably includes ebbs and flows in performance, and I personally prefer consistency from a leader to help get a team through those peaks and valleys.

However, that doesn't mean that the annual Boone Swoon isn't real. The Yankees have been a losing team during July and August over the last few seasons. This year, they don't have a clear lead over the rest of the AL East as is usually the case in June, leaving them with less cushion for summer struggles. Internally, I'm sure Boone wants to find a way to keep guys fired up and ready to roll through July.

Recent events will make that challenging, The injuries are piling up (we'll talk about that more in a minute). Some role players will really need to step up in the meantime. I really hope this is the year that the Yankees flip the script on their usual summer swoon. I'm sure Aaron Boone is hoping for it even more than I am.

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 the playoff pitching staff, a wild trade idea, Carlos Lagrange's shift to the bullpen, and Aaron Judge's injury! Let's get at it:

Fuster asks: consider a Yankee postseason rotation in which the top three starters are

Cole, Fried and Schlittler

is it feasible that they could be relieved (after 6 innings or so) by

Rodon, Warren and Weathers

and finish games of 9 innings without any need to employ other relievers?

For those of you who have been around here for a long time (dating back even to the It's About The Money days), I have long noted my desire to see a team employ tandem starters in 1-2 spots in a rotation for long stretches of the season. It would certainly cut down on the need for multiple, rarely used long-men in the bullpen. This isn't quite the same idea, but it's a similar principle applied to a high-stakes scenario. In principle, I like it.

In the Wild Card and ALDS rounds, I think something like this is a feasible strategy. Cole/Fried/Schlittler could go for 5-6 innings before being relieved by one of Rodon, Warren, or Weathers, with the short inning relievers reserved for mid-inning matchups or a closing scenario.

Given the recent injury histories we're talking about for Cole and Fried, in particular, I think I'd prefer to see the Yankees move back to a traditional 4-man playoff rotation should they move beyond the ALDS.

In reality, this is the best Yankee rotation I've seen in my lifetime, and we haven't even seen everyone healthy at the same time. The 4/6 core guys in this rotation are each better than most team's aces, and the other 2 are better than what most teams trot out in the 3-hole in the rotation. This is before we even consider the possibility of Clarke Schmidt returning late in the year (though I expect Schmidt to come back as a reliever).

I think however you line these guys up, they're going to match-up incredibly well against opposing offenses.

John N. asks: There were some headlines during the KC series that suggested Bobby Witt Jr. might be acquirable. I think that's incredibly unlikely - he is the Franchise in KC and is signed to a long-term, somewhat manageable contract for the Royals. What seems a more likely and equally intriguing acquisition is the Mets' Francisco Lindor, who seems to have a poor relationship with Juan Soto. Lindor has been hurt and has had a poor start in 2026 while the Mets have struggled mightly. Would you back up the truck to add Lindor to this version of the Yankees? The Mets at this point seem like obvious sellers at the deadline. I think Lindor would be a natural leadoff hitter to bat in front of Judge/Rice/Bellinger and still plays great defense. I also think he has the Judge Window (say 3 seasons, including 2026) left in him. Am I talking crazy or is this a possible trade objective? What would it take to pry him away from the Mets? Start with Volpe and Warren. What else would it take?

I found the Bobby Witt Jr. rumors absurd. There is approximately a 0.1% chance that the Royals will trade Bobby Witt Jr. this year, as he still fits into their window of contention even if they decide to do a 2+ year rebuild. Even if Witt were available, the Yankees don't have anything approaching the type of pieces it would take to acquire Witt; teams who have been building up their farm systems in the hopes of contending would have far more appealing long-term pieces to offer. Frankly, any of the Witt conversations were laughable.

Lindor is another matter. Lindor remains a very good baseball player, though he is very clearly reaching the beginning of his decline phase. His speed has dropped significantly year-over-year, and while he was still roping line drives as recently as last season, players who depend on speed and defense as core pillars of their value have a tendency to decline precipitously. As someone who doesn't hit for huge power, he also depends on making contact for offensive value. His in-zone contact rates have declined from elite to basically average over the last few seasons. He also broke his hamate bone, a very difficult injury to overcome within the same season. I wouldn't count on him being a difference maker this year.

This isn't to say that Lindor isn't valuable; I think he is still capable of being a very good supporting player on a championship caliber team for a couple of seasons. Given the other question marks though, I don't think he's a difference maker this year. I also would expect the Mets to try to build around Soto and Lindor, despite any personal differences, rather than break up the duo they only just put together.

Also, the last 3 years of Lindor's contract are not likely to be fun, and we don't know what the next CBA will look like. I think that severely hurts Lindor's potential trade market as well. If we assumed that the labor situation was stabilized such that Lindor's contract wouldn't be overly burdensome, then I think you have to start with something like this:

Volpe/Caballero

Lombard Jr.

Warren

Rodriguez/Hess/Cunningham

I'm not sure that's enough to make a deal, and I'm also not sure I'd do it given how ugly I think Lindor's decline will be. I was all-in on getting Lindor when he played in Cleveland. Sadly, I think that idea is buried deep in the past now.

Brian S. asks: Jack Curry reported that the Yankees are moving Lagrange to the bullpen. When do you think he'll be ready to help the Yankees? Who leaves from the current bullpen?

Right now, the Yankees are moving almost exactly on the schedule I outlined last month. For development purposes, they are setting him up to eclipse 100 innings this year, keeping the door open for Lagrange to start next year should the Yankees feel that is in the team's best interest. I basically thought that to accomplish that, the team would convert Lagrange over to the bullpen in June. They've done that now, and Lagrange made his first 4 inning bullpen appearance. He'll now get normal starter's rest before they start dialing his outings back and decreasing the number of days between outings.

Based on the above, I'm not going to change my assessment. I think we'll see Lagrange in the Bronx sometime between late-June and pre-All-Star break.

As for the current bullpen? Jake Bird has an option, so that's the easiest move, but I think the best move would be to release Ryan Yarbrough, who the Yankees clearly don't trust to pitch in anything but the worst blowouts. Give that spot to someone who can help the team.

Ryan M. asks: I know this is short notice, but thoughts on Aaron Judge's injury?

It's a huge blow, and it's also obvious that this has been bothering him for quite some time. I don't expect that I'm the only person who's gone back to look, but Judge hit the wall two days in a row back in the Baltimore series, and his horrid slump times up almost exactly with that series. Coincidence? I think not.

I have been holding my breath since I heard that Judge went to see a renowned specialist for Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (TOC). TOC can often be a death stroke for a career, and while some players come back to regain effectiveness, it's far from the norm. It appears that Judge has dodged that bullet, thankfully. I do have hope that we'll have something approaching the real Aaron Judge back in the lineup this season eventually.

That said, based on the timeline provided by the team, I don't think we can hope to have Judge back in the Yankees' lineup until at least August. That's going to put a ton of pressure on some other guys to really step up.

Interestingly, I think the stage is set to really see what the team has in Spencer Jones and/or Jasson Dominguez. Word is that Dominguez is about to start a rehab assignment. Until that's completed, I wouldn't be shocked to see Jones get a second shot at big league action. As everyone around here knows, I do not believe that Jones will be an effective hitter in the big leagues. I do have high hopes for Dominguez still, and he looked quite good to me prior to his injury in LF.

I think Dominguez is going to get his chance to prove that he deserves to be a regular presence in the Yankee lineup this summer. I also wonder if Stanton can return soon to give the Yankees some much-needed right-handed thump.

There's some silver lining here, but it is also a dangerous time. The Yankees are in the heat of a division race, and they don't have room to slack off. They need to win some baseball games in the coming weeks. That task just got a lot harder. Let's see if the Yankees can conjure some of that "next man up" magic from 2019.