SSTN Not The Weekly Mailbag: Things I Think

By Andy Singer

June 26th, 2026

As I mentioned last week, I am traveling with very little time to do the proper justice to your questions this week. As I noted, there will not be a Mailbag this week, but my goal is to return to our regularly scheduled programming next Friday with a larger SSTN Mailbag.

Obviously, I haven't been able to watch much baseball beyond some spare highlights during this trip, but that doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about the Yankees while abroad. While this will be a shorter, more off-the-cuff post than you normally see from me, here are some things I think at the moment:

• I miss Aaron Judge. We as Yankee fans have been so spoiled by his greatness over the course of his career (and his relative health over the last couple of years, in particular), that we've lost sight of what it's like to see the Yankees play without him. While he was diminished over the 4 weeks of struggle before hitting the IL, he has been such an incredible player. The numbers back up the idea that Aaron Judge's peak has been among the most incredible stretches of all-time. I was always sad that I didn't get to see Mike Trout as much during his peak due to the unbalanced schedule; I feel so lucky to have seen Judge's peak. I can't wait for him to return. Neither can my 3 and a half year old daughter, who normally asks me as every game starts, "Is Aaron Judge back yet?"

  
  

• That said, I've been generally impressed by the way the Yankees have played without Judge...at least until I left for Europe (clearly, I need to come home). This team is so much deeper than 2021 or 2023. It still needs more help, but there's little question but that the front office has worked hard the last few years to build depth.

  
  

• I believe in Jasson Dominguez. He's showing real flashes of what he can do at the plate (one of the few highlights I have seen was of Dominguez finally figuring out Skubal's change-up after 2 rough at-bats and falling behind 0-2 in his 3rd at-bat). He works counts, shows real pop, and has a plan at the plate. I think he's about to go on a run.

  
  

• His defense is rough, and I think it always will be. His straight line speed is excellent, however he's not particularly agile laterally and shows some hip stiffness adjusting when he doesn't get a perfect read. The best place to maximize whatever tools he has is RF, but obviously that spot is locked up when Judge returns. I hope Dominguez gives the Yankees a tough decision to make when Judge and Grisham return.

  
  

• Remember when everyone was pounding the drum about Jazz and Grisham's struggles? Their overall numbers now look pretty good...which is what I expected.

  
  

• I think we've reached the point where the Yankees need to look for a new starting catcher, at least for this season. Ryan Jeffers is right-handed, can hit, is on an expiring contract, and is the poster-child for the successes of catching coach, Tanner Swanson. I always worry about hitters returning from broken hands and wrists, but he'd be a huge upgrade if he played to the back of his baseball card.

  
  

• Lagrange is struggling some with his transition to relief in AAA. I still believe he'll be a huge piece in this summer's bullpen.

  
  

• Remember how magical Will Warren looked earlier this year? He looks a lot like the guy he was coming through the system and in his rookie year right now. The velocity bump is gone, and he's incredibly ordinary and susceptible to left-handed hitting. I don't think he's much more than a good 5-starter or weak 4-starter. If a team really likes him as part of a big trade, I'm good with dealing Warren.

  
  

• I know everyone likes to jump on Weathers, but he is significantly more talented than Warren, and would pretty clearly thrive as a reliver if he has to shift eventually. I hope Weathers sticks around.

  
  

• Don't look now, but Volpe is playing decently overall. He is finally posting excellent walk and plate discipline peripherals, and has good enough underlying hitting metrics to make me almost believe that Volpe might be able to stick. However, his arm is becoming nearly unplayable at SS. For those of you that have been around a while, you might recall that when Volpe was a prospect, I noted that I thought his arm was just enough to stick at SS for a few years before moving to 2B. The degradation in his arm strength is right on schedule. I think this is the last year he can play SS unless he adds velocity.

  
  

• I was so happy to hear that Oswaldo Cabrera was called back up. That guy just loves baseball and being a Yankee. I'm sure he won't be up long, but he's been hot recently.

  
  

• 6 unearned runs last night...I'm glad I wasn't home to see that. Schlittler's raw stuff looked pretty darn good though, from what I saw.

  
  

• Caballero in LF in front of the Green Monster?!?!? That seems...less than ideal.

  
  

• I hope the next time I write here, the Yankees have ripped off a winning streak.