To Be Clear, part 246:

Game 162 of 162 is this afternoon in the Boogie Down and damn time goes fast!

We’ll circle back on the season in general and talk playoffs a little more later in the week, but for now, let’s make a few notes:

I shouldn’t need to write this, but to be clear: I don’t want to see anyone get hurt – injuries suck and must be soul crushing to a professional athlete. Yet, from an on-field perspective, the Yankees aren’t going to miss Anthony Rizzo. A first baseman with a season long 84 wRC+ (97 since returning from the IL on September 1^st) does your team more harm than good.

There’s been plenty of discussion about how bad Alex Verdugo has been, justifiably so. A left fielder who can’t hit isn’t quite as bad as a first baseman who can’t hit but it’s close. To wit, over the last one third of the season, Verdugo has posted a 75 wRC+ and 0 fWAR.

Guess what? That makes him better than Anthony Volpe.

Over the last 48 team games, in 148 PA, Volpe has a 38 wRC+ and a .250 SLG, both of which are the worst in MLB over that stretch. Even with plus defense and baserunning, it all adds up to a -0.1 fWAR, which gives him the distinction of being the only regular shortstop in MLB with a negative fWAR over that stretch.

I’ve been telling you all season that Luis Gil is not to be trusted, so there’s no need to completely rehash everything but let’s do a quick review:

80 pitchers have thrown at least 140 innings in 2024. Let’s do Gil a favor and ignore yesterday’s debacle – prior to yesterday’s start, among those 80 pitchers…

Gil has the highest walk rate, the 9^th highest fly ball rate, the 15^th highest barrel rate and the 13^th highest xFIP. There is no argument to be made that a pitcher who walks many batters, and gives up frequent, hard, airborne contact is a good pitcher. (Again, those numbers don’t include yesterday’s BP session.)

My guess is you don’t need to know this, but if you’re curious as to why the wins and ERA are good it’s because he also has the 4^th lowest BABIP and the 8^th lowest HR/FB rate among the 80 starters. He’s had a four-leaf clover in his pocket far more often than he’s been good in 2024.

As I said, we’ll circle back on the postseason thoughts but for now, here’s a reminder:

Since 2018 (Aaron Boone’s tenure) the Yankees have the second highest runs per game average in the postseason among the seven teams who’ve played at least 30 games over that span. And it’s barely second – Houston has put up 4.66 runs per game since 2018, the Yanks 4.58.

Just getting out in front of the “these recent Yankee teams haven’t been built for the postseason” nonsense.

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