Aaron Judge on sweeping Red Sox: ‘It’s what we’re supposed to do’

The New York Yankees buried the Boston Red Sox in the AL East by sweeping them in a four-game series that ended on Sunday night, but Aaron Judge does not seem all that excited about it.

Following his team’s 7-4 win over Boston, Judge was asked about sweeping his archrival. He said it was just business as usual for the Yankees.

Aaron Judge on sweeping the Sox: "It's what we're supposed to do, being a first-place team. We just went out there and took care of business. It doesn't matter who we're playing. First place, second place, third place team, we're going to go out there and take care of business."

— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) August 5, 2019

The Red Sox looked like they might actually make things interesting in the AL East when they took three out of four from the Yankees a week ago, but they have now lost eight in a row and are a whopping 14.5 games back in the division. They’re also 6.5 back in the wild card, so Judge and his teammates must feel good about putting the defending champions’ backs against the wall.

The Yankees lost to Boston in the playoffs last year and watched their rival set records en route to a World Series title, and the fans certainly seemed to enjoy the weekend sweep. No matter what Judge says, it had to have felt better than sweeping the Baltimore Orioles would have.

Yankees refusing to call up Clint Frazier despite slew of injuries

Clint Frazier has long been a highly-touted prospect, but he can’t get a look in with the New York Yankees despite the team’s numerous injury issues.

In the span of two days, the Yankees have placed DH Edwin Encarnacion and outfielder Aaron Hicks on the disabled list. Neither of these moves resulted in a callup for Frazier, and based on Aaron Boone’s description of how newly-recalled first baseman Mike Ford will be used, there isn’t one coming, either.

Boone said Ford will get DH at-bats when not at first base, so #Yankees have effectively sealed off Frazier’s path to the majors. Said they’re covered position-wise with Hicks on IL.

— David Lennon (@DPLennon) August 4, 2019

Frazier’s bat, at least, should be more than convincing enough for the Yankees. He hit .283 with 11 home runs in 54 games this season, though he’s slumped a bit at AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Regardless, he conquered AAA last year and hit with the Yankees in 2019.

25 different Yankees have spent time on the IL this year, including a number of key position players. Frazier still hasn’t appeared in an MLB game since June 16, when he was sent down to clear a roster spot for newly-acquired Edwin Encarnacion. Even when Encarnacion landed on the DL Saturday, Frazier did not get the call. They also didn’t trade him at the deadline, mostly because he was not viewed as enough to land the pitching talent the Yankees sought.

Perhaps the Yankees are punishing Frazier over his feud with the New York media. Whatever the case, it doesn’t look like he’ll be coming up anytime soon no matter who gets hurt.

Report: Mets tried to trade Marcus Stroman to Yankees

The New York Mets surprised many by picking up Marcus Stroman from the Toronto Blue Jays in a pre-deadline trade, but apparently they were willing to move him again.

According to Bob Klapisch of the New York Times, the Mets offered Stroman to the New York Yankees for a package headed by the Yankees’ top two prospects, Deivi Garcia and Esteban Florial.

Among dead-ends #Yankees ran into was deal with #Mets, who I'm told were ready to flip Stroman to the Bronx in exchange for Estevan Florial and Deivi Garcia, among others. #Yankees said no.

— Bob Klapisch (@BobKlap) July 31, 2019

While such a trade might have made Stroman happy, it’s understandable why the Yankees hung up the phone. If they wouldn’t deal their top prospects to Toronto in a Stroman deal, they certainly wouldn’t do so for the Mets. It’s also a look at the rather odd deadline strategy from the Mets, which never seemed to have a lot of coherence to it.

Marcus Stroman’s father says pitcher was hoping for trade to Yankees

Marcus Stroman reportedly had am openly negative reaction when he found out the Toronto Blue Jays had traded him on Sunday, and now we know way — he was hoping to end up with the other team in New York.

After Stroman was traded to the Mets, reporters heard a loud commotion in the Blue Jays clubhouse that indicated someone was unhappy. It turned out that was Stroman making his feelings known, and the right-hander’s father later admitted his son wanted to be traded to the Yankees.

“He was hoping it was the Yankees a little bit,” Earl Stroman told Newsday’s Steven Marcus said. “He was kind of psyched, maybe hoping to go there. I’m not going to tell you that he wasn’t.”

Earl Stroman said Marcus didn’t want to leave Toronto to begin with, but the front office “didn’t kind of appreciate him as much as the fans did.” Marcus grew up in New York, so Earl said he has warmed up to the idea of playing there even if it’s not in pinstripes.

“Anything he can help them do to win he’ll be happy,” the elder Stroman said. “Marcus is happy about being home, hopefully they make a push towards the playoffs.”

There were apparently a couple of other teams that Stroman would have preferred to go to, but you can understand why he wanted to play for the Yankees. Every kid who grows up playing baseball in New York wants the same thing. If the Mets decide to keep Noah Syndergaard (and that sounds like a possibility) and make a real run at the postseason, Stroman will probably feel a lot better about his new home.

Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild takes blame for horrible run by starters

The New York Yankees’ starting pitching has been exceptionally awful over the past week, and that has their pitching coach taking the blame.

Dating back to Sunday July 21, Yankees pitching has allowed at least seven runs per game. The team has gone 2-5 in that span. Opponents have scored double-digit runs off them in three of those games, including 19 in a humiliating loss to the Red Sox on Thursday.

CC Sabathia said it’s the pitchers’ responsibility to get better. Pitching coach Larry Rothschild agrees and says it starts with him.

“It’s my responsibility to get it right,” Rothschild said after Saturday’s 9-5 loss to Boston, via ESPN’s Coley Harvey.

Rothschild further said that no fix is easy, as he is working with each pitcher separately on potential improvements.

12-2 Domingo German gets the start on Sunday night for the Yankees, so maybe he will end the stretch of awful pitching from the staff. At least that’s what the Bronx Bombers will be hoping.

Despite the poor pitching stretch, the Yankees are still one of the best teams in baseball and just two games behind the Dodgers for the best record in the league.

Report: Yankees have asked Diamondbacks about Robbie Ray

The New York Yankees figure to be one of the teams looking closely at starting pitching upgrades over the next week or so and have already had some conversations about adding an arm to the rotation.

According to Jon Morosi of MLB.com, the Yankees have spoken with the Arizona Diamondbacks about pitcher Robbie Ray in the last few days, though there are no indications that any deal is close.

#Yankees are among the teams to have contact with #DBacks about Robbie Ray in recent days, source confirms. @MLBNetwork @MLB

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) July 24, 2019

The Yankees have been linked to most available starters, and Ray would fit the bill. The left-hander has a 3.95 ERA and 162 strikeouts in 123 innings, though his 58 walks lead the National League. That said, Ray has another year of control, a penchant for getting strikeouts, and would be a good option for a Yankee team that has run into some roadblocks with other potential additions.

Twins troll Yankees with music after strikeouts

The Minnesota Twins decided to troll the New York Yankees during the first game of a 3-game series between the teams.

The Twins smacked five home runs and turned a triple play as they won Monday’s game 8-6. But it wasn’t with the bats where they made all the noise.

Minnesota’s pitchers struck out eight Yankees in the game. After each strikeout, Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” song played in Target Field, rankling Yankees fans.

I assume the Twins are in the clubhouse popping champagne. Good for them! This is like the 8th time they’ve beaten the Yankees since 2002.

We’re clearly not in their heads though. They only played New York, New York every time a Yankee struck out tonight.

— Eric Hubbs (@BarstoolHubbs) July 23, 2019

@Twins do you think it’s that funny to play New York, New York after every strikeout? You understand you haven’t been relevant in like 30 years right? Haha funny stuff guys. Keep up the good work

— Stephen Pozzuoli (@pozzmeister) July 23, 2019

The @Twins got some balls being an extremely below average organization playing New York New York after a strikeout…

— Vinny Bonaccorso (@VinBonaccorso) July 23, 2019

“New York, New York” is the same song that is played at Yankee Stadium after the team’s wins, so this is a clear troll job by Minnesota. The Red Sox did the same thing last year, though that was only after Aaron Judge started it first.

The 61-38 Twins lead the AL Central, while the 64-35 Yankees are in first in the AL East. Maybe the Bronx Bombers will be motivated for the remainder of the series after the Twins’ antics.