State of the Yankees: Standings, Trade Front, Draft Review

Five wins in a row — and counting, perhaps? — the Yankees may have found their fight song during a soft spot of their June schedule.

Friday’s 4-0 triumph over the Detroit Tigers edged Hal Steinbrenner’s club to its first winning record since April 13, and promoted them to the longest-active winning streak in the Majors.

The timing of the Yankees’ resurgence conveniently began the same day that the organization’s top brass mulled over the thought of an atypical summertime sell-off.

But the team’s red-hot resurgence may have Brian Cashman & Co. reconsidering its future direction.

The offense:  It looks like the Bombers have finally earned back the rights to their nickname. Since June 2 they’ve scored 52 runs, own a +19 run differential, and have taken seven of nine contests.

Carlos Beltran has been a brute force in the lineup’s No. 3 spot, slugging four homers, 11 hits, and 13 RBIs in a span of seven days.

Table-setter Brett Gardner, batting just before Beltran, has ballooned his batting average by 51 points (.211 to .262) with 16 hits in his last 30 at-bats.

Even shortstop Didi Gregorius has sustained a .303 average and .746 OPS over his last 30 games. Up and down the order, the Yankees are simply getting on base more often than they were earlier in the year. When the majority of the lineup is (finally) clicking, it doesn’t take a sabermetrician to determine they’ll string together hits and score more runs. They’ve become an exciting team to watch at the plate.

Overall, the Yankees have bumped their runs per game average up to 4.02, which remains tied for 21st with the Chicago White Sox and San Diego Padres. It’s still on-pace to fall shy of their recorded 2015 calculation of 4.69 — a year in which their offensive struggles were often discussed — but it’s certainly a step down the right path.

The pitching:  What if I had told you in the spring that CC Sabathia, battling then with Ivan Nova for the fifth rotation spot, would be an equivalent competitor to Masahiro Tanaka?

Needless to say, the former Cy Young Award winner has reinvented himself on the mound. Sabathia has allowed a microscopic three earned runs in his last 38 innings and boasts a career-best 2.28 ERA in his first 10 or more starts of a season.

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You could say that Tanaka also has had to reconfigure himself as a pitcher these past two years. Still working around a small tear in his elbow that has yet to explode, he’s turned to the two-seamer and slider to generate soft contact and avoid over-reliance on the splitter.

The splitter used to be his wipeout pitch, but it has lost a bit of its bite, so the staff ace has seen a decrease in strikeouts (59 in 78.1 IP). That doesn’t, however, mean he’s been an ineffective pitcher.

Tanaka’s 3.23 Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) is greater than his 2.76 ERA, which shows he’s pitching to contact and counting on his defenders to make the outs. Courtesy of Fangraphs, his 2016 career-high 51.9 ground ball percentage helps to explain that trend. With a 3x All-Star second baseman, rangy shortstop, and former Gold Glove third baseman behind him, it isn’t too bad of a strategy.

Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi has been stuck in a rut, giving up 24 hits and 11 earned runs in his last three starts. He’s only walked four while whiffing 16 in that time frame, but lousy command has resulted in hard-hit balls and headaches for the 26 year old.

Michael Pineda has gradually improved over his last two starts, likely enough to escape being demoted to Triple-A with the Yankees lacking promising alternatives. Luis Severino has a 0.931 WHIP in 9.1 innings since being sent down to Scranton, but Joe Girardi understandably wants to see prolonged improvement before recalling Sevvy to go to work on that 0-6 record with the major league squad.

American League standings:  Before Toronto walked off against the Orioles on Friday night, the O’s had been in command of a five-game winning streak. The Yankees, before their series-opening victory against the Tigers, had a four-game streak in the works.

In short, the Yankees gained zero games in the AL East standings from Monday to Thursday because the division-leading Orioles were pummeling teams at the same time. The silver lining is they also didn’t lose any ground either.

After Friday’s events, New York is still stuck in fourth place in their division, but they climbed to 5.5 games out of first. They’re chasing Seattle for the second Wild Card spot at 3.0 games back.

Trade front:  The Yankees aren’t making it easy for Brian Cashman. Like a persistent, antagonizing gnat, they’ve hovered around the .500 mark — the most difficult of situations for a General Manager to be in while weighing to sell for the future or go all in.

With the domino line of injuries to the organization’s first baseman, it isn’t a far-fetched theory to believe the Yankees will pursue a back-up to split time with Rob Refsnyder. Since Mark Teixeira is on a three-week timeline to return to action, it’s unlikely Cashman searches for a sparkly new addition, and especially not a long-term solution with Greg Bird waiting in the wings (see what I did there?) as he rehabs a torn labrum.

Come the trade deadline, if the team’s winning percentage is around where it is now, expect a complimentary player or two to be donning pinstripes. A first base option and bullpen piece would be logical targets. Carlos Beltran would be too enticing to hang onto, and if the team is postseason hopeful, Cashman will cling to prized reliever Andrew Miller.

No matter the record, I would be surprised if Aroldis Chapman isn’t playing for a new team after August 1. It’d be a shame to break up ‘No Runs DMC,’ but the Yankees still would have a formidable bullpen without its third leg, and trading Chapman could bring a valuable return to strengthen the farm system. Of course, if Chapman is retained until the end of the season he’ll be attached with draft pick compensation, but eh. I’d be eyeing a heftier haul than an extra draft pick for one of the most elite closers in baseball.

2016 Draft:  Speaking of the Draft, all 30 clubs completed their picks for the first 10 rounds on Friday. Here’s a list of each player the Yankees have claimed so far. It’s an exciting time both for talented young’uns and scouting departments alike, as one group aims to become household names while the other works to stock their organizations with exciting, quality depth.

It’s waaay too early to know for sure, but it appears that the Yankees had a steal of a 1st round pick, selecting toolsy outfielder Blake Rutherford. Here at Yanks Go Yard, Josh compiled an excellent prospect profile of Rutherford with external links to various scouting reports, player comparisons, and projections.

The Yankees used the 62nd overall pick of the draft on outfielder-turned-second baseman, Nick Solak. Our editor, Michael, drew up his own terrific detailed preview of Solak with professional reports and opinions.

While the Yanks’ 1st rounder may have the most impact potential, their 6th round pick could have the fastest track to the Bigs, should he sign with the club. RHP Brooks Kriske, who features a 95 mph fastball, struck out 42 in 35.1 innings as the closer for the University of Southern California. You know the Yankees: a hard-throwing righty is just too juicy to pass up. It fits their M.O. for middle relievers, and should Kriske’s stuff continue to miss bats, he could carve a huge role for himself in New York’s vaunted bullpen.