Yankees: Five players who will help the team before the year is out

Relief is on the way

The Yankees have a manager who relies heavily on his bullpen. One could argue that Joe Girardi does so only because he has to, due to his starting staff that is unable to provide enough innings to negate the use of his bullpen.

Nevertheless, the result has been a taxed and tired bullpen that, no matter how you look at it, were largely responsible for the Yankees recent seven-game skid. Tyler Clippard is a train wreck all of a sudden, Adam Warren is due to return from the DL but who knows what happens after that, and Aroldis Chapman is being weaned back from his shoulder issues.

Ben Heller has been performing brilliantly at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and is, or should be, a likely call-up by the Yankees to fortify the bullpen.

Heller came over in the deal that also landed Justus Sheffield and Clint Frazier when the Yankees sent Andrew Miller to the Cleveland Indians. Oddly, in March of the same season, Heller had been assigned to the Indians by the Yankees, whereupon the Indians shipped him off to their Columbus Clippers. Go figure.

But in 2017, Heller is performing brilliantly. He’s appeared in 22 games, pitching 29 innings, while giving up only 18 hits and striking out 36 batters. Moreover, in the space of just one month, Heller’s ERA has regressed from a high of 3.72 to where it sits now at 2.48.

Opponents are hitting only .175 against him and he appears to have the flexibility that Girardi likes in a reliever with three saves in four opportunities.

A reserve outfielder not named Williams

The Yankees, by now, should have come to the point where they realize that Mason Williams is, at best, a serviceable reserve outfielder. And it’s questionable that he’s even that.

And when you consider that he’s been with the Yankees since 2010 as a first-round draft pick, and that he’s played in fifty-some games with the team in the Bronx while playing almost 600 games in the team’s farm system, that should slam the door on whatever the Yankees think his value to the team is.

And yet, when it came time to call up a replacement for Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian Cashman went to Williams based on the fact that he has major league experience, albeit a very small sample.

But at some point this season, the Yankees have an opportunity to go a different route, even if it means throwing a rookie into the fire.

Dustin Fowler is having a helluva season at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and sooner or later the Yankees will have to come to terms with the fact that, experience or not, Fowler can help this team.

In 65 games for the Railriders, Fowler is batting .300 with 12 home runs and 39 RBI. He also has a whopping 153 total bases and a .890 OPS to his credit, and he’s played all three outfield positions.

He’s only 22 and for the Yankees, that’s usually a “he needs more seasoning” barrier, but for this young player, an exception needs to be made.

The Yankees sleeper no-name pitcher

Why is this guy wearing an Orioles uniform and not the Pinstripes? Well, for this 25-year-old right-hander, it’s a long story. Suffice it to say for the sake of brevity, he’s a starting pitcher who was returned to the Yankees in March from the Chicago Cubs, who had no use for him.

His name is Caleb Smith and if that’s the first time you’ve heard that name, join the club.

The Yankees immediately assigned Smith to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to begin the 2017 season. Since then, Smith has made thirteen starts for the Railriders compiling a 5-0 record with an ERA of 2.44. He’s held opponents to a .194 batting average and has a minuscule WHIP of 0.97.

He does not have the pedigree of many of the Yankees top prospects, but he is certainly worthy of being noticed by the team’s brass.

And for a team that is looking for starting pitching, it just might make sense for the Yankees to give this guy a chance, if not now at least at some point in the near future.

Pitchers have a way about them to “find themselves”, or maybe a pitch that becomes the difference maker, and suddenly they blossom into a real live major league ballplayer who can get hitters out on a consistent basis, even if they don’t throw 95.

Smith could be that kind of guy.

The heirs to the throne

At some point, the Yankees will call up both Chance Adams and Tyler Wade. It’s a given. They belong in the Bronx and they’ll be in the Bronx.

Regrettably, the Yankees will need to make a baseball and business decision regarding the status of Ronald Torreyes. It can be said that without Torreyes, the team would have been hard-pressed to begin the season as they did in April and early May.

Torreyes was a mainstay of the team, providing a bridge to Didi Gregorius who was recovering from an injury suffered during the World Baseball Classic. But when you put him up against Tyler Wade, the choices narrow as to what his fate is with Yankees.

Torreyes has trade value and that’s the most likely direction his future will take unless the front office can convince him to accept a demotion to Triple-A as an insurance policy for the team.

But Wade and his .319 batting average, along with a .382 on-base percentage and 24 extra-base hits send a clear signal to the Yankees that he’s ready for the Bronx. Moreover, he’s played games in six different outfield and infield positions this year as part of his grooming process to be the Yankees version of Ben Zobrist.

As with Wade, the numbers for Chance Adams speak for themselves as he’s climbed the ladder from Double-A to Triple-A in a matter of weeks with no hiccups in-between.

Except for the fact that he tosses from the right side and the Yankees preferred a lefty (Luis Cessa) to replace CC Sabathia in the rotation while he heals from a hamstring injury, Adams might already be in the Bronx.

But at some point, both these guys have the ability to help the Yankees whenever they are called on.

The mystery man

This one belongs in the bailiwick of Brian Cashman. And that’s because at some point the Yankees are going to need a solution at first base that can carry them into the playoffs, and possibly, beyond.

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Joe Girardi has (now) expressed his view that Chris Carter is not his preferred choice, especially after watching the big guy flub a throw and go 0-3 with a strikeout during the team’s seven-game skid. Girardi called it an “organizational decision” as to why Carter was in the lineup the following night.

Being kind to Girardi, Brian Cashman took the high road when he could have put Girardi in his place, essentially saying, “I’m aware of the problem and I’m working on it.”

The easiest answer would, of course, be for the Yankees to solve, what is by by now the mysterious injury surrounding Greg Bird, who by all means is the team’s choice as their first baseman.

And despite the ever-increasing number of setbacks the team has seen with Bird this season, they still (and rightfully) look upon him as their regular first baseman at some point this season.

Having said that, though, Cashman still has the option of shopping for a first baseman via a trade and deciding later what to with the $3.5 million due to Carter.

Which brings to mind a deal that the New York Mets might be interested in for Lucas Duda.

The Mets are going nowhere fast this year and they are shaping up as a team with a plethora of free agents to be that could, and some would say should be traded in exchange for high-end minor league players that can help them in the near future.

Yankees: Five moves the team should make without blinking

By any means, the Yankees are not in dire straits, regardless of what the half-full people say. But at the same time, they need to make some moves.

Duda and the Yankee Stadium right-field porch are made for each other.

The only thing we know for sure, though, is that the problem at first base can’t go on forever and the Yankees have to do something – very soon.