Yankees: What’s up with the organization and Chance Adams?

The Yankees announced the first of their September call-ups. Noticeably absent is what appears to be their best pitcher in their farm system. What’s up with that?

The Yankees and Chance Adams, at least on the surface, appear to be a mixture of water and oil. Among the call-ups announced by the team today are (stats provided by NJ.com:

Starting Pitcher Ben Heller:

2017 stats: Yankees, 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 2 games, 2.1 IP, 1 hit, 0 runs, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (AAA), 5-4, 2.88 ERA, 41 games, 56.1 IP, 34 hits, 21 runs, 18 ER, 6 HR, 21 BB, 82 K.

Starting Pitcher Bryan Mitchell:

2017 stats: Yankees, 1-1, 4.67 ERA, 16 games, 1 start, 27 IP, 31 hits, 17 runs, 14 ER, 2 HR, 11 BB, 12 K. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (AAA), 3-3, 3.25 ERA, 14 games, 13 starts, 63.2 IP, 59 hits, 26 runs, 23 ER, 1 HR, 13 BB, 66 K.

The Yankees, to no one’s surprise, also recalled Jordan Montgomery. Erik Kratz was added to the 40-man roster and brought to serve as a backup for a few days if and when Gary Sanchez and Austin Romine serve their suspensions. To make room for Kratz, the team transferred Luis Cessa from the 10-day DL to the 60-day DL.

Where is the name Adams on this list? He the man boasting a 30-6 overall minor league record with an ERA in the two’s? Adams, the same pitcher whose name kept coming up when the Yankees needed to call up replacements for Michael Pineda, Masahiro Tanaka, and CC Sabathia when injuries forced them to the sidelines.

30-6 in the minors with a lack of command

There’s something going on here, and we are not privy to it, whatever it is that bothers the Yankees about Adams. All we’ve heard, and it’s been repeated over and over again, is that he needs to work on his command.

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But that’s pretty lame when you consider CC Sabathia got off to be a bad start last night with his command, loading the bases in the first inning.

But given a chance, he commanded himself to settle down as all major league pitchers are required to do when they don’t have their best stuff. Which by the way, when you ask them, they hardly ever do.

And if it’s that big of a deal, or there’s something else about Adams they don’t like, why didn’t the organization trade him at the deadline for the first baseman they needed at the time?

Adams would and continues to command value as the Yankees #2 or #3 prospect in their system. So, why is he still here and what is his value to the team if he isn’t going to pitch at their highest level?

Yankees need to come clean

It’s something so obvious that it can’t be ignored. I know nothing about Adams, and I’ve never seen him pitch. But baseball is a game driven by numbers and Adams surely has those.

To be fair, it’s possible the team wants to give their Triple-A Railriders their best shot to capture their second Triple-A Championship when their playoff season begins, and Chance gives them their best opportunity.

But at least say something about Adams when you’ve called up Bryan Mitchell for the umpteenth time, all with little or no success at this level. My colleague, Cory Claus was so incensed at one point about Mitchell; he was driven to write a widely read column he titled, The Yankees need to end their relationship with Bryan Mitchell.

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You know the old saying about “getting off the pot.” The Yankees need to do that, not only with Mitchell but Adams as well.

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