Yankees News: Jasson Dominguez roster move, Jazz Chisholm interview, Clay Holmes

As we lamented Sunday night, the New York Yankees lost in embarrassing fashion to the Detroit Tigers on ESPN. The stakes couldn't have been any lower, either, in the Little League Classic. The game is literally supposed to be about fun.

But the Yankees made it ... not that. They took at 1-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth and blew it. They then took the lead in the top of the 10th. And they blew that. And they blew it again, falling 3-2 in front of a national audience. Did we mention those live in attendance went absolutely nuts for Gerrit Cole, Aaron Judge and Juan Soto before the game? Jazz Chisholm even led a roll call with the crowd!

More on Jazz in a moment, but one of the ridiculous decisions of the evening came and went in a flash.

Before the series finale against the Tigers, the Yankees called up Jasson Dominguez to serve as the team's "27th man" since "special-event" games allow for an extra player on the participants' rosters. And it worked out rather nicely. The Yankees traveled from Detroit to Williamsport, PA, and Dominguez was rather easily able to make it from Scranton.

The only problem? Dominguez was asked to bat fifth on Sunday Night Baseball after Brian Cashman repeatedly said there "wasn't a lane" for him on the MLB roster for the last couple months. How does that make sense? And why is somebody who hasn't seen a single big-league pitch in 2024 serving as your No. 5 hitter during a rubber match on national TV against the AL Cy Young frontrunner? All of this knowing he's going to be discarded right after the game!

Yankees News: Jasson Dominguez roster move, Jazz Chisholm interview, Clay Holmes

Dominguez was sent back down to Triple-A immediately after the loss in what felt like nothing more than a publicity stunt. It was a smart one on that front, but a horribly executed one from an actual personnel decision. You know what the Tigers did? They activated outfielder Riley Greene as their 27th man and then optioned Justyn-Henry Malloy back to Triple-A. The Tigers are now making more sense than us?

But let's cool down for a second. Why think more about how the Yankees could've called up an extra pitcher to potentially save an exhausted bullpen? That wouldn't be fun. Let's instead think about Jazz Chisholm being the star of the night in the Little Leaguers' eyes.

Chisholm also endeared himself to the audience at home with his interview on the broadcast. He talked about his interactions with the young fans as well as how Nickelodeon's "The Fairly Oddparents" inspired his grill.

Like what most of social media was saying on Sunday night ... what in the world were the "character concerns" associated with Chisholm before he arrived in New York? Guess we'll never be concerned with those "rumors" ever again.

Too bad Chisholm isn't on the field, though. He'll thankfully be back soon enough despite initial grave concerns about his elbow. Chisholm wasn't necessarily viewed as a core piece to this team's 2024 World Series chances, but he emerged as important piece the day he put on a Yankees uniform.

The Yanks are lucky, too, because Cashman's deadline was viewed as incomplete (and deservedly so). He got the pitching staff next to no help, as we watched Clay Holmes blow his league-leading 10th save of the season before trade acquisition Mark Leiter Jr. faltered in high-leverage once more to seal the loss.

The Yankees didn't think they needed to improve upon Holmes before the deadline, but the back end of the bullpen might have been their next most pressing need behind an impact bat. There's no denying Holmes is among the best when he's at his peak powers, but there's also no denying his inconsistency and habit of melting down isn't exactly characteristic of the most gritty postseason performers. Any close game in October will be no more favorable than a game of rock-paper-scissors for New York.

Holmes has been a legitimate problem for months but the Yankees still insist they have the best guys around. We hope they're right, but for the seventh year in a row, something tells us they aren't.