Yankees News: New York makes trade with Boston for former OF, Reds manager ejected

Moments after the New York Yankees defeated the Cincinnati Reds on Friday night, the team announced it had made a trade. Yup, another one with the Boston Red Sox, marking the second business transaction between the rivals since 2021.

And speaking of 2021, a spark plug for the Yankees from that season is back in the Bronx. In the deal with Boston, New York acquired outfielder Greg Allen, who signed a minor-league deal with the Sox and had spent 37 games this season at Triple-A.

Allen hit .250 with a .795 OPS and 23 stolen bases in 37 games with Worcester. His lefty bat and speed could certainly be an asset should the Yankees have to address more injuries to the lineup. And since he already proved himself in New York, the fit was natural.

Back in 2021, fans wanted to see more of Allen because he provided as semblance of a spark to a famously lifeless lineup/roster. In his short 15-game stint with the Yanks, Allen hit .270 with an .849 OPS and five stolen bases. His style of play was a breath of fresh air for a team that was slow, sluggish and the opposite of instinctual.

At first we thought he would head to Triple-A Scranton, where he also last played in 2021. That year, he hit .326 with a .907 OPS and 26 stolen bases in 73 games. But he's joining the active roster after the team finally decided to designate Aaron Hicks for assignment.

Yankees trade for Greg Allen, Reds cry over Clarke Schmidt sticky stuff

So, yeah, the vibes are good. The Yankees defeated the Reds 6-2 on Friday night behind five innings of two-run ball from Clarke Schmidt and four scoreless innings from the bullpen.

But Friday marked the second time this week a Yankees starter was outed for "sticky stuff," leading to the fakest form of outrage from both the Blue Jays (after Domingo Germán was ejected) and Reds manager David Bell (after Schmidt was instructed to wash his hands).

Look, it'd be great if the worst pitchers on the Yankees stopped doing this since 1) their play doesn't improve dramatically with the extra rosin and 2) this team doesn't need any more nonsensical press to drag them down. But if the Blue Jays and Reds really think two of the worst starters on the Yankees' staff (one with a career 4.31 ERA and the other with a 4.60 ERA) are boasting that much of a competitive advantage following the umpire warnings, then, well, perhaps they should reconstruct their entire lineups. If Gerrit Cole or Nestor Cortes were doing this it'd be a more salient point. Sticky stuff or not, if you're a real offense, you will hit Germán and Schmidt with ease.

We guess Reds manager David Bell took Blue Jays manager John Schneider's masterclass on whining. Bell was ejected for losing his mind in the fifth inning after the umpiring crew asked Schmidt to wash something "a little tacky" off his glove.

Here's what crew chief Brian O'Nora said after the game:

(Third-base umpire Nestor Ceja) noticed something just a little tacky. He called the whole crew down. It wasn't shiny. It wasn't dark like pine tar. It was that fuzz from the inside part of his glove, I think. As a crew we told him to go wash it off. He washed it off. Nothing was on his hand. It wasn't sticky and it wasn't a foreign substance.

Umpires in both instances making a fair and reasonable ruling led to the Blue Jays claiming they'll never get those three innings back that Germán pitched and now Bell flying off the handle because a 6.00 ERA pitcher had "something just a little tacky" on his glove.

Again, Yankees starters, please stop doing this. But it'd be even better if the opposition stopped embarrassing itself by acting like they had their rights stripped from them.