Late ST GDT: Yankees @ Jays March 8, 2024

[John_Havok]

Stroman starting vs Bassit.

 

lineups... who cares

 

Joey Votto has accepted a non-roster invite to Spring Training for the Jays according to Olney

[PitaBaby]

Man, Stro's gotten pretty fat. Someone needs to stop these guys from eating everything in sight.

[gruber92]

Yimi arm action looks fantastic while getting a -10mph from his change. He looks great , hope it sticks.

[John_Havok]

Yimi arm action looks fantastic while getting a -10mph from his change. He looks great , hope it sticks.

 

Definitely. Strriking out Soto and Judge is impressive no matter what time of year it is.

 

 

Also really liking the looks of this Yankees OF defense.

[gruber92]

If Lukes doesn't make the team, fans should boycott games.

[Stangstag]

Definitely. Strriking out Soto and Judge is impressive no matter what time of year it is.

 

 

Also really liking the looks of this Yankees OF defense.

 

Yeah Judge being the everyday CF wont last very long methinks.

[Orgfiller]

Stat/metric scouting this game:

 

Davis Schneider hit a line drive out at 107.9 mph. Josh Kasevich showed some pop by hitting a scorching 102.8 mph flyball that went 388 feet.

 

Romano hit 99 a couple of times. Mason Fluharty with 4 swings and misses, he threw 12 pitches, all sliders.

 

Chris Bassitt clocked in at 8 distinct pitches according to Statcast lol. 6 whiffs in 57 pitches for the crafty vetrin, velo still down but he probably has more in the tank to ramp up as we've previously seen. This time last year he was barely cracking 90.

[Orgfiller]

If Lukes doesn't make the team, fans should boycott games.

 

You always seem to aggressively draw the line at such weird things. Lukes has an alright toolset as a viable 4th outfielder, but he's a lefty (KK, Varsho) who is not that fast (51st percentile sprint speed) and in fact slower than our entire outfield, plays average defense, and doesn't hit that well. It's extremely reasonably if a player as redundant as he would be to this roster doesn't make the team.

 

His best utility on the team barring injuries would be blowout game replacement for the old guys.

[gruber92]

You always seem to aggressively draw the line at such weird things. Lukes has an alright toolset as a viable 4th outfielder, but he's a lefty (KK, Varsho) who is not that fast (51st percentile sprint speed) and in fact slower than our entire outfield, plays average defense, and doesn't hit that well. It's extremely reasonably if a player as redundant as he would be to this roster doesn't make the team.

 

His best utility on the team barring injuries would be blowout game replacement for the old guys.

 

If Bradley Zimmer got a shot, then.. I know Zimmer can play CF, but Lukes has a much better bat that easily supersedes the marginal difference in defense. IMO of course.

[Stangstag]

If Bradley Zimmer got a shot, then.. I know Zimmer can play CF, but Lukes has a much better bat that easily supersedes the marginal difference in defense. IMO of course.

 

True, but the roster is different now. At the time Springer was the only CF

[John_Havok]

True, but the roster is different now. At the time Springer was the only CF

 

Indeed. He's not enough better with the bat than any current OF to warrant the downgrade in D. The only guy he might have a case with as being maybe better with the bat is KK unless Varsho really sucks again. Like...I dont even see him as a league average hiiter. Maybe 90 wRC+

[Orgfiller]

If Bradley Zimmer got a shot, then.. I know Zimmer can play CF, but Lukes has a much better bat that easily supersedes the marginal difference in defense. IMO of course.

 

Zimmer was a genuinely excellent defender (90th percentile in 2021, the year prior to his acquisition) with elite speed (94th percentile in 2022), so at the very least he had two skills that at the time were sought after given no one else on the roster was as good of an OF defender (we had absolute plugs Gurriel and Teoscar out there) or as fast a runner.

 

Lukes is arguably not even as good of a defender as present day Springer, let alone KK and Varsho, and runs completely average. For comparison's sake, Davis Schneider is as fast as Nathan Lukes, Ernie Clement is 76th percentile sprint speed.

 

If all you want on the bench is a burner to run for Kirk in key spots, then you might as well call up Cam Eden who just swiped 53 bags in AAA only getting caught 4 times. He also can cover CF presumably adequately at the least. If you want another lefty bat that is a legitimate PH option and occasional spot starter, that's what Horwitz, Vogelbach and now Votto are competing for.

[Terminator]

Yeah Lukes is good org depth in case of an injury to an outfielder. But his skillset isn't unique enough to make him a good bench piece for our roster right now.

 

He'd basically be another left handed hitting outfielder only he's worse than the two we've already got and his bat isn't good enough for him to be the Votto/Vogelbach bench bat type.

 

Keep him in AAA and if we get an injury to an OF then he would make plenty of sense to call up.

[hanton]

Man, Stro's gotten pretty fat. Someone needs to stop these guys from eating everything in sight.

 

he does some crazy workouts in the offseason - looks like he got thicker

[Laika]

Lukes turns 30 in July, lol

 

He must do something better than we think to still be kicking around. Maybe he's actually a good defender or something

[John_Havok]

Lukes turns 30 in July, lol

 

He must do something better than we think to still be kicking around. Maybe he's actually a good defender or something

 

He;s really raked in the minors since joining the org, and yeah, he was always seen as a capable defender. I think its just that he's not in the same league as KK or Varsho. He's never had an extended look in the bigs though.

 

Maybe the Jays get lucky and some team will offer them a capable 4th OF that hits RH for Lukes/Espinal or something. He still has options though so its not even that big of a concern, can still stash him in Buffalo

[Brownie19]

Zimmer was a genuinely excellent defender (90th percentile in 2021, the year prior to his acquisition) with elite speed (94th percentile in 2022), so at the very least he had two skills that at the time were sought after given no one else on the roster was as good of an OF defender (we had absolute plugs Gurriel and Teoscar out there) or as fast a runner.

 

Lukes is arguably not even as good of a defender as present day Springer, let alone KK and Varsho, and runs completely average. For comparison's sake, Davis Schneider is as fast as Nathan Lukes, Ernie Clement is 76th percentile sprint speed.

 

If all you want on the bench is a burner to run for Kirk in key spots, then you might as well call up Cam Eden who just swiped 53 bags in AAA only getting caught 4 times. He also can cover CF presumably adequately at the least. If you want another lefty bat that is a legitimate PH option and occasional spot starter, that's what Horwitz, Vogelbach and now Votto are competing for.

 

Zimmer was also coming off a 89 wRC+ season and had a top prospect pedigree. But the key was we only had Springer to play CF that year...