Yanks won't get Luis Castillo, but Aaron Boone says he likes what he has
The Reds' Luis Castillo pitches during the first inning of the team's game against the Yankees on July 14 at Yankee Stadium. Credit: AP/Frank Franklin II
The Seattle Mariners acquired righthander Luis Castillo from the Reds for a bushel of prospects on Friday night.
Castillo is reported to have been a Yankees target before Tuesday’s trade deadline as the top starting pitcher on the board. Now he’s off the board. If they’d like to upgrade their rotation, the Yankees will have to turn their attention to A’s righthander Frankie Montas, Pirates lefthander Jose Quintana, Angels righthander Noah Syndergaard or the other available starting pitchers.
“I feel good about our rotation,” Aaron Boone said. “I feel really good about the guys we have in house. Guys are going to start moving and going different places. You never know what can happen over these next several hours. It’s going to be crazy, I’m sure, and there’ll be surprises. We may do things. We may not. But we know we have all the people in there to do what we need to do. If we get reinforcements or don’t, we’ll be prepared either way.”
Benintendi bats sixth
After going 0-for-4 in the leadoff spot in his Yankees debut Thursday, Andrew Benintendi batted sixth Friday. He went 1-for-3 with a walk and had an RBI infield hit in an eight-run eighth.
Boone said he sees Benintendi batting “a little everywhere.”
DJ LeMahieu, who was off on Thursday, returned to bat leadoff.
“I can still see [Benintendi] lead off on a given day,” Boone said. “I can see him hitting in the middle of the order — anywhere, three, four, five, six — on a given day. So we’ll just kind of see depending on who’s down on a given day, obviously who is on the mound for the other team, what their bullpen looks like and things like that. I feel like he’s kind of a good option to have anywhere in the lineup.”
Donaldson close?
Boone said he still has faith that Josh Donaldson will snap out of the funk he has been in for most of the season. He went 1-for-5 Friday and is hitting .223 with nine homers and a .687 OPS.
“I’ve said all along that I do feel like that great run of offense is in there for him,” Boone said. “Just got to build some momentum and then I still think it’s in there for him to be a wrecking ball on offense.”
Boone said he has been impressed with Donaldson’s defense. “I knew we were still getting a good defender over at third,” he said. “I didn’t know we were getting this good of one.”
Old-Timers’ Day returns
The Yankees will hold their 74th Old-Timers’ Day and first since 2019 before their 2:05 p.m. game vs. the Royals on Saturday.
Some of the marquee names who are scheduled to be on hand include David Cone, Bucky Dent, Ron Guidry, Tino Martinez, Willie Randolph, Bernie Williams and Roy White.
Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera, who was on the original attendee list released by the Yankees two weeks ago, will not be attending.
The Yankees are not holding an Old-Timers’ Day game. There will be player introductions and video tributes. The club hopes the game will return next year.
Fans are asked to be in their seats by 12:15 p.m. for the festivities, which will be broadcast on YES.
Welcome back
The Yankees re-signed righthanders Shane Greene and Ryan Weber to minor-league contracts and assigned them to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Greene made one appearance for the Yankees on July 23 (two runs in one inning) and was designated for assignment the next day. Weber made three appearances for the Yankees in three separate stints and allowed one run in 7 2⁄3 innings.
Trainer’s room
Luis Severino (lat strain) will begin a throwing program Monday. Miguel Castro (shoulder strain) has “a ways to go,” Boone said. “He’s probably still a couple weeks from throwing.”
How about stat?
Aaron Judge’s walk-off home run on Thursday was only the third by a Yankee in a 1-0 game, according to Elias. The other two were by Joe Pepitone against California in 1969 and Ruben Sierra against Toronto in 2004.
Judge hit two home runs on Friday, giving him 41 in 101 games. That’s a pace that projects to 66 in 162 games, which would be an American League record. He has hit 40 in his last 85 games, and to put that in perspective, that pace projects to 76.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
