For a change, Isiah Kiner-Falefa money for Yankees
Isiah Kiner-Falefa #12 of the Yankees works out on the field before a game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium on Thursday, Apr. 14, 2022 in the Bronx borough of New York City. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Yankees reportedly being valued Thursday at $7.01 billion, the highest among any sports franchise, in any league, would seem on the surface unrelated to Isiah Kiner-Falefa hitting .059 on the same date.
But one can’t help looking at the Cash Register the Boss Built and wonder why his son Hal Steinbrenner has IKF playing shortstop - with the occasional cameo by Marwin Gonzalez - rather than Carlos Correa, Corey Seager or even Trevor Story.
After Thursday’s 3-0 victory over the Blue Jays, however, those complaints were quieted to some degree as Kiner-Falefa went 3-for-3 with a double and two runs scored. Thanks to the magic of small sample sizes, IKF is now batting .200 (4-for-20) through seven games, and maybe he’s found the trigger to staying on that track.
“Not being scared,” Kiner-Falefa said. “I think the first couple of games I was very tentative. I was letting a lot of pitches go. Today something clicked. I was just aggressive. I felt like myself today.”
And IKF looked more like the player the Yankees believed they were getting in the last month’s trade with the Twins, the swap that also brought Josh Donaldson to the Bronx while sending Gary Sanchez and Gio Urshela to Minny. It’s those lateral moves to fill holes that signaled Steinbrenner’s payroll concerns for 2022, despite the web site Sportico - which put that whopping price tag on the franchise - reporting the Yankees sitting on piles of cash.
By the site’s calculations, Steinbrenner & Co. pulled in a record $700 million in 2019 - the last normal regular season before COVID-19 hit - but have dealt with revenue losses since the pandemic began, shrinking to $531 million last season. Those figures would seem to align with Steinbrenner’s spring training explanation for the team’s finances, and we also were under the presumption Hal was putting a few bucks aside to get Aaron Judge signed before Opening Day, but that didn’t exactly go as planned when the three-time All-Star rejected the team’s eight-year, $230-million extension offer.
The Yankees still have a projected payroll of roughly $262 million for this season - the third highest in MLB - and what all that adds up to, more or less, is Kiner-Falefa being the starting shortstop for Thursday night’s series finale against the Blue Jays and Correa playing for Minnesota.
On Thursday night, the bottom of the order gave Cashman a chance to exhale, as Kiner-Falefa finally had a breakout game and the backup catcher, Jose Trevino, delivered two RBIs with a pair of singles. In the first inning, IKF hit a 69-mph flare over third base for a one-out single before Trevino smacked a low-liner to left to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. The two struck again in the fifth, when Kiner-Falefa smacked a two-out double that caromed wildly off Bo Bichette’s diving backhand and Trevino punched a bloop single to center.
Previously, the Yankees’ No. 8 and 9 hitters were 3-for-42, and combined to rank 30th overall in batting average (.071), on-base percentage (.111), slugging (.095) and OPS (.206). Before Thursday, Kiner-Falefa was 1-for-17 (double) with four Ks through his first five games and Kyle Higashioka - replaced by Trevino - was batting .056 (1-for-18) with four strikeouts and zero extra-base hits.
Regardless of how the top half of the lineup is functioning, getting zero from two positions lower down is not passable in the powerhouse AL East. But Thursday, as the IKF/Trevino combo started 4-for-4 to build a 2-0 lead, the rest of the Yankees’ lineup was 0-for-15 with eight strikeouts.
“It was huge,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Those guys were big all night. It was good to see them really contribute and kind of be all over the bases.”
For what it’s worth - and clearly not very much - Higashioka led the Yankees with seven homers in 11 Grapefruit League games, which only makes his weak start look even worse coming off that spring-training flex. Higashioka’s defensive prowess earned Gerrit Cole’s endorsement, so he already has allies. But Kiner-Falefa is starting fresh in the Bronx, and a relatively brief resume polished in Texas isn’t going to excuse the need to establish himself all over again - or convince the skeptics the Yankees didn’t need Correa, Seager or Story for a serious World Series push.
“It’s been a tough week for me,” Kiner-Falefa said. “The team’s been picking me up a lot, defensively, offensively. It just feels good to get out there and help them win. I’m gonna get on base and find ways to let the big guys do their thing. As long as I can get on base, and make things happen, we’ve got a chance ... This is just one game in a really long season. I gotta keep it up. I’ve got to be consistent this year.”
The Yankees are banking on it.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
