Roger Rubin: Yankees might have to send Spencer Jones to minors for a while
Yankees' Spencer Jones follows through on his second-inning two run home run against the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium on Friday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Yankees have made their eagerness to return Cody Bellinger to their diminished lineup more than plain to see, and with good reason. They’re trying to chase down the Rays for the AL East title and top seeding for the postseason, and in the 23 games since a left hamstring strain landed Bellinger on the injured list on July 26, the club was averaging 3.5 runs entering Friday night’s game against Toronto at the Stadium.
Bellinger was to finish a two-game rehab assignment, take Saturday off and be activated on Sunday, manager Aaron Boone said.
Adding him to the 26-man active roster means someone has to be subtracted. Though Boone called the debate on that “preliminary,” the simplest way to get from Point A to Point B is to option outfielder Spencer Jones and his surging bat to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
It shouldn’t be that easy a decision. Jones brought a .300/.323/.500 slash line in his last eight games into Friday, and he added his seventh home run, a towering two-run shot in the second inning. Removing a productive bat seems counterintuitive.
Jones would be able to return when rosters expand to 28 on Sept. 1, but that still means he would miss eight big games against Toronto, Houston and Boston plus one against the Angels.
When Boone was asked about the impending move, he replied, “You know those things: You get ahead of yourselves a little bit sometimes and something else crops up.”
Case in point: Ryan McMahon was diagnosed with a Grade 2 left thumb sprain and placed on the 10-day injured list before first pitch Friday, with utilityman Max Schuemann called up to fill the spot.
Schuemann, like Jones, could be optioned when Bellinger is activated. In theory, that would give Jones two games to make the decision harder. In reality, it probably doesn’t because Schuemann “covers us everywhere,” Boone said. Jones strictly plays the outfield.
Keeping Jones on the big league roster would have been hard even before McMahon went on the IL. Amed Rosario has pop against lefthanded pitching, and the Yankees value him too much to designate him for assignment and lose him completely. Spending a week with 12 pitchers instead of 13 would be nearly impossible for the Yankees to stomach.
After his three-hit performance in Thursday’s 6-1 win in Baltimore, Jones attributed his success to an adjustment.
“I was getting started late [and] my hands were kind of dropping a little bit, so focusing on tightening up those [let] myself see the ball as long as possible,” he said.
“He keeps getting better as a player and he's shown a good aptitude for making adjustments,” Boone said. “This has been a really strong year for him in his development as a player. I still don't even view him as a finished product, but he's come up here and more than held his own.”
That the Yankees have the second-best record in the American League speaks to the strength of a pitching staff that had an AL-best 3.22 ERA entering Friday. It’s been a long time since they had all four of their big run-producing bats — Aaron Judge, Bellinger, Giancarlo Stanton and Ben Rice — together in the batting order.
Stanton hasn't played since April 24 because of a calf injury. Judge hasn't played since May 31 because of a rib stress fracture. When Bellinger got hurt on July 25, Rice was the only one left.
They do seem to be getting healthier. Stanton is running at or near full speed (for him). Judge is swinging a bat and hitting off a tee. McMahon optimistically said “hopefully it’s just the 10 days” because “I have a high pain tolerance.”
Lefthander Max Fried — on the 15-day IL for a second time with a left elbow bone bruise — said he will throw off a mound Saturday and could be back in the rotation before the end of the month.
For Stanton to be in the lineup when he returns, he would have to be the DH, possibly sharing those duties with Rice and Luis Garcia Jr. (those two also play first base). The return of Bellinger and Judge will cost Heliot Ramos and/or Trent Grisham outfield starts. Fried’s return would bring about the long-awaited call about whether to move Ryan Weathers or Will Warren from the starting rotation to the bullpen (Weathers has been spectacular of late).
Whether to send Jones to the minors on Sunday feels like a tough call today. Harder ones almost certainly lie ahead.
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
