After toying with the notion of putting Chad Green back in the rotation, Aaron Boone and the New York Yankees have decided to put him back in the role in which he dominated a season ago.
As we are now just 23 days away from the start of the 2018 regular season, the picture of what Aaron Boone‘s New York Yankees will look like is becoming clearer every day.
Heading into Spring Training, the Yankees were faced with three major questions concerning their roster: How would they fill the holes at second base and third base and which five men would comprise the starting rotation? Well, thanks to MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch, we now know who has been eliminated from contention for that fifth and final spot in the rotation.
The Yankees' preference is to move Chad Green back to the bullpen, Aaron Boone said.
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) March 4, 2018
Earlier this preseason, I wrote that I thought a move back to the rotation for Chad Green would be one that the Yankees would have seriously regretted. As was the case for a similar dominant rising reliever, Joba Chamberlain; when the Yanks tried Chamberlain as a starter a year following a tremendous season in the bullpen, going so far as to institute the now infamous “Joba Rules,” he flopped and was seemingly never heard from again.
Had the Yankees continued with their original plans to try and get the same sort of numbers out of Green as a starter, history would have been bound to repeat itself. Thankfully enough, however, they came to their senses and Green is back where he absolutely belongs.
Believe the Hype
Even with the Yankees having an off day on Monday, Newsday‘s Erik Boland explains how the Yankees are seemingly grabbing the attention of more people than in quite some time.
According to YES, Sunday’s Rays-Yankees ST telecast was YES’ highest-rated, most-watched and most-viewed Spring Training telecast in 5 yrs & its 11th-highest-rated Yankees ST telecast ever.
— Erik Boland (@eboland11) March 5, 2018
Allow me to reiterate: this is still just Spring Training. Like my grandfather used to say when I would get bent over a Yankees preseason loss, “The games don’t even count, Ben.”
Despite the fact that these games do not actually count towards the Yanks’ regular season record, the opportunities to see all the new faces and all the potential this team has to offer certainly matters to Yankee fans everywhere.
Happy Little Tyler
With all the social media accounts for so many players across baseball, fans have been able to access their favorite stars and their interests much more closely than ever before. To that point, Tyler Austin‘s Twitter account tells us where the first baseman finds his happiness.
My happy place @ChipotleTweets pic.twitter.com/roQ1f8IcfD
— Tyler Austin (@T1721Austin) March 4, 2018
Unfortunately for Austin, his happy place needs to be in the batter’s box if he has any hopes of fending off newly signed Adam Lind for the backup first base gig.
Austin batted .225/.283/.425 with two long balls and eight runs batted in over 46 big-league plate appearances in 2017, Those numbers, in conjunction with signing of the clutch-hitting Lind, certainly should be cause for concern for a guy who has yet to really make an impact on a big league club that has had it’s share of offensive struggles at first base.
Maybe the food will help, and then again, maybe not. Either way, something has got to give.
Bathroom Banter
Finally, Yanks’ play-by-play man Michael Kay brings us a gift from the “something you don’t see everyday department”.
The YES crew is ready for the bathroom interview. pic.twitter.com/ppdkgOQk29
— Michael Kay (@RealMichaelKay) March 5, 2018
You know it’s a slow day in Yankee Universe when the entire YES Network team decides it’s a good day to show you what the view is like for a player being interviewed—in the bathroom.
If you have a minute, do read the ensuing thread that followed the tweet; there are some pretty priceless nuggets in there.
That’s all for now from the Boogie Down, but be sure to stay tuned in right here at Elite Sports NY for all of your latest Yankee news and notes.
Other Yankees News, Stories
- MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch answers the questions Yankees fans demand answers to in his latest inbox segment.
- ESNY’s Ryan Morik wonders whether it’s time the Yanks rolled out an official third jersey.
