The New York Yankees entered the All-Star break one game behind the first-place Baltimore Orioles after a rather heartbreaking loss in Camden Yards on Sunday. It feels a lot worse than it looks, though. New York has been on a downslide for a couple months, and there hasn't been much positive momentum to build on lately.
As injuries stack up and slumps take hold, one slight silver lining for the Yankees has been the steady ramp-up of Gerrit Cole. He has five MLB starts and 23.1 innings under his belt this season. The overall numbers aren't great — 5.40 ERA and 1.457 WHIP while allowing more than a hit per inning — but it's a slow, steady progression. Cole deserves patience given his stellar track record and the natural challenges of returning from a months-long injury layoff.
We are already seeing signs of growth. In last Friday's win over the Orioles, Cole went six innings with seven strikeouts and only allowed one earned run. The O's are in a stupor of their own, but when your top ace can hold the deepest offense in the American League to a single run, it's a positive indicator. He's back — or close to it.
As the Yankees get healthy, ideally, the wins start flowing more regularly. The roster is talented enough and Brian Cashman is expected to operate with aggression ahead of the July 30 trade deadline. New York has holes to plug in the infield and on the mound. With such prime seeding on the line, the Yankees cannot afford to get complacent.
That said, one new potential, um, "upgrade" connected to New York should send the fanbase into a bit of a panic.
The Chicago White Sox have designated 37-year-old catcher Martin Maldonado for assignment, opening the door for the Yankees and other contenders around the league. Maldonado has built up a large reservoir of respect over the years. He's a classic pitcher-whisperer behind home plate, forming tight-knit bonds with his bullpens.
Maldy spent the last 4.5 years prior to his White Sox sojourn with the Houston Astros, where he reached the competitive mountaintop and worked alongside some of the best pitchers in baseball. Included in that group? Gerrit Cole, who shared the field with Maldonado during both the 2018 and 2019 campaigns in H-Town.
Cole has well-documented affection for Maldonado, a common theme with most Astros pitchers from the last few years. Maldy was also a favorite of former Houston manager Dusty Baker.
While Maldonado still has cache to cash in, it's hard to justify rostering him for baseball purposes. The dude has not hit passably in half a decade. In 135 ABs for the White Sox this season, Maldy slashed .119/.174/.230 with four home runs and 11 RBI. He can get some elevation and distance under his sparse few hits, but the strikeouts are abundant (51 this season) and his defense behind home plate isn't close to enough to offset those issues.
Maybe a team with a rock-solid offensive infrastructure can afford to bet on Maldonado's wisdom, but the Yankees are struggling to generate runs right now. Juan Soto and Aaron Judge are elite, but the rest of the lineup, aside from the upstart Ben Rice, has been in the dumps lately. Maldy exacerbates New York's primary woes. Austin Wells is better, and he's more than a decade younger. Even as a replacement for the IL-bound Luis Trevino, Maldonado feels like overkill. He's best kept out of Aaron Boone's toolkit. Why even give him the chance, ya know?
Maldonado has put together a long and successful career behind home plate, which he should be commended for. It's probably time for MLB front offices to pass, though. The Yankees especially cannot afford to get caught up in Cole's affection.
