The Yankees dropped a frustrating game on Friday, a 7-6 loss to the Orioles after Clarke Schmidt faltered, the bullpen lost the plate, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa popped out in a key pinch hit spot with a runner on third in the top of the sixth.
For Keith McPherson, some key moments in Friday’s defeat highlighted the team’s overreliance on whatever analytical approach the Yankees take into games.
“It’s a different season, but there’s so many things rolling right into this season like there was no offseason,” Keith said. “Clarke Schmidt was being stretched out to be a starter, and then when Michael King goes down, the Yankees get cute again. Smartest guys in the room, but the dumbest guys at the same time. It’s crazy. They put him in the bullpen, and they want to make him the Great Value brand Michael King. And he gets rocked in the postseason.
“I feel like he’s close, but he’s not close enough to be pitching for the Yankees in the No. 2 spot behind Gerrit Cole…This guy can’t throw strikes.”
Next, the Yankees pinch hit Kiner-Falefa for Franchy Cordero with a runner on second and two outs in the sixth, with the Bombers looking for a key insurance run while leading 5-4. Kiner-Falefa was the choice with southpaw reliever Danny Coulombe brought in to pitch, and Aaron Boone preferred the righty of the lefty Cordero, who had blasted a three-run home run to go along with a walk on his day before being taken out.
Kiner-Falefa popped out to first after a balk sent Oswaldo Cabrera to third, stranding the runner, and struck out in the eighth with the tying run on third, keeping the struggling utility man hitless on the season.
“He can’t hit,” Keith said. “I don’t know why in the world you would pinch hit for a guy who can’t get hits…IKF, to me, is another guy on this team right now where I’m like, ‘Why is this guy on the team? What is his role?’
“IKF is 0-for-12 this season. Cordero homered in the previous at-bat. What are the analytics to tell you to take that guy out in favor of this guy? Because there’s a lefty reliever coming out of the pen? Who is this lefty reliever? Are we scared of him?”
Then there was the bullpen management, though some light was shed on that decision making after Jonathan Loaisiga was placed on the IL on Saturday morning. But even outside of that, there were some key moments where the moves that were made didn’t make much sense to Keith.
“We’ll never get a Hard Knocks look into the office or a behind-the-scenes look…I would love to see the process behind these pregame meetings and how they arrive at these in-game decisions,” Keith said. “I’m watching the game and I’m like ‘Man, I don’t know anything about baseball.’”
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