Yankees' Aaron Boone, Mets' Carlos Mendoza excited as MLB trade deadline approaches
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza and Yankees manager Aaron Boone during spring training. Credit: AP/Jeff Roberson; Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
Within the Mets’ 3-2 win over the Yankees on Tuesday night there was, at least momentarily, a reversal of fortune for the teams. The relief pitchers for the Yankees were among the three best in the majors for July with a 2.55 ERA, but didn’t hold a tie score. Mets relievers were among the four worst with a 6.20 ERA for the month, yet held the lead.
There is a reasonable expectation that both teams’ bullpens will look different in a week, after the July 30 trading deadline. Relief pitching is always at a premium at this time of year for contenders like the Yankees and Mets and have to be a consideration for both, regardless of other needs.
Yes, both teams have relievers in the pipeline back to the roster. The Yankees could add Scott Effross to their mix and the Mets have, among others, Reed Garrett and Sean Reid-Foley on the road back. Still the idea that Yankees GM Brian Cashman and Mets GM David Stearns could both be making moves, in the bullpen or elsewhere, makes the coming days highly anticipated.
“It's an exciting time for our sport,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said before first pitch in the final game of the Subway Series Wednesday at the Stadium.
“As I sit here right now, and obviously I'm not as intimately involved as in this as [Cashman] . . . but I pay attention and have conversations with [executives] . . . [We’re] six days out and it feels like today is going to be very different than the last day going into the trade deadline, with who actually is available, who is on the block.
“Does a team get super creative and change the landscape a little bit? You never know where it's going to go or what domino . . . leads to another move,” Boone continued.
“But right now, it seems very cloudy, especially [with] a lot of teams, I’m sure honestly, not knowing if they're in or out. That will become more clear as we get closer.”
“We've put ourselves in a better position compared to where we were in May so there’s going to be a lot of rumors, there’s going to be a lot of noise,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “We talk a lot. Whether it’s [Stearns] or whomever from the front office. We continue to have conversations or they keep me in the loop . . . There’s a lot going on and sometimes things happen and sometimes they don’t happen. But there’s always dialogue.
“This time of the year in baseball, there’s excitement and there’s rumors and there’s noise but our job is . . . to continue to win baseball games,” he added.
With both teams’ bullpen compositions and personnel likely to change via trade or some other avenue, the managers’ approach to relief pitching, as they described it, makes for an interesting contrast.
Both organizations do extensive pregame planning about deploying relievers. The Mets on Tuesday didn’t have closer Edwin Diaz after he threw 28 pitches the night before in a win over Miami. Jake Diekman said he didn’t foresee getting the last outs until the seventh inning, but ended up in that spot.
And Mendoza revealed after Diekman got the final two outs with the winning run in the batters’ box – including a big strikeout of Aaron Judge – that he’d gone mostly on instinct and batter-by-batter.
But, he said, it’s not that unusual.
“I don't know that there's ever a time where you go with a game plan and you [can] stick to it,” he said Wednesday afternoon. “Every time you make an adjustment as the game unfolds, you have to adjust [the plan]. You have a pretty good idea going into it because of what you have available and the lineup you’re facing [with] potential pinch hitters. But there’s a lot that goes into it. You have to use your information and prepare and have an idea, but you have to make those adjustments.”
Boone described an approach that hewed more toward following the day’s blueprint.
“In a winning scenario or where your starter goes out and gives you a good outing to set you up, usually you're able to then execute a game plan,” Boone said. “There's always a wrinkle that gets thrown or an inning that [makes] things a little different. But those are things you try to talk through ahead of time and try to be prepared for. [You] try to be able to remain agile while the game is unfolding.”
Asked how he might handle the situation with personnel changing in the bullpen at the trading deadline, Boone replied, “You try to have a real strong understanding of their skill set and their strengths and their weaknesses and who the opponent is and who [they] might be facing.”
“In the end you’re trying to match up to be successful,” he added. “I feel there’s a handful of guys, even a couple guys that we didn't necessarily account for at different points in the season, that have carved out a nice little role for themselves. [Guys] that are becoming real contributors for us. As a guy or two changes or comes into the mix hopefully that only strengthens us.”
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.
