Trades and Tampa Series: Too Little, Too Late for This Season?

Anthony Rizzo (left) and Joey Gallo

The Yankees took the opener of a 3-game series away to the Tampa Bay Rays, and it was a great boost following the 3 losses out of 4 in Boston.

Nestor Cortes started the 2nd game of the series on Wednesday night, and was very effective. He went 5 innings, allowing 1 run on 3 hits and no walks, striking out 5. But he threw 79 pitches, which is a lot for a pitcher that the Yankees still seem not to have decided on a starting or relieving role. Lucas Lustre pitched a perfect 6th and 7th. Zack Britton pitched a hitless 8th. Chad Green pitched a perfect 9th.

But the Yankees once again had problems scoring. They didn't get a hit until the 3rd inning, and were trailing the Rays 1-0 going into the top of the 5th. Gio Urshela started the inning by reaching on an error, and Greg Allen doubled him over. Aaron Judge struck out, but DJ LeMahieu hit a sacrifice fly that scored Urshela. But Gleyber Torres was robbed on a line drive, and so the inning ended just 1-1.

Torres tried to make up for it with a 1-out double in the 8th, but was stranded. Gary Sánchez led off the 9th with a walk, and was balked over to 2nd. But Brett Gardner flew out, and Urshela lined out to Rays 2nd baseman Brandon Lowe, who caught Sánchez off the base for a double play.

The game went to the 10th inning, and the ghost runner rule. Urshela began the inning on 2nd, and the Rays' Pete Fairbanks hit Allen with a pitch. Judge singled Urshela home home the lead. 

Rays manager Kevin Cash brought Andrew Kittredge in to relieve. Judge immediately tested him by stealing 2nd, and he failed the test by throwing a wild pitch, scoring Allen with a variation on what may have been intended as a double steal. 

The Yankees did not score again, and so Aroldis Chapman went out to pitch the bottom of the 10th. Cliché Alert: Aroldis gotta Aroldis. He never seems to make it feel easy. He got a strikeout, but then issued a walk, and then a wild pitch of his own. 

Then he struck out the aging but still dangerous Nelson Cruz. Francisco Mejia popped up, and it seems like the entire Yankee infield lost the ball in that stupid white roof in that stupid dome that the stupid Rays play their home games in. LeMahieu managed to catch the ball about 2 inches off the ground. A lot of people on #YankeesTwitter mentioned that they had just about had a heart attack, knowing that the game would have been tied had LeMahieu dropped the ball. 

Nevertheless, he didn't. Yankees 3, Rays 1. WP: Green (4-5). SV: Chapman (20). LP: Fairbanks (3-4).

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Taking the 1st 2 games in Tampa Bay felt really good. A sweep would have felt even better. But this year's Yankees seem to have trouble closing sweeps out. Usually, after winning the 1st 2 games of a series, the 3rd game turns out to be lousy. 

This one was beyond lousy. Alleged ace Gerrit Cole gave up 4 runs before getting an out in the bottom of the 1st inning.

It wasn't quite downhill from there, as he retired 15 of the next 16 batters. But he lost control again in the 6th, and a horrible error by left fielder Brett Gardner didn't help. Albert Abreu was brought in to relieve, and he threw gasoline on the fire. The Rays scored 10 runs in the inning.

None of that mattered, because the Yankees didn't hit. Judge singled in the 1st and walked in the 6th, Torres and Gardner singled in the 2nd, Estevan Florial walked in the 5th and singled in the 8th, and Stanton walked on the 9th. Those were the Yankees' only baserunners.

Rays 14, Yankees 0. WP: Luis Patino (2-2). No save. LP: Cole (10-6).

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The trade deadline in baseball is like the two-minute offense in football. If you can do that in the last 2 minutes of the game, why not try it sometime in the 1st 58 minutes? If you can make these trades at the end of July, what is stopping you from doing it beforehand? 

There is, of course, a difference. At the trade deadline, baseball teams are coming to the conclusion, either that they have a chance to win it this year with one or two additions, and go for it, or, the opposite, that it's not going to happen this year, it's probably not going to happen next year, either, so they might as well make the best trait they can, in the hopes of rebuilding.

But Brian Cashman pulled off 2 trades last night, as if finally conceding that a team with a shirt porch in right field needs lefthanded sluggers.

He sent 4 prospects I'd never heard of to the Texas Rangers for Joey Gallo and Joely Rodríguez. Rodríguez, a 29-year-old lefthanded reliever from the Dominican Republic, is a throw-in, and probably won't have much of a positive impact.

But Gallo, a 27-year-old outfielder from Las Vegas -- not to be confused with the Mob hitman about whom Bob Dylan wrote a song -- should. He's made 2 All-Star Games, won a Gold Glove, and has hit 145 career home runs.

Cashman wasn't done: He sent 2 prospects to the Chicago Cubs for 1st baseman Anthony Rizzo. About to turn 32, the South Florida native has made 3 All-Star Games, won 4 Gold Gloves, and hit 243 career home runs. In a farewell salute tweet, the Cubs called him the heart and soul of their 2016 World Series winners.

The Yankees are 8 1/2 games behind the Boston Red Sox in the American League Eastern Division, 7 in the loss column. They are 3 1/2 behind the Oakland Athletics for the AL's 2nd Wild Card slot, 2 in the loss column.

The acquisitions of Gallo and Rizzo give Yankee Fans hope for next season. But will they be enough to make a difference this season? Or is it too little, too late?