NEW YORK _ Manny Machado was booed in his first two at-bats on Monday. The Padres shortstop was the focus of the Yankee fan universe this winter, but the team was more concerned with pitching and depth. The Yankees passed on Machado _ who signed a 10-year, $300 million deal with San Diego _ to build around a group of young core players. That meant focusing on adding pitching and building up their bullpen.
But Monday, the Yankees were fine at shortstop and third base, where Machado would have played. Their need for more pitching was still pressing.
With their second "bullpen day" in their last three games, the Yankees rallied to beat the Padres 5-2 at Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees (35-18) bounced back after a 10th-inning, walk-off loss to the Royals on Sunday. They have won 11 of their last 13 and 27 of their last 35. The Padres lost their fifth in the last 10 games.
Clint Frazier, Brett Gardner and Gary Sanchez _ who has driven in 21 runs in his last 23 games _ each homered to spark the Yankees offense.
Chad Green was impressive, striking out the side to "open" the game. David Hale allowed two runs on three hits in four innings' work, eating up most of the game for the bullpen. Adam Ottavino, Tommy Kahnle and Zack Britton each pitched a scoreless inning.
The "opener," and bullpen day worked perfectly on Monday, but the concern is how it will affect the Yankees' pitching down the road.
The past few weeks, their scouts were out following teams who could be looking to deal starting pitchers before the July 31 deadline. A team talent evaluator was in attendance for the last simulated game that free agent lefty Dallas Keuchel threw, a team source confirmed. After next week's MLB draft, teams can sign Keuchel without having to give up a draft pick.
But how quickly James Paxton, CC Sabathia and eventually Luis Severino can get back will help determine which path the Yankees go.
Paxton is still dealing with something that feels like a bruise in his left knee, but is hopeful he can pitch through it.
"As long as we feel like he can go out there, execute and pitch at the level that we expect and feel like he's not putting himself in harm's way, then yeah, we do feel comfortable," Boone said. "Coming out of his last start, felt like he was able to do everything he normally does on the mound. (Sunday after a bullpen and pitchers fielding practice), he even felt better than he anticipated there. As long as we feel he's not putting himself in harm's way, we feel good about it."
They are optimistic Paxton will be cleared and Monday would be their last turn through the rotation with an opener and heavy bullpen usage.
Sabathia is expecting to throw a bullpen on Tuesday and Boone said there is a possibility he could pitch the Sunday game against the Red Sox. Sabathia was put on the IL after his last start to deal with inflammation in his right knee. Sabathia said that he had a cortisone shot and lubricant injected into the knee, but did not need to have it drained of fluid.
"He could possibly be in play Sunday to end the homestand. We'll see how that goes and how the next couple days unfold for him," Boone said cautiously.
And there could be even more help on the distant horizon.
Severino was scheduled to see the doctor to be cleared to begin his throwing program. The right-hander, who has been shut down since April 5 with a grade-2 strained lat muscle, said he has not felt any discomfort in around three weeks. He has spent the past six weeks building up his shoulder muscles to help rehab the lat and is ready to get going.
"Looking forward to that, maybe tomorrow, maybe today," Severino said. "Just playing catch, flat ground."
Severino was initially shut down the first week in March with inflammation in his right rotator cuff. A subsequent MRI showed the partial tear of the lat muscle. He will now basically have to go through a full spring training of at least six weeks to get back.
