"Different Teams, Different Approaches" - Aaron Boone's Reaction To The Mets Walking Aaron Judge Regularly Last Night To Face Non-MLB Hitter J.D. Davis Will Make Your Head Explode

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Lineup releases will always be faced with criticism. Someone should always be hitting above another, a guy taking a day off will be met with an angry mob of torches, etc. Then you see a lineup like the one the Yankees threw out last night. Aaron Boone decided to shake things up after a nice win on Monday. His version of shaking it up was the equivalent to logging onto a random order generator website, plugging in every hitter's name, and hitting go. 

Every baseball mind on Twitter took to the app to mock whatever the hell this was. Jahmai Jones and his career .535 OPS as your lead off man. A permanent bench player who should only be used as a pinch runner or defensive replacement when someone gets hurt mid game. Nope, the Yankees chose him as the table setter last night against the Mets. Keep in mind based off simple math the lead off hitter in a lineup has the best opportunity for receiving the most at bats in the game. The Yankees decided Jahmai Jones was worthy of that honor of everyone else on the team. They even made him the DH, meaning he could be replaced by literally anyone with a pulse. 

They also decided to plug in J.D. Davis as the team's cleanup hitter, in charge of protecting Aaron Judge. In recent games they've deployed Austin Wells for this role since he's been one of the more consistent bats for the last 30 games. Not an ideal solution, but one that at least makes you at least face an MLB hitter if/when Aaron Judge gets walked. JD Davis woke up today with a -16 OPS+ which means he's 116% worse than a league average bat. You won't believe this, but Aaron Judge not only walked every time J.D. Davis was there to hit after him, but he also never once advanced past first base. Boone somehow credited Quintana's strategy versus the fearsome hitter in J.D. Davis, as if that took any thought at all. 

That strategy was simply throw a curveball low and out of the zone. That's all he did because that's all you need to do when facing an incompetent hitter like Davis. Nope, Boone thinks his masterplan was foiled because of Quintana's advanced pitch mix. 

Aaron Boone was asked about the Mets genius level tactics to avoid pitching to the best hitter in the game and instead face one of the worst. His answer: "different teams. different approaches." 

He's certainly right about that because when the Yankees face the Red Sox and Rafael Devers comes to the plate they refuse to walk him. It's the last thing on their mind. Instead they attack him and lose, nearly every time. Off the top of my head I'd guess Devers has a career 7.000 OPS against the Yankees. In Boone's mind he's due to get out so they'll keep trying. In everyone else's mind they'll take their chances with whoever is hitting after Judge. Last night that strategy worked to perfection for Carlos Mendoza. Shocker.

Now as much as I get on Boone for everything above, the roster itself is BAD. Cashman has once again constructed an abysmal set of hitters. The fact that J.D. Davis and Jahmai Jones are real options for Boone is a joke. This has gone on for over a month now while Cashman just sits on his hands. Ty France is just sitting out there while they continue to deploy JD Davis. Shoot me. 

Giancarlo's imminent return will help. Jasson Dominguez feels like just a few weeks away. Those two guys plugged in the heart of the order will be massive. You still need a true lead off hitter. Luis Rengifo, Johnathan India, or even Jazz Chisholm would be a giant improvement from what we're dealing with. You gotta do something. They also need an additional bat on top of that. This is all before you begin to address the bullpen and go and get a few guys who can strike guys out. They need so much it's depressing. 

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It's also crazy the Yankees are still just 1.5 games out of first in the AL East. That's how bad the O's have been of late. The Yankees should be 4+ games up in the division, but instead they've pissed away their golden opportunity. Getting healthier and acquiring MLB hitters gives you a vision of how this turns around, but leading off Jahmai Jones with JD Davis protecting Judge really makes you wonder why we should care as much as we do about this team. There should be no world where JD Davis and Jahmani Jones are on the roster today. Can't wait for them to run it back tonight against another lefty.