Yankees: Good news and bad news from 5-2 loss to Nationals

clarke schmidt, yankees
Feb 26, 2023; Tampa, Florida, USA; New York Yankees starting pitcher Clarke Schmidt (86) throws a pitch during the first inning against the Atlanta Braves at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The Yankees continued their spring contests today against the Nationals and fell short 5-2. This spring hasn’t been the best for the Yankees, but fortunately, spring training W-L record means nothing at the end of the day. There weren’t many positives from this game, aside from the fact that nobody got injured and had to leave. At the end of the day, though, that’s the biggest positive to take away from every spring game. 

The good news for the Yankees:

Clarke Schmidt followed up his perfect 5.0 inning performance with a rather rough game today. He went 3.2 innings with 3 ER, walked a pair, and struck out a single batter. It wasn’t the best game from him, but fortunately for Clarke, he still will likely make another start or two before Opening Day, so he has time to hammer out some inconsistencies. 

The rest of the pitching did their job for the most part, aside from Tyler Danish once more putting up a clunker. He gave up two runs in an inning’s worth of work and raised his spring ERA to *checks notes* 33.23. Michael King was once more on the money as he went 2.1 innings, struck out a pair, and only gave up one hit. His command seemed to be all there, and his sinker-slurve combo was once more solid as can be. 

Matt Krook continued his audition for a bullpen spot by posting another scoreless inning, and it seems that the lefty will likely get a spot in the ‘pen. He fills a need for the organization, as Wandy Peralta is the only lefty the Yanks have in the MLB bullpen. Krook’s sinker is fantastic, and it seems to play really well against lefties as well. 

The bad news for the Yankees:

The offense wasn’t great today, but that didn’t stop Oswaldo Cabrera from having a very nice game all around. The super utility stud tallied a pair of base knocks and swiped his first base of spring. Cabrera’s overall role still remains a bit unclear, especially with IKF seeing more time as a super-utility in his own right. 

Giancarlo Stanton smacked another single and, over the past week or so, has been really finding his groove. It’s the best time for the superstar slugger to get hot, and hopefully, it carries into the regular season. I see Stanton having a huge bounce-back campaign this year, as last year was the worst for him in his entire career. It’s not very often that a player of his caliber struggles the way he did, and I think it’ll be nothing more than water under the bridge come June or July. 

The Yankees weren’t very exciting today, and the worst news of it all was that the game wasn’t televised nor available on audio. Once more, in order to help “grow the game,” they do so by not showing the games. Nonetheless I do believe the Yanks’ slow spring is no cause for concern. Spring training only has a week’s worth of games left to go, and the regular season is hot on the heels. Soon, we’ll have meaningful games to talk about, and the season will be well underway. This could be the year that things go right for the Yanks, and fortunately, a number of big-name guys are ready to rock.