The theme of the New York Yankees’ Tuesday was the quantity two:
With a waiver pickup, they formally have an infielder named Jeter (Downs) for the second time. He can’t put on No. 2, although, because the Yankees retired it for his namesake.
And since they acquired Alex Verdugo from the Red Sox earlier this month, they now have two of the three gamers despatched to Boston within the 2020 Mookie Betts commerce. Only Connor Wong stays.
The four-year anniversary of that commerce – arguably essentially the most vital because the sale of Babe Ruth – is nearly precisely two months away. Since that fateful day, Downs has gone from the highest prospect within the transaction to a twice-designated-for-assignment infielder. The Red Sox minimize him free final offseason, and the Washington Nationals did the identical final week, enabling the Yankees to say him.
Downs has solely performed 20 profession video games within the Majors – 14 with the ’22 Red Sox, six with the ’23 Nats – however his new group obtained extra of a have a look at him than virtually some other staff. Downs’ first profession hit, runs scored, and RBI got here towards the Yankees at Fenway Park on July 9, 2022, his second Major League sport. It was none apart from Verdugo who introduced him residence for the profitable run.
Less than two weeks later, Downs collected his first big-league double and residential run towards the Yankees within the Bronx. The entire scenario was so surreal that Derek Jeter supplied congratulations on X (then Twitter).
“Had the chance to meet @jeter2downs a few years ago (he wasn’t with the Red Sox then),” his namesake wrote. “Congratulations and good luck… unless you are playing the Yankees.”
Hitting again
Not to be outdone by their rivals, the Red Sox employed Dillon Lawson for a hitting coordinator place within the higher stage of their minor league system.
It’s an attention-grabbing rent due to how Lawson’s time within the Bronx ended. The Yankees introduced him into the fold in ’18, and promoted him to Major League hitting coach earlier than the ’22 season. This previous July, he grew to become the primary mid-season firing of Brian Cashman’s common supervisor tenure, which dates again to ’98.
In different information
Andrew McCutchen is returning to Pittsburgh as soon as once more. The veteran outfielder has a one-year, $5 million take care of the Pirates, who chosen him eleventh general within the first spherical of the ’05 draft. He debuted with the membership in ’09 and performed 9 seasons in black and yellow. Between ’11-’15, he was an All-Star annually, and received 4 consecutive Silver Sluggers and a Gold Glove in ’12. He earned National League MVP honors in ’13, and completed within the top-five in voting the yr earlier than and for 2 season after.
After splitting the ’18 season between the Giants and Yankees, McCutchen spent three seasons with the Phillies and one with the Brewers earlier than returning to Pittsburgh final yr.
Source: www.bostonherald.com