Bronx Bomber Ball

Photo credit: Chicago Sun-Times It's been a roller coaster race to the trade deadline (with a miserable loss to the Rays in between) for the Yankees since last night.  After yesterday's acquisition of Joey Gallo, Brian Cashman is trying to outdo himself.  YES' Jack Curry had it first:  The Yankees are trading Alcantara and Vizcaino for Rizzo. The Cubs are picking up all of Rizzo’s remaining salary. — Jack Curry (@JackCurryYES) July 29, 2021 Yes, you read that correctly -- Anthony Rizzo is now a New York Yankee -- seemingly right out from under the noses of the Boston Red Sox .  The Yankees are sending two minor leaguers, OF Kevin Alcantara (Yanks' No. 12 prospect) and RHP Alexander Vizcaino (Yanks' No. 9 prospect), to Chicago in exchange for Rizzo.  The Cubs will also pay the Yankees the remaining $5.5 million left of Rizzo's salary for the 2021 season (his full season salary is $16.5 million).  Per ESPN -- "Rizzo wasn't in the lineup in the Cubs'

  The Yankees have pulled off their first big move of the 2021 Trade Deadline week, acquiring a much-needed lefty power bat in the form of Texas Rangers’ slugger Joey Gallo.   The trade also nets the Yankees RP  John King Joely Rodriguez .

Here we go again. Photo credit: Talkin' Jake

The Yankees aren’t boring anymore! Well, maybe they still are, but not for the same reasons as they were previously.   The Yankees have been in a rut most of the season of bland, vanilla, stale – whatever you want to call it – baseball and were dealt another series of blows this weekend to start the second half, losing Jonathan Loaisiga, Wandy Peralta, Nestor Cortes, Aaron Judge, Gio Urshela and Kyle Higashioka to the COVID IL. Loaisiga is set to return later this week against Boston, however, news broke on Sunday afternoon that Darren O’Day’s hamstring injury will cost him the remainder of the season. Zack Britton returned from the IL, but Tim Locastro tore his ACL on Saturday, and his season is done.   Rougned Odor is showing some signs of life, but Luke Voit is back on the IL.  One step forward, one step back.

***Edit*** This was supposed to be a Series Preview before the Yankees got fucked up by Covid, so maybe enjoy the little bit of optimism I had before this news, if you want to, and watch my reaction to the news as it came out *s show order of edits  Photo by Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos Yankees vs Red Sox Preview 7/15-7/18 The Bombers start their second half tonight  tomorrow night, beginning a four game series with the first  place Red Sox. The Yankees (46-43) enter the second half of their schedule 8 games behind the Red Sox (55-36) for first place in the AL East and 4.5 games behind the Oakland Athletics (52-40) for the second Wild Card spot after their nightmare first half of the year. Winners of five of their last seven games entering the All Star Break, this series will be a play a huge factor in determining how they play out the rest of their season. Will they look like the confident team, who was having fun playing baseball, that we saw about to sweep the Astros this last weekend?

In an otherwise bleak season for the 2021 New York Yankees, one bright spot in the bullpen comes in middle relief: Jonathan Loaisiga.