August…the New York Yankees. Two terms that in 2022 just didn’t go together.

Ten wins, 18 losses. Now, a large part of that as we have seen was due to the batters failing to hit, fielders failing to field. But the pichers were far from guiltless. far from faultless. Starters and relievers alike.

Let’s see who were part of it all falling apart:

* indicates left-handed pitcher. No * indicates right-handed pitcher.

Name/Pos	W	L	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	WHIP
Anthony Banda rp*	0	0	0.00	1	0	0	0	0	0.2	0	0	0	2	1	3.00
Luke Bard rp	0	0	0.00	1	0	1	0	0	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Lou Trivino rp	1	2	0.82	13	0	6	0	0	11.0	8	3	1	6	8	1.27
Ron Marinaccio rp	0	0	0.90	9	0	1	0	0	10	4	2	1	3	11	0.70
Jonathan Loaisiga rp	0	1	1.86	12	0	3	0	1	9.2	6	3	2	4	7	1.03
Domingo German sp	2	1	2.08	6	6	0	0	0	34.2	27	9	8	6	22	0.95
Lucas Luetge rp*	0	1	2.61	7	0	3	0	0	10.1	12	3	3	2	12	1.35
Gerrit Cole sp	1	4	3.20	6	6	0	0	0	39.1	30	15	14	8	42	0.97
Scott Effross rp	0	0	3.24	8	0	2	0	0	8.1	7	4	3	2	8	1.08
Nestor Cortes sp*	0	1	3.33	4	4	0	0	0	24.1	11	9	9	6	22	0.70
Aroldis Chapman rp*	2	0	3.68	8	0	2	0	0	7.1	5	3	3	5	7	1.36
Wandy Peralta rp*	0	0	3.97	12	0	5	0	2	11.1	7	5	5	5	8	1.06
Jameson Taillon sp	2	2	4.83	6	6	0	0	0	31.2	25	18	17	7	25	2.05
Clarke Schmidt sp/rp	1	1	4.91	2	1	0	0	0	7.1	11	4	4	4	7	2.05
Greg Weissert rp	1	0	6.23	3	0	0	0	0	4.1	0	3	3	2	5	0.46
Clay Holmes rp	0	1	6.75	6	0	3	0	0	5.1	5	4	4	3	6	1.50
Frankie Montas sp	0	2	7.01	5	5	0	0	0	25.2	32	20	20	7	20	1.52
Albert Abreu rp	0	2	7.88	7	0	2	0	0	8.0	11	8	7	2	9	1.63
Name/Pos	W	L	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	WHIP

Starting Pitchers

On the 1st of August, the Yankees entered into a trade with the Oakland Athletics. The Yankees acquired Frankie Montas, a starting pitcher, and Lou Trivino, who would give them another relief option. Going in the opposite direction were Ken Waldichuk, Luis Medina and JP Sears (pitchers) and also Cooper Bowman, a second baseman. Three of those names had not made it to the majors for the Yankees, but JP Sears had done well in both starting and relieving roles for the Bronx Bombers. Having got the possibility of acquiring Montas to round out the rotation, the Yankees decided they didn’t need either Jordan Montgomery or Sears. How wrong they were!!

Montgomery went 6-3 in the rest of the season as he had a great time with the St. Louis Cardinals. Sears was less successful at Oakland with the Athletics going 3-3. Both players were far more successful than Montas. He started his time in New York on the bereavement list and when he was able to return to the team, his career took a turn for the worse. Whether it is the constant New York media glare or something more, I’ll never know but he took 0-2 in wins and losses, an ERA of over seven and a WHIP over 1.50. These were not good days for the ex-Athletic.

However, encouragingly, none of the other starters fared as badly as Montas. Jameson Taillon allowed more walks and hits across his innings pitched in August, but somehow came away with an ERA which was better than 6 other pitchers who were sometimes on the roster.

Taillon also somehow gained 2 wins, whereas Nestor Cortes achieved none, but his pitching across the month was far, far better than Montas and Taillon. His WHIP was joint first amongst regular members of the roster, and first amongst the starters, coming in at 0.70.

Gerrit Cole didn’t have a bad month in terms of ERA and WHIP, but took 4 losses compared to just 1 win, and conceded way too many homers. He led the team in terms of strikeouts, but also in hits given up. A very mixed month for Cole.

Domingo German was regularly pressed into action with Luis Severino once again out injured. Indeed, he was the best of the regular starters this month. With the batters underperforming at the plate, he took only 2 wins in 6 starts and 3 non-decisions. His ERA was just over two and his WHIP just under one. A good month on a slumping team.

Clarke Schmidt took one start and one relief in August. His loss came in his less than five inning start. His win came in a 3 innings game earlier in the month against the Mets. It is difficult to know what his future role is and whether it will come at Yankee Stadium.

Relievers

Albert Abreu has had a most peculiar season. He started the season by leaving the Yankees, when the New York team needed a new second choice catcher with Ben Rortvedt injured. Jose Trevino came in, and you know the rest of that story. Having arrived at the Texas Rangers, he then moved to the Kansas City Royals before being placed on waivers and finding himself back at the Yankees. Abreu had periods of the season where he was very hot, but after a uneven July, it all fell apart in August. In 7 appearances, he took two losses and had an ERA approaching 8. His WHIP was also high and his standing amongst the Yankees’ relief corps fell dramatically.

Clay Holmes had been so outstanding for the Yankees during the first half of the season, that when Aroldis Chapman struggled with injury and loss of form, he was the obvious to replace the faltering closer. Holmes started in that role rather well, but then he began to struggle. By August, his ERA had gone through the roof – from an ERA of less than 1 for the first half of the season to a 6.75 ERA in the month of August.

Holmes and Abreu both went to the injured list, so perhaps their lack of peak performance was due to them carrying injuries.

Greg Weissert made his Yankees debut having been called up on the 25th of the month from Scranton (Triple-A). His Yankees’ career started in dire fashion. His debut saw him giving up 2 walks and 2 hits-by-pitch and only getting one out as 3 earned runs were surrendered from his pitching. His 2 later appearances saw him settle into his role and gain one win. Each appearance was for 2 innings and he gave up no hits and no runs – his ERA fell to a still very high 6.23. His WHIP at the end of the month was a remarkable 0.46. This one has potential.

Wandy Peralta has warmed to his role as the season has gone on. This month, he was among the better of the regularly used relievers. He was tied second amongst the relievers in game appearances with 12, with only new arrival Trivino making more appearance. His performances were solid if not overwhelming.

Aroldis Chapman who, as already mentioned. has struggled this season, refound his groove before having to go on the injured list again. This time, the Yankees were far less sympathetic. He had become ill after a recent (mid-season!) tattoo had become infected. His days as a Yankee are coming to an end.

Lucas Luetge was below his normal par, but his form was adequate compared to some others. Scott Effross arrived from the Chicago Cubs and also pitched to a relatively decent standard in 8 games.

Jonathan Loaisiga has had a very patchy season so far. He has struggled with injuries and when on the roster, he has struggled to refind his form. In August though, whilst almost everyone was losing their way, Loaisiga was very much on form. An ERA on the month of less than 2 and a WHIP of just over 1 made him one of the most essential of the bullpen members.

Ahead of Loaisiga in these rankings, Ron Marinaccio has had a tremendous time of it, when he has been on the Major League roster. This month, used in middle relief, he produced an ERA of 0.90 and a WHIP of 0.70. If the Yankees had more young pitchers like him, August would not have worked out the way it did.

One of the few of the Yankees’ deadline day signings that worked out in August was the already mentioned trade for Lou Trivino who was perhaps the minor part of the Montas deal. In 13 games, he did take two losses, but nothing much else went wrong for him.

Anthony Banda was acquired as a free agent on the 28th of the month and made one appearance by the end of August. He struggled with his strikezone but got out of the fixes he created. Whether this bit player has any kind of future with the Yankees remains to be seen.

Luke Bard was brought in from Tampa Bay, and bounced between Scranton and New York. He had spent parts of two months doing pretty well for the Rays before being found surplus to requirements. He pitched in one game for one inning, and as at Tampa Bay, he did well. Once more he found himself designated for assignment within 8 days. Not sure what he has to do to find an ongoing role and chance on a low budget team.