There is the old adage in sports of “next man up” when a team is faced with injuries to key players. We have seen this play out for the past couple of weeks with the Boston Celtics, Miami Heat and of course, your NY Yankees. Guys get hurt – it’s part of sports – and you hopefully have a deep bench to step in. The Celtics have been without Marcus Smart and Al Horford for key playoff games but have persevered into the NBA finals. They are a dangerous team and SU says a good match-up with the Golden State Warriors. This will be a fun series.

SU was rooting for the Miami Heat and found it interesting how Erik Spoelstra managed his roster and bench in the last two games. The rotation is certainly shortened in the playoffs vs. the regular season and you wonder if coaches ever have 2nd thoughts about who they played once the series or season is over. SU was disappointed that Duncan Robinson was almost completely taken out of the rotation for the playoffs over concerns that he was a liability on defense. You wonder what his prospects are going forward and the loss of confidence? I guess getting paid $18 million a year softens the blow.

And then we have the Yankees. SU has been warning for weeks that the offense is tenuous at best given how Judge and Stanton have carried the team. Stanton is now on the IL with a strained calf and who knows if that becomes a season long concern? Will they no longer even put him in the outfield? Donaldson is on the IL with a shoulder issue but truth be told, he has done little on offense this season. SU says the big concern is the outfield as you are doing to see Hicks and Gallo playing A LOT. Hicks is in an awful slump with RISP and look, we all see it. He has zero chance of getting a hit from the left side. He should no longer bat left-handed – you have to platoon him. Teams do the extreme shift and that just causes him to swing even harder into the shift. Yesterday, with 2 strikes, they put an infielder in the outfield and left the entire left side of the infield open. Hicks is at best a .230 hitter and should only bat right-handed from now on. Let him platoon with Andujar who has shown signs of life.

Gallo just needs to be designated for assignment. Cashman has made some good pick-ups in the bullpen and with the starting pitchers but Gallo was a mistake. Not a NY guy. He is now batting 9th and that is even too high in the order. SU notes that the Yankees do not seem to have any minor league outfielders who are ready for prime time. Florial got a shot but went hitless. Matt Carpenter is the DH fill-in and has looked OK. If Greg Bird was not the king of missed opportunities, he would have been a candidate but he has not shined as of yet in Scranton.

Loaisiga is hurt yet again and Chapman is also on the IL which is a relief. Cashman will go with a closer by committee when Chapman returns. Holmes is better this year but if a team keeps winning, you really need more than one closer. The Yankees are being carried by the starting pitchers but that won’t last. Someone will get hurt – they always do on the Yankees.

Bottom line: great to have a cushion and to be in 1st place obviously. But Cashman needs to look for mid-year talent for the offense if they are going to make a deep playoff run in 2022.

Finally, you may want to check out the French Open quarterfinals this week. Djokovic vs. Nadal, and this kid Alcaraz is the real deal. Interestingly, for the Nadal-Djokovic match, it may come down to when the match is played. A day time match favors Nadal and a higher bouncing ball in warm conditions. A night match favors Djokovic in slower conditions. Alcaraz has played more night matches than the others and wants a day time match. Amazon Prime is broadcasting the night matches apparently and they will surely want Nadal – Djokovic. Apparently, in the majors, the players submit their requests for when they want to play their matches in the late rounds. Interesting. SU says they will give the nod to Nadal for day-time given his career record.

And finally, finally, SU is not a fan of the MLB games being played on Apple TV and Amazon Prime. I mean how are you supposed to flip around to the different channels? Btw, if you follow along on mlb.com, there is about a 45-second to 1 -minute delay on Amazon for the game action. You may or may not want to try that.