Aaron Boone broke down some of the key decisions made ahead of the Yankees' Game 1 meeting with the Boston Red Sox in the Wild Card round….
Why Warren cracked the roster
Will Warren won’t be needed as a starter during this best-of-three series with the division rival Sox, but the Yanks still elected to leave him on the 26-man roster.
Boone expects that he could be used in a number of different roles during this set.
“There’s some pockets where he could be really effective for us,” the skipper said. “It might be in the short-verse, it might be in the situation where we need some length from him, it might be in extra innings where you’re out of pitching and you have to roll.
“He’s pitched really effectively for us all year. He’s on his fourth day today so most of the series he should be in pretty good shape to be able to give us whatever we need.”
The 26-year-old pitched to a 4.44 ERA and 1.37 WHIP while making a career-high 33 starts this season.
He has just one big-league appearance out of the bullpen to this point.
Goldy gets the start over Rice
Ben Rice has been red hot, but Boone elected to sit him in favor of Paul Goldschmidt with ace southpaw Garrett Crochet taking the bump in the series opener.
Though Yanks fans would love to see the sweet-swinging Rice in there, Boone says it was an easy call turning to the veteran Goldschmidt, who has a .981 OPS against lefties this year.
“Goldy is going to play against every lefty we face,” he said. “Ben is obviously a huge part of our offense and is having a phenomenal year and he’s been hot, but part of that is he’s faced the people he should be facing.
“He’ll be back in there tomorrow against [Brayan] Bello, and obviously we have a really good chip over there sitting on the bench to use in a big spot as well.”
Rice finished with 26 homers and a .836 OPS during his breakout season.
Chisholm good to go
Jazz Chisholm is in the clear after leaving the season finale following a tough hit-by-pitch on the left forearm.
Like Rice, though, he is sitting in the series opener with the tough southpaw on the mound.
Amed Rosario, who has great numbers in his career against Crochet, jumps into the lineup in his place.
Boone didn't rule out turning to Chisholm early if the opportunity were to arise, though.
“I wouldn’t hesitate to use Jazz, he could be in this game early,” he said. “But yeah, as tough as Crochet is, he has been especially tough on lefties this year. There really is no good matchup, but Amed has good history with him, he’s hit him well and has faced him a lot this year.
"We just wanted to get another right-handed bat in there, but Jazz is good to go and he’ll be ready.”
Rosario is 6-for-9 with a homer in his career against Crochet.
He hit .298 with a .336 OBP and .800 OPS versus lefties this season.
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