The American League East Division has been interesting this year, particularly with the downfall of the Red Sox and dominating Orioles. However, the Rays and Yankees are not to be forgotten, as they're still fighting for playoff contention and looking toward the future.
The Rays sit 9 ½ games back of the final AL wild card spot with only September remaining. They're not dead yet, but they shouldn't get their hopes up at all. The team needs to figure out their future plan while they still fight for their postseason lives, and the issue is with outfielder Desmond Jennings right now. He's missed the last six games because of a sore left knee and hasn't felt any improvement since suffering the injury. Will the Rays rush him back to maximize their playoff chances?
It doesn't look like they'll be doing that. Joe Maddon has a number of outfielders to work with, including youngsters Wil Myers and Kevin Kiermaier. Myers missed two months this season due to a stress fracture in his wrist and returned in the middle of August. Kiermaier filled in during his absence and played well (.265 average with nine home runs and 32 RBIs in 275 at-bats). The team was hoping to get Myers some more playing time since he's only played 155 games since being called up last year. This might be their opportunity to give these two some solid time in September and build a young outfield for next year that features Jennings (if they can afford his arbitration), Myers and Kiermaier.
In New York, the Yankees sit 9 ½ games behind the Orioles for the division lead, but are only four games behind the Tigers for the final wild card spot. With a 71-66 record, the team is overachieving with a depleted starting rotation that lost CC Sabathia and Ivan Nova for the year along with Michael Pineda and Masahiro Tanaka for extended periods of time. Brian Cashman did an excellent job acquiring players (Brandon McCarthy, Chris Capuano) to fill in for those who were injured and deciding to stick with 25-year-old Shane Greene in the starting rotation.
Cashman also went on a spending spree in the offseason when he acquired Masahiro Tanaka ($155 million), Jacoby Ellsbury ($142 million), Brian McCann ($85 million) and Carlos Beltran ($45 million) in free agency. Tanaka has been out since July 8 with a partially torn UCL, but was one of the league's best pitchers prior to the injury. Ellsbury has been good, McCann has struggled a bit at the plate (but has solid power numbers) and Beltran has been dealing with a number of injuries. It was speculated that if the Yankees missed the playoffs, Cashman would be out of a job with New York, but reports have surfaced today that suggest otherwise.
"I don't see Cashman as being in any trouble at all,'' said a source with knowledge of the team's thinking, in this ESPN article. "But as far as I know, [Cashman's situation] has not been discussed yet. Those things normally are not addressed until after the season.''
There's still almost a month left in the season, so we'll see if the Yanks' performance will affect Cashman's job status.
