Yankees Mailbag: Backup breaking points and early standings

Q: What is Randal Grichuk's current status with the Yankees?

Randal Grichuk is struggling to make an impact and may be at risk of losing his spot when Anthony Volpe returns.

Q: How do early MLB standings affect playoff predictions?

Early standings can be misleading, as teams often fluctuate in performance, but a poor start can make it difficult to recover.

Q: Which teams are currently underperforming in the MLB?

Teams like the Mets, Phillies, and Astros are currently underperforming, with the Astros facing injury challenges.

Q: What factors contribute to a team's success in the early MLB season?

A team's ability to avoid a poor start and capitalize on hot streaks is crucial for success in the early MLB season.

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 13: Hitting coach, James Rowson #82 talks with Randal Grichuk #34 of the New York Yankees before the game against the Los Angeles Angels at Yankee Stadium on April 13, 2026 in New York, New York. (Photo by New York Yankees/Getty Images) | Getty Images Good afternoon everyone, it’s time to dive back into the mailbag and answer some of your questions. Remember to send in your questions for our weekly call by e-mail to **pinstripealleyblog [at] gmail [dot] com**. *Cisforcookie asks:* **Is Grichuk the odd man out when Volpe returns with Rosario and Cabby both “able” to play in the OF?** He’s in the hot seat, that’s for sure. Randal Grichuk hasn’t delivered in his limited time on the field thus far, failing to make much of a difference in the Yankees’ “lefty killer” lineup that they’ve deployed more recently when faced with a southpaw starter. His Statcast page shows a hitter who is getting a little unlucky on the field, with high percentages of barreled balls and an average exit velo of 90 mph, but that means very little when the sample size is as small as it has been for Grichuk and the actual results are what they are. Being the last-minute addition to the roster and failing to provide a reason to consistently get more chances gives the Yankees an easy out if they so choose. However, Grichuk is far from the only struggling Yankee in a limited role. J.C. Escarra hasn’t held down the backup catcher role well either, and Paul Goldschmidt is a backup whose main value appears to be a mentorship role more than anything else (more on him in a minute). On top of that, while and “technically” qualify as outfielder options, I’m sure the team would be a lot more comfortable with a tried and true regular outfielder serving as the backup. Similarly, while takes the lion’s share of starts at first and deserves them all with how hot his bat has been this year, but the team hasn’t tested his versatility behind the plate yet. The choice likely comes down to whether they like their chances with Rice serving as a backup catcher or one of the infielders covering a corner, and I’m 50-50 on which one of those is the route they’ll take. It’d be an easier one to make if Rice had played catcher at all this year, as I lean towards letting Grichuk ride things out a bit longer and sending Escarra down, but perhaps the team would rather their budding star not take on the wear and tear that the position holds. The clock is ticking though, and I imagine it’ll be between one of those two when the time comes to go to the chopping block. *ReadingYankee asks:* **It feels a bit early in the season to look at these division rankings and say this is how it is going to be. I mean, it’s not even 30 games. However, do these numbers really just represent who is good now and who no longer is, despite what we all predicted to be the case? (I.E. and ) Are we really looking at the division races right now in the way they will play out by the end of the summer? Or do these current rankings tend to change a whole lot from this point in the season? What tends to be the case from this point forward?** There’s plenty of time for variance, and the leaders in several divisions will likely flip-flop throughout the summer as teams get hot and start to break away from this conglomerate we’re seeing currently. That being said, the one thing you want to avoid is an ice-cold April, because it’s very easy to get buried and never catch all the way back up. Taking a look at last year’s standings on this date, it was clear to see that some teams like the Twins (9-16 at the time), Braves (10-14), and (10-14) were in far worse straits than anticipated, and those teams all ended up out of the playoff picture entirely. That’s without even touching the teams we knew were bad and turned out terrible, like last year’s and , but the Mets and Phillies treading water in the territory that those teams were in currently is a terrible sign. , , and all look like they belong in that similar category, though Houston is besieged by injuries while the other two are just plain playing bad. There’s the occasional team that can pull themselves out of an early tailspin, a la the 2019 Nats, but even setting their miraculous rise aside the odds of surviving being nearly double-digits games behind by the end of the first month are dire. The exceptions are few and far between, and it’s far easier to blow a big lead than surpass a monumental deficit with so many other teams chasing in-between. *The idiot that said, “Harper is coming” asks:* **Paul Goldschmidt and are doing their best to test the “batting average is not an important statistic” theory, each posting an identical .125 BA as of 4/23. McMahon is obviously going to get the longer leash of the two, but how long a leash are we talking? Should they at least be searching the market now to set up for a later deal? Is there any chance Lombard might be in their plans down the road this season? Is Rosario just gonna be the main guy?** McMahon is finding his footing at third again, looking more and more like the sharp defensive wizard that the team acquired him to be. That alone can carry him far, as long as the offense at least nominally improves. Goldschmidt is the tougher tell, because his limited role in the offense is two-fold: on one hand, it means less if he’s struggling if he isn’t expected to play a significant amount of games, but on the other hand it means it’s going to be even harder for him to get out from under the slump. Goldschmidt started 2025 off on the right foot, but as he ceded playing time he lost more and more from his bat, and it hasn’t looked any better now in 2026. It’s all well and good that he’s a mentor to Rice, and the first baseman has certainly looked a lot more comfortable at the position with the former MVP now actively assisting his development as opposed to competing with him for the starting gig, but how far can a player on the active roster drift into coach status before the team has to make a decision to benefit the overall roster? We talked about where Lombard’s ETA stands, so I won’t dwell on the topic too long, but that isn’t an imminent decision forcing a roster crunch. At best, if Lombard stands out that well all season and the deadline acquisitions the Yankees could make don’t look appealing enough, I could see the move being made, but that’s a lot of qualifiers that have to occur for a bat that’s still in Double-A and yet to see Triple-A. Rosario has impressed in his role and earned a bit more starting time than I imagine the Yankees envisioned for him out of the gate, so trusting in him seems like the short-term solution while they monitor McMahon and the platoons that they’ve built into this lineup. If we’re still talking about McMahon as an automatic out by this time in May, then the conversation drifts towards shaking things up, but if he can pull himself back into the 80-range wRC+ hitter he’s been for most of his career that’ll play.