The Yankees greatly improved their rotation and got a win over the Tigers on Monday

The Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 7–3, on Monday night at Yankees Stadium in the first game of the series.

Judge has struggled recently with a .190 average (4–21) in his last six games, but the fact that he got on base three times on Monday and hit a homer is a positive sign.

Todd Frazier had a two RBI single in the fourth inning to give the Yankees a 4–1 lead. Also in the 4th inning, Chase Headley hit a double to deep right center to score Judge and Gary Sanchez. Headley, who had three hits overall, is now .391 in his last 19 games. He has nine multi-hit games in his last 19 games and has raised his average from .247 to .274 in that span, and he had a very impressive .333 average during the month of July

Aroldis Chapman came in after Jonathan Holder was ineffective to begin the 9th and got the last two outs of the game. He was able to finish off the team’s seventh win in their last eight games and help the team stay half a game ahead of the Red Sox for first place in the AL East.

After struggling in early July and late June, Chapman has been pitching much better as of late. The 29-year-old closer with the fastest average velocity has allowed only one run and struck out 10 in his last 9.2 innings pitched (9 games). He has recorded four saves and two wins in that span.

Fowler was expendable because of the depth the Yankees have in the outfield and Mateo was worth including in the trade because Cashman is selling high on him and the team still has Torres, Didi Gregorius, Starlin Castro and Andujar ahead of him in the infield. Mateo and also Fowler likely would not have had a significant roles with the Yankees at the major league level based on the players that are already ahead of them.

Gray brings to the Yankees an established №2 starting pitcher. This season he has a 3.43 ERA in 97.0 innings with 94 strikeouts, 30 walks, eight homers allowed, a .229 batting average against and a 1.18 WHIP in 16 starts. He has been even better in his last six starts and has showed how valuable his addition can be as he has an outstanding 1.37 ERA with 36 strikeouts and nine walks in that span.

The Nashville native has thrown at least six innings in 12 of his 16 starts, which proves how the Yankees can rely on him to pitch deep into games. He has also allowed two runs or fewer in 10 of his 16 starts.

Gray will be able to give the Yankees a true №2 starter behind Luis Severino, who has emerged as an ace. He was drafted in the first round by the Athletics in 2011 out of Vanderbilt University and has a career ERA of 3.42, which would be better if not for his injury plagued 2016 campaign when he had a 5.69 ERA.

The 5'10" righty proved that is a solid №2 and even possibly a №1 before the 2016 season. He had a 3.08 ERA in 33 starts in his second season and in 2015 he was an he finished with a dominant 2.73 ERA in 31 starts (208.0 innings) with 169 strikeouts, 59 walks, two shutouts, a career-low 2.6 walks/9 and a very good 1.082 WHIP. In 2015, he was an All-Star and finished third in Cy Young voting.

Brian Cashman was able to add Todd Frazier, David Robertson, Tommy Kahnle, Jaime Garcia and Sonny Gray before the trade deadline. This was an excellent haul by the Yankees since they very much improve their roster in their push for the playoffs and will improve the team in the next few seasons as well. The organization still has plenty of promising prospects including Gleyber Torres, Estavan Florial, Justus Sheffield, Clint Frazier, Chance Adams, Dillon Tate, Miguel Andujar, Domingo Acevedo, Albert Abreu and Nick Solak.

Gray is under cost effective team control through the 2019 season, which is an added bonus since he is established successful pitcher in his prime and the Yankees could have had two open rotation spots going into next season without him. The Yankees also got 1.5 million in international signing pool money, which could help them sign Japanese star Shohei Otani in the offseason.

GM Brian Cashman decided go for it this season as the team has done better than expected. This move could push the team to win the AL East and possibly go to the ALCS and World Series since the rotation was their weakest link with Michael Pineda’s injury. Gray gets a lot of ground balls and has success in the postseason as he had a 2.08 ERA in two starts in the 2013 ALDS.

Tanaka has a 5.09 ERA this season but has pitched better of late. In July, the righty had a 3.82 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP and in his previous start he only allowed one run and two hits while striking out 14 in eight innings against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Gray, Severino, Tanaka and Sabathia, who has a 3.66 ERA after allowing two runs or less in eight of his last 10 starts, will give the Yankees a very dangerous rotation going down the stretch of the season and one that will be able to match up favorably with other rotations in the American League.

“Billy (Beane) and I have stayed in touch and have certainly worked through a lot of ideas,” Cashman said. “In the end, this is what was workable for both sides. We lost three high quality players that will be missed. They are hard to place. We are proud of the development of those players from our system. We are proud of the selection of those players both internationally and in the amateur draft.”

Matteo was signed as an international free agent as a teenager and Fowler and Kaprielian were selected in the amateur draft.

“They have provided tremendous value, and they are going to have I think tremendous careers. Injuries not withstanding to Kaprielian and Fowler right now, but it was a tough decision to make,” Cashman said. But we were dealing for an area where we had a need, and there was a vacancy. Sonny Gray is controleable for the next 2.5 years, so we felt it was a risk worth taking.

Cashman went on to say that they are excited by Gray and Garcia’s additions to the team. They are sure to make the rotation and by extension the bullpen even more potent.

“We are excited by his addition, Garcia’s addition, and look forward to them blending in with the rest of the guys we have,” Cashman said. “We have a nice feel in that clubhouse. Those guys are battlers. They are talented and adding people like that to that mix should make us better.”

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