Around the Horn

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OK, we’re doing our WHY WE LOVE FOOTBALL promotion via video today so, you know, pretty easy to skip if you’d like to skip. There are four days left in the free JoeBlogs offer. Preorder the book from anywhere, including: * Today’s Independent bookstore: Thunder Road Books * Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Bookshop.org * Books-A-Million * Target And then fill out the form; be sure to include the same email address you use for JoeBlogs, and voila—I’ll give you three months free. On to other business! When Is a Slump a Slump? You probably know that Aaron Judge has not hit a home run since banging two of them on Aug. 25 against the Rockies. That’s 16 games ago, and over those 16 games, he’s hitting .207/.352/.359 and the Yankees are exactly .500 and have lost series to the Rangers, Cardinals and Nationals. The sane reaction to this is: Sure, OK, every hitter slumps. Heck, the first 27 games of this season, Judge hit just .178 with four home runs, and he looked pretty helpless. He then went on a 102-game run for the ages: He hit .377/.506/.944 with 47 home runs, 109 RBIs and 86 walks. Considering how the game has changed, that’s even BETTER than Barry Bonds in his prime. There’s nothing to see here. He’ll probably hit four homers tonight. Thing is… this is officially the longest homerless streak of Judge’s career. He had a 15-game homerless streak in 2017, his rookie season, and he had a couple of 14-game homerless streaks in 2018 and 2019. So it’s not exactly out of character… but it is a little bit longer. And look, with Judge, he’s 6-foot-7 and close to 300 pounds, he’s 32 years old, he’s playing centerfield most days, you do have to wonder if he’s a little bit worn out. The Yankees have not given him a day off since June 19 (though they do occasionally DH him). It’s never good to overreact—Judge has hit the ball pretty hard at times during this slump and, like I say, he might hit four home runs tonight. But, look, Yankees fans are well aware that he has not performed well in his last three postseasons—he’s hitting .143 with no doubles and five home runs in 77 plate appearances—and while the Yankees obviously want to win the division and get the bye (they’re now two games up over the slumping Orioles), what they need in October is a healthy and locked-in Aaron Judge. Just a reminder that JoeBlogs is a reader-supported newsletter, and I’d love and appreciate your support. And, of course, you can also like and share these posts with friends. That’s super-helpful, too. The Gift that Keeps on Giving It looks like the woman who is suing Deshaun Watson, alleging that he sexually assaulted her during a date in 2020, will meet with the NFL in the next couple of weeks. “I’ve personally never had confidence in the NFL’s disciplinary process,” her lawyer, Tony Buzbee, told ESPN, “but my client has chosen to engage in it.” Watson, through his attorney, has denied the allegations, denied even knowing about it, even though Buzbee’s team asserts that they have been trying to privately settle this lawsuit for 10 months. Browns coach Kevin Stefanski says Watson will definitely start on Sunday against Jacksonville, and that the 27th sexual misconduct complaint against Watson will not distract him or the team. “We concern ourselves with our opponent,” our guy Stefanski said. Gotcha. Pitch Values! I thought it would be fun to use Baseball Savant to look at the very best hitters in baseball against every pitch. So, here we go! Fastballs * Aaron Judge, .511 wOBA * Juan Soto, .488 wOBA * Joc Pederson, .469 wOBA * Mark Vientos, .438 wOBA * Brent Rooker, .437 wOBA Not too many surprises here—you don’t want to throw fastballs to the heart of the Yankees lineup, that’s for sure. I actually started this little section because I was noticing the way that Rooker DESTROYS fastballs. He’s doing it for Oakland, so almost nobody’s noticing, but Rooker is hitting .298/.370/.580 with 3