"Oh no, here we go again," said YES Announcer David Cone after the Minnesota Twins scored two quick runs in about 25 pitches against Yankee starter Jordan Montgomery in the first inning of the three game stint. The Yankees have lost 10 of the last 13 games and are rapidly falling in the standings. I think we have all been saying this, but let's repeat it. The Yankees need to do more than rely on lofty home runs and a robust bullpen. Their assessment of fundamentals is Needs Improvement on the likert scale. Let's take a look a little closer at the issues plaguing this team.
I think Bryan Hoch really nailed things down nicely in his assessment of the Yankees in his most recent article in the newsletter Yankee Beat on Tuesday. "Scoring runs was never supposed to be a problem for this team, which was lauded as one of the American League’s most promising offensive juggernauts. The Yankees talked about regaining their standing as “savages” this spring, their code word for controlling the zone and making opponents throw hittable pitches, then passing the baton to the next batter if they didn’t see anything they liked. Any of the recent games serve as evidence that it has not worked out the way we predicted in Spring Training," said Hoch.
I think we would all agree, that starting pitching and consistency of Aaron Judge at the plate have been the Yankees at their finest for the latter part of May, but June has been nothing short of disastrous. Specifically, Hoch calls out these three shifts the Yankees need to make to turn this thing around.
As much as I hate to say it, there needs to be a change in centerfield. With Aaron Hicks out, Mike Tauchman traded to San Francisco, the Yankees need to bring in a center fielder who can hit with consistency and throw out runners instead of hitters testing Brett Gardner's arm in the outfield. Whether the Yankees bring someone up or trade for someone stronger, the center field position is clearly an exposed weakness for the Yankees.
Hoch is calling for DJ LeMahieu to start igniting his inner Derek Jeter. LeMahieu needs to get that "inside-out, Derek Jeter-like swing that peppers the ball with authority to right-center field" going if the Yankees are going to get going. Currently, the Yankees Le Machine is hitting well below his average for this time of year. He gets going, and the Bombers get going.
Finally, it comes down to laying off the mental errors and getting back to the basics. "We’d love to see the Yankees play a smarter, more fundamental brand of baseball, cutting down on the unnecessary outs on the basepaths – Gary Sánchez has been a principal offender in this recent stretch. The Yanks have made 28 outs on the bases this season, most in the Majors and nearly twice the league average." Add the double-plays, and lack of home runs, the Yankees are set up for disaster.
This is the Yankee assessment we need to hear, or rather the team needs to hear and start taking the feedback to heart. The Yankees will go nowhere this season if these fundamental changes do not happen. It does not matter if Gerrit Cole wins 20 games or Giancarlo Stanton miraculously hits 50 home runs. If the Yankees do not play good baseball day after day, the anomalies of one or two guys are not going to make up for it.
--Suzie Pinstripe
I don't see consistency happening with this group. Tampa Bay is legit & they don't let up. The gap will absolutely widen by the All-Star break.The Yankees will be at least 10 games out by the Deadline.
ReplyDeleteIt's time to accept that the Yankees will be sellers, not buyers. It's time to accept that a teardown is in order and unfortunately it starts with Brian Cashman, Aaron Boone being let go. An actual baseball staff needs to be brought in.
That means letting go of most of the analytics kids with their iPads. Real baseball people need to be making decisions, not teeny boppers who subscribe to fan graphs.
Hal Steinbrenner has let himself be influenced by this culture and he needs to rip it down or we're going to be looking at a serious championship dry spell, one that could become the worst in franchise history.
Hal Steinbrenner needs to act NOW, Not wait like a spineless wimp until the offseason. Brian Cashman needs to go.
Once the Yankees rid themselves of the Puppet Master, a real manager, a real baseball person, will be able to impact the flow of the game and all the little things will begin to improve because he'll yank people who don't play fundamentally sound baseball and he will sit them, demote them or release them if it continues.
A culture of professionalism starts with defense. We look at the most recent Yankees dynasty and it was defense that was at the core of it. Defense & doing the little things well.
The Yankees have a number of potentially very good prospects who are all a very long ways from impacting the major league club. Therefore, that group of players should be augmented with a number of mid-level prospects. The farm system needs to be reinvigorated and the Yankees need to offload anyone and everyone who could help other teams as the deadline approaches.
What people don't want to hear is that it's time for a total and complete reset - but don't take it from me. Look in the mirror at the Deadline. Tampa Bay will have already locked up the division by then and the chances of the Yankees becoming a wildcard team will have grown so slim that the Yankees reflection should be all you need to see. Remember, you are what your record says you are.
Also folks, Garrett Whitlock is a perfect example of how bad the kids with the iPads are at telling Cashman what to do. He has a 1.61 ERA sitting in the middle of the Red Sox bullpen this season and by next year he'll be starting for them.
ReplyDeleteSeriously HAL, THIS HAS TO STOP AND YOU NEED TO STOP IT!!!
Cashman literally gave him away to their most bitter rival -- free of charge! That's how awful he is at making pitching decisions.
The Yankees are so bad on the base paths and so bad at moving runners that they've become unwatchable. That's on Boone btw.
Any real leader, any real baseball guy would step in and pull the plug & go off. They would send a strong message and they would take action to get better trusted advisors in place.
The problem is Hal. He wouldn't know a baseball person if they autographed his you know what.
How many championships have the kids with the iPads won for the Yankees? ZERO
ReplyDeleteThe Yankee way has been thrown a-way.