Baseball has long been a sport where one player cannot carry an entire team.
Nothing to show for it in terms of team success, right?
The Braves won their most recent World Series title without Ronald Acuna.
The sport makes no sense sometimes.
They are realistically a .400-.500 at best team without 99 in the lineup and in the field.
When Judge is in the lineup they score 5 runs a game.
When he’s missing games they score 3.4 runs a contest.
It’s an unwatchable brand of baseball.
They go down and they just die.
This came off losing two of three at the stadium the previous weekend to the same Boston team.
They’ll tell you straight up this is not a good Red Sox team.
The stats and record back it up.
They were nearly swept by the lowly Rockies in Boston earlier in the week for crying out loud.
That Sox team pretty easily won 5 of 6 against the Yankees in the last 10 days.
That’s unacceptable and embarrassing.
Vets Gone Missing
So let’s talk through the issues.
We’ll start with the veterans.
Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Rizzo, DJ LeMahieu, and Josh Donaldson are giving you absolutely nothing right now.
That right there is the main problem.
Those guys not carrying the load as a group is inexcusable.
Giancarlo Stanton has had nothing to offer since coming off the IL.
Also why did he have zero minor league rehab build up coming off the injury?
Moving on, Josh Donaldson has no business being on the team right now.
His average is down to .151 on the season and the at bats Sunday night were dreadful.
For Christ’s sake the guy got picked off at first.
What is Josh Donaldson doing getting picked off?
Get off the team dude.
And there’s DJ LeMahieu.
This one hurts to look at.
Through 93 games last year DJ had a triple slash of .286/.388/.429 which is good for an .817 OPS.
I’d kill for those numbers right now in the middle of this order.
Here was his savant page.
Red is great, blue is bad.
Not too bad, huh?
Here’s 2023 with him being fully healthy from what we understand.
Going from the 93% k percentile to 26% is jarring.
If you watch DJ’s at bats you’re witnessing a shell of a man.
Here are his exit velos month by month.
It’s not happening with any of them and we’re seeing the very bleak results.
Anthony Volpe
Okay fine let’s talk Volpe even though he is far from this team’s biggest issue.
The kid is struggling and struggling doesn’t really do it justice.
Well, it’s mid-June and the progression isn’t there.
He struggles with elevated pitches and frequently looks overmatched.
He has moments, but not enough to outweigh the struggles.
The only other viable option was Oswald Peraza who Volpe unquestionably beat out in the Spring.
It was the clear and right decision.
Doesn’t make the adjustment period any easier.
He currently sits at a .614 OPS with a measly .189 batting average.
His glove has been average I’d say.
There have been routine balls botched, but also outstanding plays to counter.
He’s for sure an upgrade over IKF, but that’s not saying much.
Long term he most likely projects as a 2nd baseman with his arm.
So what do you do with Volpe?
Don’t lose all your faith and hope in the kid because of this slow start.
That being said we need production from any and all spots right now in the order.
Maybe through a large sample size that brings good results.
Listen not everyone is Elly De La Cruz.
He found his stride late and helped the Astros win the World Series.
Volpe doesn’t have that luxury unfortunately.
My point is just that he can very easily come around here with time.
Most Yankee fans just don’t have that patience, and I don’t blame them.
They believe he’ll get comfortable and the results will be what we want.
I wouldn’t waste your energy pushing for him to go down.
Now here’s what can switch up.
Oswald Peraza deserves a legitimate opportunity with this team.
What you get with him is a premier defensive infielder with a good bat.
Small sample size, but he looked all the part of a major leaguer in that month.
Again, based on what Hal, Boone, etc.
have said, I just don’t see it happening.
In a perfect world Giancarlo doesn’t swallow up the DH spot and you DH Gleyber a ton.
That frees up 2nd, allowing you to throw Volpe there and the stronger defender in Peraza at short.
That scenario doesn’t exist, but it’s nice to jot down out.
Donaldson just has to go.
You saw how long it took for him to bail on Aaron Hicks.
The same with Gary Sanchez.
Well, how about Donaldson?
He’s a free agent at the end of the year so it’s just 2023 money.
He’s not helping.
Wake up, admit your error, and move on.
Another issue potentially is this asshole, Yankees hitting coachDillon Lawson.
Now hitting coaches are not necessarily the root of a team’s offensive issues.
Just a bunch of nothing.
Blah, blah, blah.
No wonder he didn’t notice Volpe had deviated from his stance in the minors over these 2.5 months.
I love Matt Blake.
How fucked are we actually?
I just wrote a whole lot of words to explain the ongoing problem.
In short, the season’s life hinges on when Aaron Judge returns.
He’s that much of a difference maker.
From what the reports have said that return date likely is right after the All Star Break.
That’s all this organization is banking on.
They view the baseball playoffs as a crapshoot.
Just get into the dance and anything can happen.
Realistic Outlook
Realistically nothing changes until the Brian Cashman-Aaron Boone regime is done with.
We’ve got infielders playing the outfield trying to plug and play until the big guns get back.
There’s bad contract after bad contract scattered all over the place.
It’s all just sad.
I’m tired of being sad and sad of being tired.
