Yankees Look Like Chumps, Not Champs
There were such high hopes. The Yankees looked great on paper before the start of the 2019 season. A loaded lineup. A flame-throwing bullpen. And a pretty solid rotation. This was a team that looked ready to finally return to the World Series. And then the season began …
Yeah, I know. They have suffered an extremely large amount of injuries over this very young season: CC Sabathia, Didi Gregorious, Luis Severino, Dellin Betances, Aaron Hicks, Giancarlo Stanton, Miguel Andujar and, now, Troy Tulowitzki (I mean, who could have seen that coming?) are all on the IL.
However, in Yankee land, there is no room for excuses. The Bombers should still have the organizational depth to beat the likes of the Baltimore Orioles and the Detroit Tigers, two of the worst teams in all of baseball. Instead, they sit at 2-4, looking like prospective chumps instead of champs.
The pitching has actually been good enough to keep them in games (Aroldis Chapman’s meltdown on Tuesday notwithstanding). But when every position player looks like they’re swinging for the fences instead of trying to put the ball in play, you can’t expect to win games. You can’t hit a three-run home run with no one on base. You need to move runners over and create chances … play a little small-ball while some of the big boppers are out. Instead, the Yankees struck out 18 times on Wednesday in 35 plate appearances. That’s one K for every 1.94 trips. Downright embarrassing.
The Yankees scored a grand total of five runs in the three games against a hapless Tigers. Oh, they had their chances. But their failure to convert with runners in scoring position is truly unacceptable for a team of this caliber even with all the injuries they’ve sustained.
And then there are the errors. On Wednesday, catcher Gary Sanchez committed his fourth throwing error in five games. Aaron Judge killed a rally in the same game when he got hit on the foot by a Gleyber Torres grounder. Bad break, sure, but bad is the only thing happening in the Bronx right now.
I get it. It’s a long season. There are ebbs and flows. Injuries happen. However, no one is going to feel sorry for the Bombers. No one is going to make excuses for a team with this much talent that can’t even eke out a series at home against the dregs of baseball. The Yankees need to figure it out soon before they dig themselves into a hole they can never climb out of.
