The Yankees have the worst record in the American League with only 5 wins on the season. At 5-10 this team has started off slow and it’s clear that they have looked like a bad team. Moreover, they have become unwatchable at the start of the season. Granted, many people underestimated the Blue Jays and the Rays, who the Yankees faced in 11 of their games thus far. However, the Yankees were considered the heavy favorites to win the AL East and the American League. This team looks like a last-place team and there are reasons to believe they might continue to struggle. There is reason to believe that the Yankees will turn things around but there are a lot of underlying concerns that are being exposed in the losses.
Starting Pitching is Cole and Everyone Else
The Yankees entered this season with the underlying question of whether their backend of the rotation would hold up. Simply, the Yankees entered this season returning their ace (Gerrit Cole) but losing three other key starting pitchers in Masahiro Tanaka, James Paxton, and J.A. Happ. Luis Severino has yet to return to the rotation, Domingo German has shown flashes but not enough to be fully confident, and Jordan Montgomery is still developing his pitching arsenal. This left the Yankees with the need to address the rotation by acquiring two starters of some variety.
The answer for the front office was Corey Kluber and Jamison Taillon. Both pitchers were coming off injuries to their throwing arms and were perceived as high risk but high reward. The risk has emerged early on. Both starters have become liabilities to start in the rotation and the fear is that none of the two will be able to turn a corner for the team moving forward. Aside from Kluber and Taillon, the entire rotation has struggled aside from Gerrit Cole, with Jordan Montgomery posting the 2nd best ERA on the team with a 4.24 earned run average. In a league that requires a good, if not great, rotation to make the playoffs, the Yankees have one viable starter.
The Yankees Have a Bad Fielding Infield
It can’t be stated enough, good fielding matters. There is genuine love in great fielders in analytical and traditional baseball minds alike. Many teams will only actively choose poor fielders if the given player is good enough at the plate to compensate (case in point, Eloy Jimenez). The problem for the Yankees is their infield with many of the fielders being inefficient at fielding their positions. It didn’t help that Luke Voit started the season on the Injured List, forcing DJ LeMahieu, a great fielding second or third baseman, to play first. The problems worsened with the continued struggles of Gleyber Torres at shortstop, then the lack of a second baseman.
Then the Yankees acquired Rougned Odor, this was a head-scratcher. For starters, Odor was likely going to be designated for assignment but the Yankees nonetheless, wanted to sign him before anyone else could. The second issue was obvious in Odor’s fielding. Aside from the stats showing Odor as one of the worst fielders in the game over the past few seasons, he has not looked good at all in the field. It’s possible that Odor can return to his promise that he showed in his early years in the majors but when you account for the prior struggles in the infield, this signing only made matters worse for the Yankees.
Then there is the risk the team runs with Gary Sanchez behind home plate. Sanchez has a great throw to second base but is terrible at blocking pitches in the dirt. With runners on base, it has essentially become suicide to throw any breaking pitches. This only further amplifies some of the fielding problems that already don’t need further exposure.
The Batting Order Has Lived and Died by the Homer
This is where any Yankee fan can and should have optimism that the team can start winning again. The entire batting order is in a slump, at one time. This rarely happens and it’s mind-blowing to see how the entire Yankees order can’t hit to start the season. For the Yankees in particular, the struggles pile on to each other as the order lives and die by the home run ball. The Yankees can’t build a rally because nobody is getting on base. Nobody is getting on base because everyone is swinging for the fences. Nobody wants to swing for contact because there is a lack of confidence in the rest of the order of making contact. Moreover, aside from DJ LeMahieu, the entire order is swinging for the fences.
The solution isn’t for the team to suddenly shorten their swings. Likewise, the solution isn’t to hit against the shift or suddenly play small-ball. It’s possible that many of the hitters need to follow Aaron Judge’s lead and work counts rather than aggressively hack at pitches out of the strike zone. It’s also possible that the team needs to be contempt with taking walks and getting runners on the base paths. In the end, the Yankees are going to have to be patient and eventually play out of the slump. After all, it is possible that the cold weather is just preventing many fly balls from clearing the fences in Yankee Stadium.
