Perspectives: Friday Morning

by Paul Semendinger

April 5, 2024

***

Well, here we are. Two series into 2024 and it's a Friday morning following the team's first off-day. I have plenty of thoughts:

• The Yankees are 6-1 after 7 games?! Amazing. And these were not easy opponents. I want the Yankees to win, always, but even in my wildest dreams, I didn't think they would go 6-1 to begin the year.
  

• A team can ride a great start all the way to a World Championship like the Detroit Tigers did in 1984. It's too early for that kind of thinking, but if this can continue for a while, the Yankees will be in excellent shape.
  

• Of course, the 2022 Yankees got off to a great start and then crashed and burned. This team doesn't seem anything like that squad.
  

• I would love to know the impact that Brad Ausmus and James Rowson, two coaches with long histories in the game and a good deal of Major League experience, have on the team. It is so wonderful that after all these years, the Yankees finally brought in experienced coaches. (Maybe they've been reading my articles here and finally saying, "You know, he's right...")
  

• Giancarlo Stanton looks awful. His new batting stance looks more awkward than before. As a productive player, he's done. I'm not happy about that. I wanted Stanton to be great. But he no longer is. This is clear. We have seen this clearly for long enough to know that he cannot hit good pitchers any longer. The Yankees should not be expecting him to turn it around nor should they be giving him chances to do so batting in the middle of the order.
  

• Anthony Volpe looks like a completely different player this year than last. To use a Rocky III reference, he has the "eye of the tiger." He looks like he belongs. Last year I never got that sense.
  

• I wanted Volpe batting ninth to start the year. He's proving me wrong. I am almost ready, give it a week or two more, to say he should be batting leadoff. I didn't expect this so soon. I'm not ready to proclaim he deserves to be the lead-off hitter, yet, but he is making a believer out of me.
  

• If Stanton has to play, this line-up is vastly superior to what we've seen to date:

  • Volpe

  • Soto

  • Judge

  • Rizzo

  • Torres

  • Verdugo

  • Stanton

  • Wells

  • Cabrera/Berti
    

• So many are so excited about Jasson Dominguez. Hype is great. Excitement is great. But, we do not know, at all, if he'll be ready to be a big leaguer this year, let along an outfielder. He had Tommy John surgery. His throwing arm might not be ready for prime time in 2024. Everyone should calm their expectations. The Yankees need to let the kid develop. If he spends 2024 in the minor leagues to build back his strength and hone his skills, that would be fine.
  

• Thank goodness Aaron Judge had a good day. Alex Verdugo after that big homer on Wednesday, was almost going to get uniform number 99.
  

• I have been spending a ton of time on the book about the Battle of Gettysburg that I am writing. I am taking an approach that no one has done before. The research is long and exacting. The other day I finished the first draft of the chapter on Major-General Abner Doubleday. Yes. Him. He might not have invented baseball, even if the baseball field in Cooperstown is named for him, but he did help save the Union Army at Gettysburg. I particularly like this line from my manuscript, "In the end, Abner Doubleday is known for something he probably did not do (invent baseball) while he is not remembered as he should be for what he actually did do (saved the Union Army, multiple times, at Gettysburg.)"
  

• Last week I promised an article in response to the feedback on my Aaron Judge article regarding him playing centerfield in 2024. That article will come, but we've been focused on so much good, it seems a bit out-of-place right now. Patience, dear readers, as they say, is a virtue.
  

• Let's Go Yankees!