by Paul Semendinger
July 25, 2023
***
Well, the Yankees played a team that wasn't the Royals and... they got crushed 9-3.
Pete Alonso hit two homers.
Domingo German wasn't perfect, unless you're a Mets fans, and then he was pretty close to the perfect thing your team needed.
Even with a three-game sweep of the Royals, the Yankees are 3-5 over their last eight games.
News Flash - It Is Over. The Yankees are not a good baseball team. They haven't been a good baseball team in a long time.
Remember how "Rizzo is back"? Well, he followed up his four-hit game with an 0-for-5.
Remember how "Stanton is back"? Since the four homers over four games, he's batting .161.
Supposedly, the Yankees plan to get Aaron Judge back in the lineup by the weekend. Hummmmm..... the same team that is so cautious with "load management" is going to rush back their $40 million superstar... for what?
Supposedly, the Yankees are going to wait a few days before they determine if they're buyers or sellers. Really? Do they watch the games? Have they seen this team for the last year? Even if the Yankees go 7-0 over the next week, that really doesn't prove anything. (We call that a small sample size.)
Jake Bauers is at .218.
Anthony Volpe is at .210.
On and on...
Remember how Harrison Bader was the real deal? He's at .249. (He also collided with Jake Bauers on a fly ball and he made an error. Serious question - has anyone seen an outfielder run into a teammate more times than Harrison Bader? It seems to happen all the time.)
Remember how Domingo German had figured it out? He has a 4.77 ERA on the year.
The bullpen pitched three innings and gave up three runs. The Yankees' bullpen is running on fumes right now. The bullpen hid a lot of the team's flaws in the first half. It can't hide them any longer.
A smart franchise would know all of this. A smart team would be building for the future.
The Yankees will try to sell the fans that they have a chance. They don't.
Sure, they might grab the last Wild Card spot - that's what they want. "See we were a success!"
But, note, right now the Yankees are three games out of the Wild Card. Take further note, the Angels, Mariners, and Guardians are all within three games (or fewer) of the Yankees. Across all of baseball, there are 14 teams with better records than the Yankees. 14. The Yankees are in 15th place in the MLB. Yup. That's what they are. They are not a championship team.
The reality is this was a poorly constructed team that has played lifeless baseball for a long time. If the Yankees stay the course, they'll be back in 2024 with a very similar roster. (Spoiler Alert - This team will be worse in 2024 as the roster gets older, more fragile, and less athletic.)
The analytical way of doing things clearly is not working. Since BC was allowed to go all in on analytics starting in 2020, the question really is, are the Yankees closer today to a WS appearance than they were at the end of 2019? In my opinion, NO FLIPPIN' WAY!!! For me, its not just the analytics, even though that is the main cause for so many different offshoot reasons and ways. It's also how they run guys through their minor league system. It's the way they look at rehab assignments. New strength & conditioning staff was brought in before 2020, and they still have as many soft tissue injuries, aches & pains. Too many non medical people are maki…
There's only one stat the Steinbrenner clan cares about: what was the attendance? Unless and until they start seeing oceans of empty seats, unless and until they start seeing thousands of season ticket cancellations for 2024, nothing will change. What's needed is new ownership. After 50 years of Steinbrenners, with this generation running things, enough!