by SSTN Admin
April 10, 2023
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This week we asked our writers to respond to the following:
"For this week's Tuesday Discussion please share one thing you are pleased with regarding the 2023 Yankees, and, if you have one, a concern thus far."
Here are their responses:
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James Vlietstra - This year the lineup 1-6 has been productive and the bottom third includes catcher and shortstop, who just so happens to have an electric skill set I expect to see on display.
My biggest fear so far is that only Cole has gotten outs beyond the fifth inning. This will eventually put a strain on the pitching staff. Fatigue and injuries could rear their ugly heads down the road.
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Mike Whiteman - I am very pleased with the Yankees' aggressiveness on the bases in 2023. They currently are fifth in MLB in stolen bases, and their current pace would total almost 200 steals over the course of the season.
I am concerned about the team's ability to stay healthy. The team has adjusted well to the loss of Rodon, Severino, and Bader, adding any more to this list would severely test the team's depth.
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Lincoln Mitchell - Only nine games into the season, I am pleased about many things, but two are foremost. First, Giancarlo Stanton seems to be hitting and spending more time in the outfield. Stanton is a key player on this team. The Yankees plan is based on Stanton still being an impact slugger. Thus far this season he has shown that he still an be that player. Without Stanton, the Yankees offense is Aaron Judge and a bunch of good players who don’t really scare anybody.
Second, the starting pitching has been generally very good. Brito has been a great surprise, but Cortes and Cole have been excellent as well. I see this as potentially fantastic pitching rotation once Severino and Rodon get healthy.
My first area of concern is the bullpen. It has been ok, but there needs to be some improvement there. My fear is that the Yankees do something stupid like trade Peraza for a middle reliever because they are worried about the bullpen. My second concern is that they don’t give Anthony Volpe enough time. He is struggling a bit at the plate, but he is helping the team on the bases and with his glove. I would like to see him out there for at least another month or so. The Yankees are not good at developing position players-Aaron Judge is the big exception. I would hate to see them fail to turn another top prospect into a good player. Volpe has the talent, but needs some more time at the big league level.
*** Paul Semendinger - The Yankees have played three series and won them all. You (just about) can't get better than that. It's a good start. I have documented (many times) my concerns about this team. I see many weaknesses, or potential weaknesses. The injuries to the pitchers is a concern. I see a lot of weak outs in the lineup. But, sometimes teams can be better than the sum of their parts. So far, in 2023, that seems to be the case. It's early. Way early. But the good start is great and I hope the teams just keeps on winning!
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Ed Botti - It is very early, but as of Yesterday, Monday 4/10/2023 the Yankees record stood at 6-3, having won 2 out of 3 in their first 3 series. Can’t find a reason to complain about that, so I am pleased with the record.
Concerns? The Yankees are 16th in MLB with 44 runs scored (1 less than Baltimore). With the offense they have put together, I would have expected that they would have been near the top in runs scored, but again, it is very early. That can change in 1 or 2 games.
Overall, I have no reason as of today to have any major concerns, outside of injuries to the pitching staff.
I Like to wait until the 40 game mark to evaluate performances.
*** Tamar Chalker - I’m pretty excited about how DJ LeMahieu and Gleyber Torres have started the season. My main concern right now is the bullpen.
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Tim Kabel - I am pleased with Giancarlo Stanton’s offense.
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Cary Greene - One area I’m very happy with so far involves how well the Yankees are handling right-handed pitching. The splits are really encouraging so far, in the early going. Aaron Judge is not surprisingly sporting a gaudy 1.426 OPS against right-handers, but Franchy Cordero (1.417), Gleyber Torres (1.073), Anthony Rizzo (1.055) and Giancarlo Stanton (1.013) have all been terrific against righties. In fact, Kyle Higashioka (.953) and DJ LeMahieu (.929) have been pretty great themselves. With an .829 team OPS, the Yankees have overcome all of the “they don’t have enough balance” buzz that surrounded this year’s team in spring training. Here’s to hoping they can sustain the results!
I agree with James's concern about the starters not going deeper into games, but I'd nitpick that Cortes got an out in the sixth before departing in his most recent start.
Bullpen is major concern, along with bottom third of lineup but so far Yankees are about where you would expect them to be. It’s a long season so for this team injury bug is something Yankees cannot control.
Likes: Gleyber Torres off to a good start, DJLM stinging the ball; Stanton and Judge putting up numbers, Gerrit Cole looking great, Clay Holmes getting back his mojo
Concerns: weak bottom of the lineup, bad situational hitting, lots of rallies being killed by failure to get the ball out of the infield with RISP (see last night's game), Starting pitching beyond Cole, Cortes and, so far, Brito is shaky, bullpen being overworked, King's velocity dip, Judge striking out a lot after making whiffing less an objective, Donaldson not bouncing back, too much IKF
I am concerned about the team's ability to stay healthy. The team has adjusted well to the loss of Rodon, Severino, and Bader, adding any more to this list would severely test the team's depth.
of course, understanding that Rodon, Severino and Bader will soon return would lead to speculation about the team doing even better.
Schmidt and German don't seem to be providing the quality that Rodon and Severino can be expected to furnish