It’s one of baseball’s biggest questions heading out of the All-Star break: just who are these New York Yankees? Are they the team that shot out of the gate, streaking to 50 wins against just 22 losses? A team that despite missing its reigning AL Cy Young Award winning ace, Gerrit Cole, for most of the season, had one of the best rotations and bullpens in baseball? A club riding a rookie surprise package, Luis Gil, who posted a 2.03 ERA through his first 14 starts, more or less out of nowhere? Are they the team with an offense resembling something out of the Yankee past, with Juan Soto, acquired in a blockbuster deal with San Diego in December, immediately making himself at home, posting MVP numbers as the Bomber offense soared even while Aaron Judge took time to heat up. Judge did eventually hot up, by the way, to levels approaching the heat of the sun, putting up some of the gaudiest first-half numbers in recent memory: 34 home runs, 24 doubles and a Ruthian OPS, but I digress. Are the Yankees a team that finally took the pressure off manager Aaron Boone and general manager Brian Cashman, who under tremendous scrutiny prior to acquiring Soto, had seemingly finally put together a roster capable of doing something the Yanks haven’t done since 2009: reach a World Series.
Or, is the club’s recent form – the Yankees have won just eight of their last 26 games – who they really are. Are they worse than the worst teams in baseball? The Chicago White Sox, Miami Marlins, Oakland A’s and Colorado Rockies, who all won more games than the Yankees in that stretch. Are they a team whose offense begins and ends with Soto, Judge and Stanton, their oft-injured DH who has put up 18 homers in limited play. Right now at least, it looks like those dominant Yankees of April and May have succumbed to the suddenly razor thin roster that let them down in June and July. Beyond the big three, there isn’t a single New York bat in the lineup with an OPS over .700 – the mark of an average hitter – with the exception of Ben Rice, a little-known rookie who has hit six home runs in 24 games. Let’s just say that calling their lineup “unbalanced” is kind.
Meanwhile, the pitching staff is taking on water. All Star closer Clay Holmes, so strong in his first 30 appearances, has given up 12 runs in 9 ⅔ innings. Gil has recovered his last two starts, after the rookie endured a stretch where he allowed 16 runs in just 9.2 innings. Marcus Stroman is a pitcher built to pitch anywhere but Yankee Stadium and Carlos Rodon has an ERA over seven since June. Gulp.
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This brutal stretch for New York ended fittingly on Sunday as the team limped into the break in Baltimore with Holmes blowing a two-run, ninth inning lead, and his sixth save of the season thanks to shortstop Anthony Volpe bobbling a game-ending routine grounder and left fielder Alex Verdugo badly misjudging a fly ball allowing the winning run to score.
So, let’s ask again: who are the Yankees? The 50-22 team? Or the 8-18 club? As always, the answer is usually in between, which means that once again, there are multiple teams better than New York, and that New York finally breaking their World Series drought seems pretty unlikely. What it also means is that at age 32, another season of Judge is about to be wasted. Judge is, and this seems a bit crazy to write, probably the best homegrown Yankee bat since Mickey Mantle. Not only has Judge not won a World Series, but he’s never even been to one. This puts him alongside Don Mattingly in the lonely category of best Yankees of all-time with no titles. Perhaps more accurately, it puts him in a box with Mike Trout, one of the greatest hitters in history, who has played playoff baseball in just one season. Even the addition of Shohei Ohtaini couldn’t bring poor Mike Trout more October baseball.
What can the Yankees do to help Judge finally reach the Fall Classic? Well, there’s too many issues on the roster to be addressed at the trade deadline, and while the team may get a boost from promoting prospects, there are bigger issues in the Bronx, even if the team are only one game behind the AL East leading Orioles.
That’s because the Yankees have a culture problem. I’m not talking about Boone, the ultimate player’s manager, for not calling out his crew for lack of hustle or the mental errors that have plagued his nine during the stretch. I’m not even talking about the job that Cashman has done, which included abandoning the basic Yankees offensive formula that helped them win 27 titles – left handed power – until finally dealing for Soto. Cashman can’t fire himself. No, this era is on the owner.
If the Yankees don’t return to the World Series this season, that will mean that under Hal Steinbrenner, the Yankees will have endured their longest stretch of not reaching the World Series since 1903 to 1920: a time that began when the team were known as the Highlanders and ended with the club sharing the Polo Grounds with the Giants: back when the “House That Ruth Built” wasn’t even built.
Does Steinbrenner spend? Yes, the Yankees are second only to their crosstown rivals, the Mets, in payroll this season. Is he willing to do absolutely anything and everything to win like his father, George? No. Hal is seemingly more interested in the business than the business of winning championships. After being ousted from the playoffs last year, Steinbrenner echoed Giannis Antetokounmpo’s post-playoff elimination comments: “It is not a failure. It’s steps to success” in refusing to call the season a failure. Fine for Giannis. Fine for most teams. Not fine for the Yankees. Cashman has not brought the results and the rings that are the ultimate success in the Yankee universe. Yet Cashman is not held accountable by Steinbrenner, even after a quarter-century as GM.
Hal answers here: Is the season a failure if the Yankees don’t win the World Series? In The Show, Hal talks about similarities/differences between him and The Boss, hits on Cash, Boone, Judge, Cole, more. @Joelsherman1 and I discuss Mets, Yanks, early surprises pic.twitter.com/xeknrg4DzE
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) May 18, 2023
Some theorize that New York pulled the trigger on the Soto deal this off-season, a move that pushed the payroll over $300m, only when the brand and the business was being legitimately threatened by the franchise’s lack of a sense of urgency.
Then in May, while the Yankees were rolling, Steinbrenner said: “I’m gonna be honest, payrolls at the levels we’re at right now are simply not sustainable for us financially. It wouldn’t be sustainable for the vast majority of ownership [groups], given the luxury tax we have to pay.”
Maybe it’s not sustainable, but with the team streaking it was a curious time to set expectations for the fanbase, that they shouldn’t fall in love with Soto as his re-signing after the season is anything but a done deal. He also said that the roster is “championship caliber”, something New York’s recent results don’t support. This Yankees team looks like more of the same: good enough to make the playoffs, not good enough to reach or win the World Series. There’s every reason to believe that regardless of the results, Cashman would once again avoid the sack. That’s the current culture in the Bronx, one that is happy with being good but not great, something that directly undermines the bedrock on which the franchise stands. And so title 28 could be a ways away.
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