The New York Yankees have been pretty bad this season. We can all agree, on that right? I guess a 21-21 record headed into play on Wednesday isn’t terrible, but try telling that to Yankee fans that have watched their team lose five games in a row after starting the season with a 9-2 record.
The New York Yankees have been pretty bad this season. We can all agree, on that right? I guess a 21-21 record headed into play on Wednesday isn’t terrible, but try telling that to Yankee fans that have watched their team lose five games in a row after starting the season with a 9-2 record.
Let’s take a look at a few reasons this 2020 New York Yankees team has been very disappointing.
Injuries
The Yankees are playing without a solid amount of their key players, like Giancarlo Stanton, who has been on the Injured List since August 8th with a left hamstring strain, and Aaron Judge, who has been out since August 11th, with a strained right calf.
Those two guys are a key part of the Yankees offense and without them, this team hasn’t been able to do much with the bat. They’ve only managed to score 4.64 runs per game, which is 18th in MLB. Teams like the Tigers and Orioles have been able to score more runs than them. Yikes.
On the other side of the ball, they’ve also had injuries. They’ve been without their ace, Luis Severino, and reliever Tommy Kahnle due to Tommy John surgery. James Paxton has only made five starts due to a left flexor strain. The 8th and 9th inning guys, the Yankees best bullpen arms Zack Britton and Aroldis Chapman have also missed time due to injury.
All teams have had injuries this season due to the increase in workload in a short period, but the Yankees haven’t had anybody step up, unlike last year. Speaking of that…
Gary Sanchez
The Yankees catcher hasn’t been able to step up in the absence of Stanton and Judge. This season he’s hitting a mere .125 with an OPS of .565 and a WAR of -0.5. If you were told at the beginning of the season that the former 2-time all-star and silver slugger award winner was hitting .125 40 games into the season you would’ve called them crazy.
Sanchez has been so bad, manager Aaron Boone had to bench him for two days, with the hope that he’d get his rhythm back. It didn’t exactly work out, as Sanchez went 0-4 with an error the next game he played. You start to feel a little sorry for the guy. If Sanchez was producing at a rate even close to career norms, the Bronx Bombers would be in a much better place right now.
No Deadline Moves
The Yankees could’ve heavily improved their team by adding some players at the trade deadline. Instead, Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman decided not to pull the trigger, claiming if he gave teams what they asked for in return, the Yankees would be worse than they already are.
"The players we tried to import certainly could have been impactful for us. They did not get traded elsewhere. … The price tags would have taken away some people who are positively impacting this team,” Cashman said Tuesday. “I think we would be worse off, not better off despite how we are playing right now.”
Surely, Brian Cashman could’ve made at least one deal to provide the team with some help and show the players that the front office has faith in this team. Adding a reliever like Trevor Rosenthal would have done wonders for a bullpen that has been performing well below average. If the Padres could have made all the moves they made at the deadline, Cashman could’ve as well. Even if it cost the team some prospects. In the end, the decision to do nothing might be costly.
If the Bronx Bombers don’t pick it up soon, they’ll be in big trouble. The majority of their schedule consists of them playing the Blue Jays, a team that they should be able to perform well against. The chase for 28 this season is looking further and further away.