It was the worst loss of the season for the Yankees, and it won’t be topped. Tuesday’s loss had something for everyone worried about the Yankees.
I have a headache. Above my left eye, and that eye is twitching or spasming. I’m not sure which because I’m unsure of the difference. (A quick Google search tells me a twitch is a form of a spasm.)
I woke up this morning after what seemed like minutes of sleep to feed a soon-to-be four-month-old and then the soon-to-be two-year-old woke up. Before 7 a.m. I had changed a pair of diapers full of poop, listened to the “Wheels on the Bus” roughly 21 times (in a row) and had already watched the trifecta of the “Circle of Life,” “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King,” and “Hakuna Matata” about 14 times.
I’m not complaining. I chose this. I chose to stay up to watch the Yankees play in Seattle at a 10:11 p.m. start time. I chose to stay up as the game went to the 10th inning then the 11th then the 12th then the 13th. I voluntarily kept watching, doubling down on poor decision after poor decision all the way until the Mariners walked off with a 1-0 win at 2:18 a.m.
It was a choice I regretted in the moment and regret even more now as I write this with a Seattle-esque marine layer serving as brain fog. All while not being able to get Pumbaa yelling, “WHEN I WAS A YOUNG WARTHOGGG!” out of my head.
It was the worst loss of the season for the Yankees, and it won’t be topped. Yes, worse than getting walk-off walked on in Baltimore. Yes, worse than all the late blown leads to the last-place Red Sox. Yes, worse than Clay Holmes’ meltdown against the Reds. Yes, worse than all five of the losses to the Astros.
Tuesday’s loss had something for everyone worried about the Yankees.
Worried about the offense? It had yet another disappearing act from the offense. A lineup that can’t come close to hitting starting pitching they will face in October after being shut out just three games prior.
Worried about the team’s baserunning and poor Baseball IQ? It had disastrous, unfathomable baserunning decisions as the Yankees ran into out after out.
Worried about the manager? (How could you not be?) It had bad management and horrible in-game calls like the ill-attempted double steal in the 10th.
The team’s pitching, which has been the team’s least trustworthy component for weeks now was the one aspect of the team that performed well, as a gem from Gerrit Cole was wasted as were five scoreless innings of relief before the 13th.
The offense produced three hits in the game. Three hits in 13 innings. Three singles in 41 plate appearances. It was a disgraceful, non-competitive performance from an offense that seems to have at least one of those a week, if not two. And of course it was Luis Castillo who shut down the Yankees for the third time in a month and twice in a week. It had to be the pitcher the Yankees needed to get, but chose not to, once again choosing a less expensive, second-tier option.
On the bases, Aaron Judge was thrown out trying to steal in the seventh. With runners on first and second and no outs in the 10th, Aaron Boone called for a double steal with Andrew Benintendi at second and Tim LoCastro at first. Benintendi took off too early and got caught in a rundown. In the 11th, with a runner on second and no outs, Aaron Hicks hit a line drive at the second baseman. Miguel Andujar took off too early for third and was doubled off second. In the 12th, with a runner on second and no outs, Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a ball back to the mound, Jose Trevino was too far off second and got caught in a rundown. While Trevino was in the rundown, Kiner-Falefa took off for second, so that the Yankees would have a runner in scoring position with one out once Trevino was tagged. Trevino was tagged immediately and Kiner-Falefa then got caught in a rundown of his own and ran out of the baseline for the second out on the play. After the game, Boone said, “I don’t want us to lose our aggression on the bases.” You might want to lose that aggression, Booney.
The icing on the shit cake that was Tuesday night into Wednesday morning is that the Yankees no longer hold the 1-seed in the American League. The Yankees had a nine-game lead for home-field advantage throughout the AL playoffs back on June 19 and now they are 2-seed in the AL with the Astros passing them in the standings. So in a potential ALCS between the two teams, Games 1, 2, 6 and 7 will be played in Houston, just like they were in the 2017 ALCS and the 2019 ALCS. I wonder how the 2022 ALCS will play out if the standings hold and they do meet again.
Thinking about the Yankees in the ALCS right now seems foolish. Yes, they are going to win the division. Yes, they are going to have a bye into the ALDS. Yes, they will only need to win one series to get into the ALCS. But with the team going 22-24 over the last seven-plus weeks, and playing as poorly as they have of late, I don’t know how anyone could feel good about them. Maybe Boone can hold another team meeting since the one he held at the beginning of this week has worked out so well.
The Yankees’ trades for Andrew Benintendi and Harrison Bader mean the end of Aaron Hicks as an everyday player with the team.
When Aaron Hicks said his goal was to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in 2022, I couldn’t help but laugh. It was as realistic of a goal as me looking to be part of the Yankees’ rotation in 2022. Hicks had never hit 30 home runs in a season, and had never hit more than 15 outside of the 27 he hit in 2018 at a time when the baseball was juiced more than Alex Rodriguez ever was with the Rangers. (He didn’t use performance-enhancing drugs as a Yankee!) His career high in steals was 13 back when he was 25 years old, before he became a Yankee. So yeah, me slotting in as the Yankees’ No. 5 starter was about as likely as Hicks doubling his non-juiced ball career high in home runs and stealing 57 percent more bases than he ever had in a single season.
Some people might defend Hicks for shooting for the moon. It’s good to have goals! Hicks’ goal of being the first 30/30 Yankee since peak Alfonso Soriano wasn’t a goal, it was a dream. A pipe dream. He should have made a goal of not going on the injured list for an entire season as a Yankee, something he has never been able to accomplish, but while still unrealistic, it was at least something to strive for (and something he actually has achieved to date this season).
The Yankees have played 110 games, and Hicks has played in 97 of them. He has six home runs and nine steals. Earlier this week, he told The Athletic he’s “definitely going to be short” of joining the 30/30 club. (He only needs to hit 24 home runs and steal 27 bases in the team’s final 52 games.)
The problem is Hicks won’t come close to playing in all of those games. Once Giancarlo Stanton returns, and if Harrison Bader plays for the Yankees this season, Hicks will be the odd man out in the outfield. The Yankees didn’t trade for both Andrew Benintendi and Bader to not play them. Hicks will be the one on the bench, and rightfully so, after failing to take advantage of endless opportunities since becoming a Yankee and signing a seven-year extension prior to the 2019 season.
Hicks went from everyday center fielder to everyday left fielder to now looking at being an everyday bench player once the Yankees get healthy. This year he’s hitting .224/.349/.317 and that’s coming off last season when he was appointed as 3-hitter in spring training and then hit .194/.294/.333, lasting only 32 games before needing season-ending wrist surgery.
That surgery on the sheath of his wrist sapped his power (or what there ever was of his power) like it has to others that have had the same surgery. When he homered in three of four games from July 6 through July 9, the idea his power (or what he has ever had of it) was returning was a common theme among Yankees fans for those four days. But July 9 was the last time Hicks homered. A month ago. And in the 23 games he has played in over the last month, he’s hitting .171/.318/.171 (yes, slugging .171 over the last month), highlighted by an 0-for-32 streak that went for nearly two weeks.
“I started off the season good,” Hicks told The Athletic. “I was hitting for a high average for a while. I wasn’t really hitting for much power.”
When Hicks says he “started off the season good” he means literally the start of the season and no more. He was “good” for nine games (seven starts). He hit .348/.464/.478 over the first week of the season. Then he put together back-to-back 0-for-4s and it’s been downhill since. The last time his average was above .300 was on April 20. The last time it was above .275 was on May 3. The last time it was at.250 was on May 9. It’s at .223 today with 13 extra-base hits.
Hicks’ on-base percentage has carried his OPS (he has a higher on-base percentage than slugging percentage) because while he can’t hit, he is smart enough to take walks. His approach at the plate has always been to not swing and hope the pitcher throws four balls before he throws three strikes, and it works out for him often. (I wish more Yankees would have this approach.)
“All we’re trying to do is win a championship here,” Hicks told The Athletic. “So if I’m a guy that’s in the lineup, cool. If I’m not, it is what it is.”
If I were ownership or the front office I would expect a little more fire and motivation about being in the lineup, especially from a player who is under contract for next season and the season after that and the season after that and then will be bought out for $1 million to not play baseball for the Yankees the season after that. Saying it’s “cool” if you play “but it is what it is” if you don’t doesn’t make Hicks sound like a good teammate and team-first guy, it makes him sound like a loser. Hicks talks like a guy who signed a seven-year, $70 million guaranteed contract because he is that guy. And since receiving that extension, he has played in 242 of a possible 494 regular-season games (49 percent).
I have long wanted Hicks off the Yankees, and was vehemently against the extension he was offered in 2019. (The keyword there is “offered.” The extension and the endless treatment of him as if he’s Bernie Williams 2.0 is all on the Yankees. They created this mess. What is Hicks supposed to do? Not accept $70 million to play baseball?) I have been appalled year after year in their belief he could stay healthy and be productive and be counted on to be an everyday player for the Yankees.
It seems like the Yankees finally agree. By trading for two outfielders in Benintendi and Bader they made it clear they no longer believe in Hicks being the player he told The Athletic he “knows he can be,” which is a player he has rarely ever been in his seven years with the Yankees. Hicks is only playing now because of injuries and the only way he will play regularly for the rest of the regular season and the postseason will be because of injuries.
If Hicks has a future with the Yankees as the fourth outfielder, “cool.” If his future in baseball after this season isn’t with the Yankees, well, “it is what it is.”
The loss of Matt Carpenter overshadowed Josh Donaldson’s big night and the Yankees’ first win in a week.
The Yankees won for the first time in a week, beating the Mariners 9-4 in Seattle on Monday. But the big night from Josh Donaldson and the end of the Yankees’ five-game losing streak was dampened by the loss of Matt Carpenter who fouled a ball off his foot, which could end his season.
The Yankees blew a late lead on Friday night to the Cardinals, were shut out on Saturday and blew a three-run lead on Sunday.
The Yankees blew a late lead on Friday night to the Cardinals, were shut out on Saturday and blew a three-run lead on Sunday. They have now lost five straight and 16 of their last 25 games, having gone 21-23 since June 19. The Yankees are falling apart from a production and health standpoint, and it’s foreshadowing another disappointing end to a season.
The Yankees were swept by the Cardinals. The Yankees blew leads in two of the games and were shut out in the other started by former Yankee Jordan Montgomery, and everything about his team of
The Yankees were swept by the Cardinals. The Yankees blew leads in two of the games and were shut out in the other started by former Yankee Jordan Montgomery, and everything about his team of late feels a lot like last year.
1. On the morning of June 19, the Yankees were 49-16. They had just shut out the Blue Jays the night before and their division lead was at an unbelievable 12 games through 40 percent of the season. As important, their lead for the 1-seed in the American League was nine games. The Yankees had clinched the division title with three-and-a-half months left in the season and were on their way to ensuring Games 1, 2, 6 and 7 of a potential ALCS matchup against the Astros would be played at the Yankee Stadium. But that Sunday night on June 19, the Yankees blew a five-run lead, lost 10-9 and haven’t been the same team since.
Since June 19, the Yankees have gone 21-23. During this current run of .477 baseball over more than a quarter of the season, they have lost five of seven to the Astros (never leading once in the seven games), split a series with the Pirates (who are on pace for 96 losses), blew three late leads to the last-place Red Sox, lost a home series to the last-place Reds, got swept in the first half of the Subway Series, lost a home series to Mariners (allowing 17 runs to their anemic offense) and were just swept in St. Louis (blowing leads in two of the three games, while getting shut out in the other). The Yankees are 9-16 in their last 25 games and 6-11 since the All-Star break. Against teams not from Kansas City, those records fall to 6-15 and 3-10.
2. Fortunately, the rest of the AL East has failed to take advantage of the Yankees pissing away 27 percent of their season. That 12-game lead on June 19 is now in single digits, but still strong at 9 1/2 games. The race for the 1-seed? That’s now a 1/2-game lead, and I expect the Astros to overtake the Yankees for the 1-seed later this week. And if they somehow don’t this week, they eventually will given their remaining schedule against the Yankees’ remaining schedule.
3. The last nearly two months have felt just like 2021. The Yankees went into last season as the odds-on favorite to represent the AL in the World Series, and instead they didn’t clinch a postseason berth until the final pitch of their regular season. They finished as the second wild-card team, had to go on the road for a one-game playoff and that one-game playoff was over four batters into the bottom of the first inning. The season was a disgrace, an embarrassment, a disaster.
Brian Cashman vowed to make changes at his end-of-the-season press conference and then made minimal, marginal changes. The Yankees got off to a 7-6 start in 2022 and it felt like a continuation of 2021. But then the Yankees went off in a way they hadn’t in more than two decades, winning 42 of 52 and drawing daily comparisons to the 1998 team that won 114 regular-season games before going 11-2 in the postseason and sweeping the World Series. But since June 19, this team and this season has felt too much like last season’s and it’s hard to stomach.
Are these Yankees the team that went 42-10 from April 22 through June 18, or are they the team that is 29-30 in the season’s other 59 games sandwiched around that improbable run?
4.. There are five players on the current roster to feel good about: Aaron Judge, DJ LeMahieu, Matt Carpenter, Jose Trevino and Nestor Cortes. That’s it. As for the other 21 …
Anthony Rizzo? He has missed the last three games with back problems, the second time he has missed games for back-related issues this season. After playing in 94 percent of his team’s regular-season games over the last nine years, it’s not surprising at 33 he’s dealing with injuries.
Giancarlo Stanton? He last played on July 23.
Gleyber Torres? Back on June 19, he was on a 40-home run pace, had an .838 OPS and had people thinking the Torres of 2018 and 2019 was back. Since then he’s hitting .227/.292/.348 with three home runs in 154 plate appearances.
Josh Donaldson? If the Yankees didn’t owe Donaldson $24 million this season and next season, he would likely no longer be a Yankee. He has hit one home run in the last month, while slugging less than .300 with an OPS under .550. He’s unplayable. Unfortunately, he’s not the only one.
Aaron Hicks? Also unplayable. Hicks went two weeks without getting a hit before picking up three hits on Sunday. His first two hits had exit velocities of 59.3 mph and 27.3 mph with expected batting averages of .220 and .280 respectively. His last home run came at Fenway Park a month ago and his last double came in the game before that one. So no, he hasn’t had an extra-base hit in a month.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa? The homerless shortstop with the .641 OPS … well, that’s all that needs to be said.
Marwin Gonzalez? The backup shortstop last got a hit on July 6. He’s 0-for-20 since.
Andrew Benintendi? The Yankees traded four prospects for Joey Gallo last year. Then they traded three prospects for Benintendi to be his replacement and moved Gallo as well. All they did was get the same player so far. Benintendi is 4-for-30 as a Yankee.
Kyle Higashioka? His OPS is finally above .600 (.603). Congratulations?
Gerrit Cole? In his last three starts, he allowed six first-inning runs to the Mariners, allowed five runs to the Royals and blew a three-run lead to the Orioles.
Luis Severino? He’s on the 60-day injured list.
Jameson Taillon? He has a 6.25 ERA and 5.49 FIP over his last eight starts.
Domingo German? He has a 5.07 ERA, 5.77 FIP and has allowed 28 baserunners in 17 1/3 innings.
Clay Holmes? He has allowed 21 baserunners and nine earned runs in his last 8 2/3 innings and has been so bad the Yankees are thinking of giving Aroldis Chapman his old job back.
Aroldis Chapman? His five straight scoreless appearance streak is going to fool the Yankees into thinking he’s fixed after having allowed 18 walks in 25 1/3 innings this season.
Jonathan Loaisiga? He hasn’t looked right since August of last year.
Wandy Peralta? Fifteen baserunners allowed in his last 8 1/3 innings.
Albert Abreu? The Yankees traded him in the offseason to the Rangers. The Rangers traded him to the Royals. The Royals designated him for assignment. The Yankees gladly took him back and in his last three appearances he came into a 6-6 game and allowed two runs then faced three batters and retied one and then came into a one-run deficit and made it a two-run deficit.
Lucas Luetge? He has allowed 45 percent of inherited runners to score, including both in his last appearance against Seattle.
As for new Yankees pitchers Frankie Montas, Scott Effross and Lou Trivino, well, Montas allowed six earned runs in three innings in his Yankees debut, Effross allowed a three-run home run to Paul DeJong and his .531 OPS on Sunday, and in the same game, Trivino walked in a run.
So like I said, it’s Judge, LeMahieu, Carpenter, Trevino, Cortes, and that’s all to currently feel good about.
5. The Yankees’ trade deadline acquisitions have collectively made the worst first impression possible. Benintendi is 4-for-30, Montas got rocked in his first Yankees start, Effross gave up that three-run home run and Trivino walked in that run. On top of the lack of contribution from those four, the Yankees are choosing to not have the best possible 26-man roster. After recently sending down Clarke Schmidt, on Saturday night, they also sent down Ron Marinaccio, who has been the Yankees’ best reliever of late and had filled in well for the injured Michael King. Schmidt and Marinaccio not being on the major-league roster is irresponsible, and a clear product of roster manipulation. Because the two have remaining options, they don’t have to pass through waivers like other lesser relieves would have to. So rather than designate Abreu or Luetge for assignment, the Yankees are inexplicably choosing to roster a less talented team.
6. This isn’t an uncommon practice under Cashman. It’s very common. As is trading for young, controllable starting pitchers that don’t work out with the Yankees. No, one start after having not pitched in 12 days isn’t enough for me to say Montas won’t work out as a Yankee, but it should surprise no one if it doesn’t. Here is the list of young, controllable starters Cashman has traded for just like Montas:
Jeff Weaver Javier Vazquez Michael Pineda Nathan Eovaldi Sonny Gray James Paxton Jameson Taillon
Cashman traded away the left-handed Ted Lilly in the deal for Weaver, who was a complete bust as a Yankee, while Lilly went on to pitch in the majors until the age of 37. Jordan Montgomery wasn’t traded for Montas, but the addition of Montas led to the trade of Montgomery, so he kind of was. And I can easily see the left-handed Montgomery becoming Lilly 2.0 in a lefty that goes on to have a long, successful career as a middle-of-the-rotation starter, and it’s not hard to envision Montas pitching in New York like those other seven names.
7. I have only rooted against the Yankees once in my life: Game 162 of the 2011 season. A Yankees loss and Orioles win meant the Red Sox would be eliminated from the playoffs and complete the worst September collapse in baseball history, so when the Yankees blew a seven-run lead in that game and Evan Longoria eventually hit a walk-off home run I was ecstatic. Saturday night against the Cardinals was the second time I have rooted against the Yankees.
It’s not that I’m a big Montgomery fan, it’s more about what Saturday represented. Here was an ex-Yankee making his non-Yankees debut against the Yankees, pitching against Domingo German who should have been released by the organization in 2019. The addition of Montas was supposed to be the end of German in the Yankees’ rotation, but then the trade of Montgomery kept German in the rotation. Despite being a scumbag as a person and an awful pitcher, German has maintained his roster spot and has been given endless chances to prove himself at the major-league level. I don’t root for him in any start, so of course I was going to root against him on Saturday night, and with Montgomery starting it meant rooting against the Yankees. So when Montgomery threw five shutout innings and the Yankees lost 1-0 I didn’t care. The Yankees made their bed by acting like they have an abundance of available, major-league-caliber starting pitching in trading away Montgomery and by continuing to start German, so screw them. Add in Montas’ disastrous start on Sunday and Luis Castillo outpitching Cole in the Bronx last week for his second win in the Bronx in a month, and the early returns on the trade deadline have been a disaster. You get what you trade for, and the Yankees chose not to trade for the best available starting pitcher at the deadline, the best available reliever or the best available outfielder, and they have gotten what they traded for.
8. And the returns are likely to get worse. Once Harrison Bader is healthy he’s going to play and he’s going to start in center field. That means Judge moves to right field. That makes Stanton the full-time designated hitter. That makes Carpenter a bench player. And with the Yankees undying loyalty to Donaldson at third, that means LeMahieu or Torres comes out of the lineup. And if it’s LeMahieu, I would actually root against the Yankees in the playoffs. I understand the idea of run prevention, but the Yankees are taking it too far if they plan on playing Bader, Donaldson and Kiner-Falefa in the same lineup.
The Montgomery-Bader trade was nonsensical when it was made, and has a chance to grow into something much worse if Montgomery continues to be a reliable No. 3-4 starter and Bader’s presence eventually screws up the Yankees’ best possible lineup.
9. Judge has been playing center field full time and the acquisition of Bader means the Yankees don’t feel comfortable with Hicks at the backup. A guy who’s under contract for next season, the season after that, and the season after that and then can be bought out the season after that. It’s either the Yankees don’t believe in Hicks or they are worried Stanton’s season is over. The former is fixable. The latter is an enormous problem because unless LeMahieu and Judge are going to carry the offense for an entire postseason, the Yankees desperately need a healthy Stanton back in the lineup.
10. Even after all this losing for the last seven weeks, the Yankees are still going to win the AL East. But without the 1-seed in the AL, it will be nearly impossible to win the AL unless the Astros somehow get knocked off in their ALDS matchup. It would be difficult enough to beat the Astros with home-field advantage, not having it sets the Yankees up for a similar outcome to 2017 and 2019.
Things could get worse before they get better. The Yankees now head to Seattle to play a desperate Mariners team battling for a postseason berth and will face their three best starters in Logan Gilbert, Castillo and Robbie Ray. After that it’s a series at Fenway Park against the Red Sox, who are trying to save their season. Then it’s home against the Rays and Blue Jays, who are fighting for playoff positioning and who likely still believe they can catch the Yankees, and the second half of the Subway Series.
The Yankees can’t afford to continue to put out ‘B’ and ‘C’ lineups, give starters extra rest, test out relievers in big spots and manage like they have everything clinched. They have nothing clinched. I don’t expect them to change their ways and begin to play and manage with urgency, and that’s why it’s getting harder by the day to see this season ending in anything other than disappointment.
