The Yankees’ first of two West Coast trips this season is over. The next time the Yankees play a late game won’t be until August 20 when they play the A’s, Dodgers and Mariners to end summer. I think I speak for everyone when I say I’m happy Yankees baseball is back to being played at a normal hour.

There are only two off days in May with this being one of them, which means a lot of Yankees baseball and only one other Off Day Dreaming blog. Starting tomorrow, the Yankees will play 30 games in 31 days through June 2.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees on their second off day in the last four days.

1. If you have ever received a gift or news in life leading to a euphoric high then you know exactly how Aaron Boone feels today. Starting tomorrow, the Yankees will play 30 games in 31 games through June 2 and that means scheduled off days for everyday players, extra rest for the pitching staff and even more days off for players returning from the injured list even if they just missed weeks or months.

There’s only one thing Boone loves more than scheduling off days for his regulars weeks in advance regardless of their current play and that is bringing in mediocre relievers into game-changing situations.

2. Can Aaron Boone please stop bringing Jonathan Holder into game-changing situations? Please. I wrote last week how untrustworthy Holder has been as a Yankee, yet Boone keeps going to him in any close game as the first reliever out of the pen to immediately relieve the starter.

I thought Holder allowing both inherited runners to score in a tie game in the only loss in Anaheim might be the final straw for Boone electing to continue to use the mediocre reliever, but on Tuesday in Arizona, Boone went right back to him. Trailing by one run in the sixth with two on and one out, Boone took the ball from CC Sabathia and called on Holder. Holder immediately walked the first batter he faced load the bases and then got gifted a check-swing comebacker to the mound to begin an inning-ending double play. Boone stayed on 16 with the dealer showing a 7, and the dealer flipped over an 8 and pulled a 10 to bust, and Boone thinks he made the right decision based on the result.

Boone’s bullpen management helped send the Yankees to the wild-card game last season and then ruined the ALDS for the team, and he hasn’t shown anything to prove he won’t make more enormous mistakes in big games in 2019 as he continues to manage to the inning rather than the situation.

3. Here is my updated Yankees Bullpen Level of Trust (1-10 Scale)

Dellin Betances 9.1
Aroldis Chapman 8.4
Adam Ottavino 8.2
Zack Britton 7.1
Tommy Kahnle 5.2
Jonathan Holder 3.4
Luis Cessa 3.1
Joseph Harvey 2.8
Stephen Tarpley 1.9

4. Boone was ejected from Wednesday’s game and looked foolish in the process. He was upset about a challenge not going in his favor, even though the umpires don’t have control over the result of challenges, and then he was upset the umpires didn’t award Tyler Wade first base when he claimed to be hit a by a pitch on the foot, even though replay showed he didn’t get hit by the pitch.

If I was home plate umpire Paul Emmel, as soon as I turned around and Boone was standing in my face, the first thing I would say is, “Look, Aaron, I didn’t sit DJ LeMahieu even though he’s able to play and I didn’t bat Mike Tauchman fifth in the lineup and I didn’t start Tyler Wade.” I have a hard time believing Boone would have anything to say after that.

5. I understand the Yankees are as short as can be on available players, but can Tauchman not bat fifth anymore? I don’t care that he’s a left-handed bat against a right-handed starter. Tauchman isn’t the left-handed Luke Voit, and he’s not a diamond in the rough to make the Yankees front office look good for acquiring. If he has to play for the time being, fine, bat him at the bottom of the order and put Gio Urshela or Cameron Maybin or someone more deserving of being higher in the order in his spot for now.

6. As for Wade, I’m well past the point of being done with and over Wade. I can’t do it anymore. I can’t watch him go to the plate and roll over another weak ground ball to the right side. I can’t.

I saw a tweet on Wednesday that Wade has “barreled” one ball in his major league career. To be “barreled”, a batted ball requires an exit velocity of at least 98 mph. Wade has had 189 career plate appearances and has seen 738 pitches and only one of those 738 pitches has been classified as “barreled”. I’m not even sure how that’s possible. One out of 738. If you want to use only strikes then he’s “barreled” one pitch out of 468, which is still ridiculous. Apparently, whatever training Albert Pujols gave him in the offseason hasn’t stuck.

Wade is really fast and defensively can play all over the field, but his offensive ineptitude should be enough to keep him out of the majors. If the Yankees want him to be the 25th man on the postseason roster to be used a pinch runner, I’m OK with it, but that’s the extent of me being OK with him being a Yankee. The second enough regular everyday players are back, get Wade off the team.

7. For as fun, unexpected, improbable and exciting as this 11-4 run has been with the replacement Yankees, Zack Greinke quickly reminded Yankees fans why having actual everyday major leaguers in a lineup is important. Sure, Greinke is a very good pitcher and can shut down any team when he’s on, but he isn’t the Greinke of even a couple of years ago, and the Yankees had their chances against him and came up short.

The actual Yankees, batting 1 through 4, of Brett Gardner, Luke Voit, Gary Sanchez and Gleyber Torres went 4 for 15 with the only run scored and RBI, a walk and three strikeouts. The replacement Yankees of Tauchman, Maybin, Thairo Estrada, Wade and Urshela went 1 for 13 with an infield single and four strikeouts. After Sanchez and Torres hit back-to-back doubles to tie the game at 1 in the fourth inning, Tauchman, Maybin and Estrada left Torres stranded at second in what ended up being the difference in the game until Zack Britton gave up an insurance run for the Diamondbacks. Merrill Kelly, the 30-year-old major league rookie, followed Greinke’s performance with a gem of his own, allowing one earned run over 5 1/3 innings in a 3-2 Yankees loss.

8. I understand the road trip should be considered an overall success as the Yankees won six of nine, but it’s time for the real Yankees to return. The Rays lost both games of a doubleheader to the lowly Royals and the Red Sox swept the A’s, so the Yankees failed to make up ground on the Rays and also lost ground on the Red Sox. Enough is enough with sitting out DJ LeMahieu, despite him being available, and slowly, and I mean as slowly as possible, bringing back the other injured Yankees. We’re 30 games into the season.

9. Masahiro Tanaka has now had three crappy starts in his last four.

April 14 vs. White Sox: 4 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, 1 HR
April 25 @ Angels: 5.2 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 2 HR
May 2 @ Diamondbacks: 4 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 1 HR

Tanaka always figures it out and I trust him more than anyone on the team in October (1.50 ERA in five career postseason starts), so I’m not worried about him, I just wish he would be more consistent, especially since the May schedule is going to be way more challenging than the April schedule was.

10. Back when the Yankees were 5-8, I wrote that I thought a 16-13 record at the end of April was doable. After losing Tuesday’s game, they finished April at 17-12, one game better than the goal I set for them. Looking ahead to May, they have 29 games this month, and outside of seven games against the Orioles (anything less than 5-2 against the Orioles will be considered a disaster), their schedule is full of games against potential postseason teams, including six against the Rays and two against the Red Sox.

Since my Yankees record goal magic worked so well in April, I’m going to say they should go at least 17-12 in May.

***

My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!

It wasn’t too long ago I was in love with off days for the Yankees and praying and doing rain dances for games to be postponed until later in the season when the team would be at full strength or even half strength. But thanks to the team’s play over the last four series and two weeks, I once again hate off days.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees on this off day.

Back on the Yankees’ off day on April 11, I wrote The Yankees Are in Trouble, citing the lengthy injured list, blown leads, losses to awful teams, a weak lineup, bad starting pitching and an inconsistent bullpen. The Yankees then went on to lose

1. Back on the Yankees’ off day on April 11, I wrote The Yankees Are in Trouble, citing the lengthy injured list, blown leads, losses to awful teams, a weak lineup, bad starting pitching and an inconsistent bullpen. The Yankees then went on to lose two of three to the White Sox that weekend.

Four days later, on their April 15 off day, I wrote When Are the Yankees Going to ‘Turn the Corner’ Aaron Boone Keeps Talking About? The team was 6-9 and 0-3 in home series against the Orioles, Tigers and White Sox, and Boone gave his old BS answers in his postgame press conference following the Sunday loss to the White Sox.

That would be the last Yankees off day for two weeks with two games against the Red Sox, four against the Royals, four against the Angels and three against the Giants between then and today. The plan was to tread water and hover around .500 until the regulars could come back from the injured list, but as the Yankees waited around for their regulars to come back, more regulars joined them on the injured list. Instead of the Yankees treading water over the crucial two weeks, they went on an 11-2 run, winning all four series and climbing within 1 1/2 games of the Rays.

I don’t ever like to give Boone credit, but for as much as I criticize the manager for being in over his head and simply having no idea what he’s doing (which is true), I will give him a little, tiny bit of credit for the way the team has played since the Red Sox series. Sure, he’s made some nonsensical bullpen decisions over the last 13 games, nearly costing the Yankees a few games, but the team is winning, and it’s hard to completely destroy the manager when the win column keeps changing and the team has the second-best run differential in the league despite a daily lineup consisting of a combination of Tyler Wade, Mike Tauchman, Mike Ford, Gio Urshela, Austin Romine, Kyle Higashioka, Thairo Estrada and Cameron Maybin. So for now, I will lay off Boone.

2. Actually, scratch that. I have two things about Boone I have to mention.

The first is his usage of Jonthan Holder, who isn’t trustworthy. The Yankees’ only loss in Anaheim in the series finale. Masahiro Tanaka blew a 4-0 lead, and in a 4-4 game with two on and one out, Boone went to Holder, who immediately allowed both runners to score. Here is how Boone utilized his bullpen in that game:

Tie game, two on, one out: Jonathan Holder
Down two, cleaning inning: Stephen Tarpley
Down two, two on, one out: Joseph Harvey
Down six, cleaning inning: Tommy Kahnle

The Yankees went 11-2 over their last 13 with timely hitting, great starting pitching and a good enough bullpen. The team’s performance prevented Boone from getting his hands on the game too much, but when he did, he proved incapable of making sound decisions. I’m not scared, I’m petrified of Boone in another postseason.

The second Boone complaint is in regards to Gary Sanchez. Sanchez had two weeks off, came back and played two games and then had the day off against a left-handed starter (Madison Bumgarner) with an off day coming up on Monday (today) and again on Thursday. The Yankees should be embarrassed with how many everyday players are on the injured list to go along with their best starter and best reliever, and yet, they are sticking with their over-the-top off day schedule.

3. Speaking of Sanchez, I haven’t heard much from the Austin Romine Fan Club lately. After Sanchez struck out in seven of his nine at-bats, whispers from the Rominers began to grow, disregarding the fact Sanchez played in one rehab game after being on the injured list for two weeks. But then there was complete silence from the backup catcher brigade, probably because they were sitting in amazement when Sanchez nailed Mike Trout trying to steal second in Anaheim or staring in awe with their mouths open at the two majestic home runs he clobbered over the weekend against the Giants.

I will never understand how any Yankees fan doesn’t like Sanchez. Yes, he had a bad, injury-plagued regular season last year, but he’s come back from that to be the Sanchez we watched in 2016 and 2017. He’s the best catcher in the league (YES showed a graphic on Sunday showing since 2016, Sanchez leads all catchers by 50 points in slugging) and it’s not even close. So please stop your complaining, sit back and enjoy the luxury you have at catcher.

4. If Luis Severino doesn’t hurt his shoulder in spring training, Domingo German isn’t in the rotation. Michael Kay asked the question of what happens when Severino returns and we are a long way from that and I’m sure the rotation will take care of itself with injuries are underperformance, but if Severino were to return today, there’s no way you could pull German from the rotation.

Sunday was the first time German allowed more than three earned runs in a game, and all four of the runs came in the sixth inning, after he one-hit the Giants for five innings. The Yankees have won four of his five starts, and the only loss came against the Royals when he allowed three earned runs in six innings with nine strikeouts and no walks. With the expected Yankees offense against the Royals, that’s a win nine out of 10 times.

In the small sample size of five starts and one relief appearance (which he picked up the win in after pitching two shutout innings), German seems to have figured out how to throw strikes. He’s only walked nine in 31 2/3 innings (against 32 strikeouts) and five of those walks came on April 1, in his first start of the season, on a cold night in New York.

Maybe German will regress the way he did last season after a strong start to the season, but as of now, he’s been the Yankees’ most consistent starter this season, and after his turn in the rotation was skipped once already this season, it can’t be skipped again if he continues to pitch like this.

5. After DJ LeMahieu left Sunday’s game with knee inflammation and Gio Urshela left after being drilled on the hand, all I could do was laugh. The Yankees are waiting for Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Hicks, Didi Gregorius and Miguel Andujar, Clint Frazier and Troy Tulowitzki to return, and if anyone else gets hurt, I have no idea where they are going to turn. Thankfully, X-rays were negative on both LeMahieu and Urshela, though I’m sure they will undergo further testing and with the way other Yankees have been deemed fine only to end up on the injured list, you can’t help but assume neither will avoid a 10-day absence.

LeMahieu signed as a super utility guy on a stacked team, most likely wondering how he would get a full season of at-bats despite being a former batting champion and Gold Glove second baseman. After not being in the Opening Day lineup, he’s become the team’s leadoff hitter, batting .310/.363/.430 with long at-bats and an unbelievable contact rate and approach with two strikes.

Urshela came to the Yankees as a career .225/.274/.315 who had reached the majors solely because of his infield defense. He claimed to have made adjustments at the plate in the offseason and with regular playing time on these Yankees is batting .351/.415/.509 looking anything other than overmatched at the plate.

Hopefully, neither guy has to go on the injured list, but I won’t hold my breath with the Yankees’ handling of injuries.

6. Like the Rominers, be prepared for the Urshelas to speak out when Miguel Andujar returns and makes an error at third base. I love Urshela and what he’s done for this team, but let’s not forget what Andujar did last season as rookie the way a lot of people forgot about what Sanchez did for two seasons.

7. Thairo Estrada is doing everything he can to have a future in the majors as a Yankee and not part of another franchise. He’s doing his best to give the Yankees a backup plan if Didi Gregorius turns down a potential extension or leaves via free agency.

The second baseman, turned left fielder over the weekend, is 6 for 14 with a walk and three strikeouts in 16 plate appearances since his debut. The 23-year-old has looked smooth in the field and mature at the plate, and while I enjoy having Gregorius on the team, I can’t help but envision an Estrada-Gleyber Torres middle infield for a long, long time.

8. It’s now shocking when Luke Voit doesn’t reach base in an at-bat. He’s batting .283/.397/.935 with eight homer runs and 25 RBIs, having reached base safely in every game this season. He put up a .365/.468/.635 batting line with two doubles, four home runs, 11 RBIs and nine walks over the 11-2 run. His defense is a story for another day, but the Yankees’ interim 2-hitter is hitting the way the real 2-hitter (Judge) does.

9. Today is April 29. It’s now been 61 days since Aaron Hicks hurt his back on a 35-minute bus ride from Tampa to Lakeland in spring training. Supposedly, Hicks is close to playing in games, but who knows what is true and what isn’t when it comes to his timetable to return. This situation is long past ridiculous.

10. On April 11, when the Yankees were 5-7, I wrote going 11-6 for the rest of April and finishing the month at 16-13 was more than doable. With one game left in the month, the Yankees are 17-11, meaning they will pass my minimal win goal of 16 by at least one game, and possibly two.

It’s unbelievable the Yankees have been able to win the way the way they have with their injury situation. If the Yankees’ injury timetables are accurate (don’t count on it), we could see some semblance of their expected 2019 lineup start to take form in the next week.

Most of the current players (Tauchman, Ford, Wade, Estrada, Maybin) will be headed back to the minors once the regulars return. If the Yankees get to where they’re expected to go this season, the April Yankees won’t be forgotten for keeping the season alive.

***

My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!

Another step forward, another two steps backs for the Yankees. It’s now a pattern and a pattern of a losing team.

Yes, the injuries are the main reason for the Yankees’ disappointing start against the worst teams in the American League, but injuries aren’t the only reason. Poor managing, an inability to hit with runners in scoring position, bad starting pitching, unacceptable defense and an inconsistent bullpen have helped.

There’s only been three games since the last Yankees off day, which I’m sure upset the front office and Aaron Boone as they were hoping to give the few remaining regulars a scheduled off day in between.

Here are seven thoughts on the Yankees on this off day.

1. How would you feel if you were the manager of the Yankees in the middle of their championship window, and regardless of injuries, your team was 6-9, 0-3 in home series against the Orioles, Tigers and White Sox and despite having the lead in 14 of your team’s 15 games, you were three games under .500? I can’t imagine anyone would feel remotely good about all of that, let alone trying to spin it into a positive at every available opportunity. But when it comes to Aaron Boone, everything is sunshine, rainbows and butterflies for the 2019 Yankees.

“I really do think we’re in a sound place as far as our focus, our energy, our expectation when we walk through those doors.”

That’s what Boone said following Sunday’s atrocious 5-2 loss to the White Sox, in which the Yankees blew yet another lead. Meanwhile, both the Rays (who most Yankees fans are foolishly not worried about) and the Red Sox (who most Yankees fans are laughing at even though they beat the Yankees in the ALDS, won the World Series and basically have the same record as the Yankees right now) both won.

It might be time for Boone to realize 6-9, three games under .500 and getting shut down by mediocre starting pitching isn’t a “sound place” and his team might want to change their “focus” and “energy” since I have no idea what their “expectation” is each game.

2. For as bad as Boone sounded after Sunday’s loss, he might have sounded worse after Friday’s disaster.

Friday’s game began in the rain and with the weather only expected to get worse, there was a good chance a lead after five innings would mean a win. The Yankees had a 4-1 lead through three and a 5-3 lead to begin the fifth.

Through four innings, Happ had allowed four three earned runs on five hits and two walks. Three of those hits had been doubles. And to finish the fourth inning, he went walk, strikeout, walk, double, flyout. The Yankees had just had the day prior off and with a downpour on the way to the Stadium, it made all the sense in the world to try to protect the two-run lead in the fifth.

Boone stayed with Happ. Jose Abreu singled and Yonder Alonso homered to begin the inning. 5-5. Tie game. But the back-to-back line drives weren’t enough to convince Boone to remove Happ, so he let him stay in the game to give up another single to Yoan Moncada. It was that single from Moncada, which finally forced Boone to take his laboring starter out of the game.

Rather than give Jonathan Holder, Boone’s first choice out of the bullpen, a two-run lead to work with or even a clean inning, Boone brings him into the rainy game to face top prospect Eloy Jimenez, who quickly greeted Holder with his first career home run. 7-5, game over.

After the game, Boone was asked if he thought about treating the fifth inning like the end of the game and going to his elite arms. Boone admitted he “thought about” it. However, he talked to Ted Barrett, who said he thought the rain was letting up, so he decided against it.

Who is Barrett, you might ask? A meteorologist? A weather expert? The head groundskeeper? Someone the Yankees employ to strictly advise them on the weather? Nope. Barrett is an umpire. Boone let the umpire’s feel for the weather determine how to manage a game anyone with a weather app or access to the Internet knew would be rain-shortened.

3. Happ better fix whatever is wrong and fast. He has yet to pitch five full innings in three starts with all three of those starts coming against what will be last-place teams. He’s hasn’t just been, he’s been unwatchable, allowed 19 hits, 12 earned runs and four home runs in 12 1/3 innings. Happ’s next start is against the Red Sox — the team he historically dominated leading to the Yankees signing of him. The last time Happ pitched against Boston, he was getting pulled early in Game 1 of the ALDS after giving up a three-run home run in the first inning to J.D. Martinez.

I wish Happ didn’t pitch well for the Yankees after the midseason trade last year. If he doesn’t pitch well, the Yankees either fall to the second wild card or miss the playoffs completely. If they become the second wild card, they have to go to Oakland and most likely lose to the A’s and don’t face the Red Sox in the ALDS. Or they miss the playoffs completely and don’t play the Red Sox in the playoffs. Falling to the second wild card or missing the playoffs would have caused more fans to turn on Boone, potentially putting him on the hot seat for 2019, and the ALDS embarrassment never happens. Then if the Happ experiment in New York had been a failure, they wouldn’t have signed him to a three-year deal this offseason. 

It was never the best idea to give a 36-year-old who relies on his fastball a three-year contract, but the Yankees did, and now they are stuck with him. He better turn it around.

4. The Yankees skipped Domingo German’s most recent start because of the off days and CC Sabathia’s return to the rotation. Outside of Tanaka (prior to Sunday), German has been the team’s best starter. Maybe skip J.A. Happ’s start? The 36-year-old could use the extra rest and time to prepare, so he can get more than 13 outs against the Orioles and White Sox. Let German pitch. He’s earned it. Small sample size or not. Then again, I forgot money owed and seniority are more important to playing time than actual performance for the Yankees. It’s been that way forever.

5. Former frustrating Yankee Ivan Nova started for the White Sox on Saturday, and prior to the game, I tweeted the following:

Ivan Nova is starting today. Ivan Nova is an ex-Yankee.  What does that mean?

6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K.

What was Nova’s final line? 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K.

How did I know Nova would pitch so well? Sadly, I know the Yankees too well, and unfortunately, ever ex-Yankee performs well against them. Just look at Hideki Matsui, Russell Martin, Robinson Cano, Eduardo Nunez, Steve Pearce, Nathan Eovaldi and the list goes on and on and on.

The Yankees did win Saturday’s game, keeping the White Sox off the board until Nova was removed and they could score against the bullpen. The win was exhausting, like all but one Yankees wins have been this season. I felt like I just worked out for nearly three hours and I was only watching the game.

6. Tyler Wade physically looks like Jacoby Ellsbury. He swings like Ellsbury. He grounds out to the right side like Ellsbury. He runs like Ellsbury. He sucks like Ellsbury.

It’s laughable to think back a few weeks ago when Wade complained about not being on the Opening Day roster and getting sent down to begin the season. Maybe get a hit once in a while or do anything productive at the plate more than once a month and fans will accept your complaint when you aren’t part of the team.

7. I’m a little worried Aaron Hicks isn’t going to be ready for his April 1 return date. That’s not a typo. The Yankees said during spring training, Hicks might be ready for Opening Day, but would most likely be held out until the first game of the second series of the season against the Tigers on April 1. That game was two weeks ago.

Prior to the season, in my individual Yankees over/under blog, I set the amount of games Hicks would play this season at 145, allowing him to miss 17 games. He has already missed 15. Unless he’s in the lineup on Wednesday night against the Red Sox, the under will already be clinched.

***

My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!

The great feeling of Opening Day was erased by back-to-back losses to the Orioles. The series-opening win over the Tigers was erased by two straight losses featuring blown leads. The weekend sweep of the Orioles to get back over .500 was destroyed by a sweep to the Astros. The Yankees’ season has been two weeks of taking one step forward and two steps back as shown by their disappointing 5-7 record.

The bad news is the Rays never lose, and at 10-3, continue to separate themselves from the Yankees with each Yankees loss. The good news is the Yankees are off on Thursday, so they can’t lose.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees on this off day.

1. I’m going to reiterate the first thought I had in last Friday’s Off Day Dreaming blog.

The Yankees are in trouble.When you have Didi Gregorius, Aaron Hicks, Giancarlo Stanton and Miguel Andujar out of your lineup, it’s hard enough to overcome. (Even the loss of Troy Tulowitzki is problematic because it means Tyler Wade needs to play.) Couple those injuries with being 5-7, having gone just 5-4 against the Orioles and Tigers and you have a recipe for disaster. The Yankees’ remaining April schedule is still very favorable as they have two games against the Red Sox and the rest of the month they will play against very bad to mediocre-at-best teams. That’s good because the current Yankees lineup is mediocre at best, but it’s bad because these are games they are supposed to win and games they need to win for the final standings. The Yankees were supposed to build a lead and get fat off their April schedule, instead they are looking to play .500 baseball.

To be completely honest, I would sign up for the first wild card right now. That’s not an overreaction or me giving up on the season. I know we’re seven games into the season, but none of the injured everyday Yankees are expected back any time soon. Gregorius’ best-case scenario is the All-Star break. Hicks just started baseball activities, which means he’s a few weeks away. Stanton isn’t close and season-ending surgery is still in play for Andujar. The Yankees have already exhausted their depth and batting Tyler Wade and Mike Tauchman is basically the equivalent of playing shorthanded in a Central Park softball league and having to take automatic outs at the end of the batting order. Everyone keeps talking about the Yankees’ need to stay afloat until they can get healthy, but they aren’t going to be healthy for a long time. At least if they were guaranteed the first wild card, they would most likely be healthy by then.

2. Everyone keeps talking about the Red Sox’ 3-9 start as if it’s some consolation or an excuse for the Yankees’ poor start. The Red Sox’ atrocious play has nothing to do with the Yankees and the last thing the Yankees or Yankees fans should be concerned with. They steamrolled the Yankees in the playoffs and won the World Series. They can finish in last place this season for all it matters. The Yankees and Yankees fans should worry about themselves.

The Red Sox aren’t even the biggest threat in the AL East. At least not right now. The Rays are 10-3 and there’s a good chance they could be 13-3 after this weekend against the Blue Jays since they apparently know how to take care of business against crap teams. The Rays have the reigning AL Cy Young winner in Blake Snell to go with Tyler Glasnow and Charlie Morton, a dominant opener strategy and a lineup full of nobodies who only gets hits and hit home runs when there are men on base. The Rays are for real and they aren’t going anywhere. The Yankees are 4 1/2 games behind the Rays right now, so if you’re going to worry about or focus on another team’s play, it should be them, not the Red Sox.

3. Let’s stop with the idea the Yankees have the greatest bullpen ever. Outside of Dellin Betances, who isn’t even active, and Adam Ottavino, is there any other reliever on the team you really trust to go out and pitch a scoreless inning? I don’t. Here is my current Yankees Bullpen Level of Trust (on scale of 1-10):

Dellin Betances: 9.1
Adam Ottavino: 8.5
Aroldis Chapman: 6.9
Chad Green: 6.2
Zack Britton: 5.5
Jonathan Holder: 4.3
Luis Cessa: 3.4
Tommy Kahnle: 3.3
Stephen Tarpley: 2.8

The bullpen has blown leads, increased deficits and been a major problem through the first 12 games. Yes, it’s only 7.4 percent of the season, but what was supposed to be the team’s biggest strength is far from that. The Yankees have had a lead in 11 of their 12 games and are 5-7.

4. I trust Joe Harvey right now more than I trust Tommy Kahnle or Stephen Tarpley, and he has 1 1/3 major league innings to his name. Unfortunately, Harvey is going to be the odd-man out when CC Sabathia is activated this weekend. Kahnle and Luis Cessa are out of options, so they are both staying, and the Yankees seem to love Tarpley, even though they have two other left-handed options in the bullpen.

5. I wonder if the Yankees and their pitching staff will ever figure out how to pitch to Jose Altuve. The free-swinging former MVP destroys fastballs and his miniature stature has no impact on his ability to hit them a long way as he showed by hitting four home runs in the Astros’ three-game sweep of the Yankees. Altuve is looking for a first-pitch fastball, and if he gets it, he’s swinging and it doesn’t matter where it is. So if your strategy for some reason is to throw him a first-pitch fastball, it would be ideal to not put it middle-middle for him to send to the MinuteMaid Park train track.

6. Last year at the trade deadline, I called James Paxton “blah” and in the same category as Chris Archer and Michael Fulmer, pitchers who I didn’t think were worth trading for since they wouldn’t really make the Yankees that much better. It was hard to find anyone who shared my perspective. Paxton has been underwhelming at best in three starts as a Yankee with two of those coming against the Orioles. His season line: 15 IP, 20 H, 11 R, 10 ER, 6 BB, 19 K, 3 HR, 6.00 ERA, 1.733 WHIP.

My biggest problem with the Yankees acquiring Paxton wasn’t his performance since he has always pitched well, it was the fact he has never pitched more than 160 1/3 innings in a single season and is good for at least one injured list trip per season. So now not only do I have to worry about Paxton’s seemingly inevitable injured list stint, I also have to worry about his actual performance.

If Paxton had gone to the Astros, there’s no doubt in my mind he would be a Cy Young contender, the way the Astros revitalized Justin Verlander’s career, enhanced Gerrit Cole and figured out how to make Charlie Morton nearly unhittable after a career defined by inconsistency. The Yankees have a reputation of being able to add velocity to their pitchers, but outside of that, any pitcher they acquire through trade or sign as a free agent in the Brian Cashman era hasn’t been able to duplicate their success in pinstripes, other than CC Sabathia (and he was awful for three seasons) and Masahiro Tanaka. Paxton started against the Astros four times in 2018 and went 4-0, allowing six earned runs in 26 1/3 innings (2.05 ERA). He puts on the Yankees uniform and suddenly he allows 11 baserunners in four innings and needs 95 pitches to get 12 outs against the same exact team he dominated last season.

Paxton has another 28 or 29 starts this season, if he stays healthy all season, which he has never done in his baseball career, and there is a lot of time for him to turn it around. It’s going to be a sad day if Justus Sheffield turns into a true front-end starter in the majors and Paxton is anything other than a No. 2 for this team.

7. The icing on the cake in the Yankees-Astros series was Aaron Boone holding Gary Sanchez out of Wednesday’s lineup for leg tightness, only to use him as a pinch hitter late in the game. Apparently, Sanchez was able to have one at-bat, but not multiple at-bats. Here is Sanchez’s schedule since the team’s last exhibition game on March 25:

March 26: OFF
March 27: OFF
March 28: C
March 29: OFF
March 30: C
March 31: C
April 1: C
April 2: OFF
April 3: C
April 4: C
April 5: OFF
April 6: C
April 7: DH
April 8: C
April 9: DH
April 10: OFF (Used as a pinch hitter)
April 11: OFF

Over the last 17 days, Sanchez has had eight games at catcher and two games at designated hitter. He’s had a complete week’s worth of rest through days off in the 17-day period. If Sanchez isn’t in the lineup every game this weekend against the White Sox with another off day on Monday, it better be because he needs to be placed on the injured list.

8. The Yankees don’t just have a mediocre lineup, inconsistent rotation and untrustworthy bullpen right now, they are also the worst fundamental Yankees team I can ever remember. Wild pitches, passed balls, throwing errors, fielding errors, nonsensical bunt attempts with runners on first and third and no outs in the second inning of a game, not running out bunts, misreading line drives, diving for balls and turning outs into singles and singles into doubles, outs on the bases and being unsure of what base to cover as a result of infield shifts. I’m sure I’m missing even more elements to the team’s embarrassing display so far this season.

9. DJ LeMahieu is quickly climbing the list of Yankees I want up in a big spot, and I think right now he’s second only to Aaron Judge. LeMahieu is everything no other Yankee is at the plate as he doesn’t look to hit the ball 500 feet with every swing, he changes his approach as the count changes and he allows the situation of the inning to determine his at-bat. It’s beautiful to watch. And oh yeah, he plays a Gold Glove second base and has been a vacuum at third base.

LeMahieu went 3-for-3 with a double and two RBIs on Wednesday night and is now batting .410/.455/.538, having reached base safely in 11 of 12 games. There’s no reason LeMahieu shouldn’t be batting leadoff until Aaron Hicks returns and possibly even once he returns. Unfortunately, Brett Gardner’s leadoff home run on Wednesday likely made him the leadoff hitter indefinitely. (Let’s be honest, he was going to be the leadoff hitter indefinitely even without the leadoff home run.)

10. I thought the Yankees would be 8-4 right now. I thought 7-2 was a reasonable ask against the Orioles and Tigers and then winning one out of three against the Astros. Or 6-3 against the Orioles and Tigers and winning two out of three against the Astros. Either way, 8-4 was the goal. So they are three games back of the goal. (The goal was created prior to half the team going on the injured list.)

After looking at what the Rays did to the White Sox the last three days in Chicago, a sweep this weekend isn’t a lot to ask for, but I will take a series win. Looking ahead at the Yankees’ remaining April schedule, going 11-6 should be more than doable, which would give them a 16-13 record at the end of the month. By then Stanton and Hicks could either be back or be close to being back, Betances will be back and I’m not sure when Andujar could actually return. (Let’s forget about Troy Tulowitzki since he might never play for the Yankees again.)

The injuries are certainly a big reason why the Yankees have been as bad as they have been in the early going, but the Rays don’t care. They are going to keep winning games with incredible pitching and timely hitting. The Yankees are 4 1/2 games back right now. Last year, it took them winning 18 of 19 to overcome their early-season deficit to the Red Sox, and then once they were unable to keep up their historic pace, they went right back down in the standings. It might still be early with 150 games left in the season, but the deficit in the division, no matter who it’s to, can’t keep growing at the current pace. It could take months to erase a six- or seven-game hole.

The Yankees need to get back the roster they anticipated having for this season and everything should be fine. But first, they need to start winning series with the roster they have.

***

My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!

Off days suck. At least they usually do. Right now, though, the Yankees can use as many off days as possible because a day off means a day of getting healthy for the lengthy injured list, and a day off now means a game later when some of the injured players might be back. For the first time in my life, I would gladly welcome a slew of rainouts and postponements.

The Yankees are a week into the 2019 season and are a painful 3-4, considering their first-week opponents. All seven of their games have been winnable and if not for the team’s inability to hit with runners in scoring position or their manager’s lack of doing everything possible to win, their record would be much better than a .429 winning percentage.

Here are seven thoughts on this off day for the team’s first seven games played.

1. The Yankees are in trouble.When you have Didi Gregorius, Aaron Hicks, Giancarlo Stanton and Miguel Andujar out of your lineup, it’s hard enough to overcome. (Even the loss of Troy Tulowitzki is problematic because it means Tyler Wade plays every day.) Couple those injuries with already losing four out of seven “easy” games against the Orioles and Tigers and you have a recipe for disaster. The Yankees’ remaining April schedule is still very favorable as they play the Astros three times and the Red Sox twice, and the rest of the month they will play against very bad to mediocre-at-best teams. That’s good because the current Yankees lineup is mediocre at best, but it’s bad because these are games they are supposed to win and games they need to win for the final standings and they are now anything but sure-wins as we have seen through the first week.

To be completely honest, I would sign up for the first wild card right now. That’s not an overreaction or me giving up on the season. I know we’re seven games into the season, but none of the injured everyday Yankees are expected back any time soon. Gregorius’ best-case scenario is the All-Star break. Hicks just started baseball activities, which means he’s a few weeks away. Stanton is shut down completely for two weeks and Andujar might need season-ending surgery. The Yankees have already exhausted their depth and batting Tyler Wade and Mike Tauchman is basically the equivalent of playing shorthanded in a Central Park softball league and having to take automatic outs at the end of the batting order. Everyone keeps talking about the Yankees’ need to stay afloat until they can get healthy, but they aren’t going to be healthy for a long time. At least if they were guaranteed the first wild card, they would most likely be healthy by then.

2. Everyone keeps talking about how “it’s early” and how the Red Sox are 2-6 and the Astros are 2-5. Thankfully, the Red Sox are 2-6 and not off to their 2018 start or the wild card would actually be the Yankees’ only postseason path, but the Red Sox’ start shouldn’t make the Yankees’ start any less unacceptable. The injuries have played a major role, but they had Stanton and Andujar for the opening series and still played like crap.

The Red Sox are a healthy 2-6 and the Astros are a healthy 2-5, which is embarrassing, but they are both healthy, and they are both about to start playing at home for the first time. A week from now, they will likely both be over .500 for good for the rest of the season. I’m not sure you can say the same for the Yankees given the lineup they will be running out there every day for the foreseeable future.

3. Aaron Judge is the man. He hits for average, hits for power, gets on base, takes the extra base and open steals, makes diving plays in the field and leaping catches at the wall, holds runners with his arm and is a great team leader as seen by his “urgency” quote after the first loss of the season. He’s a true five-tool player, the best player on the team and truly a perfect Yankee.

It’s a pleasure to watch him play every day and considering he’s yet to hit his first home run, there’s a power streak coming (even if Boone doesn’t believe in streaks), and he can carry this team for games at a time, which is something they desperately need right now. The Yankees need a Didi Gregorius April 2018 out of someone and Judge is their best option to provide that type of production.

4. I would once again like to thank the 2016 Yankees for their four-game losing streak right before the trade deadline, which resulted in Gleyber Torres becoming a Yankee.

Torres’ ability to play second and short (he can also play third as he would have taken over for Chase Headley mid-2017 if not for the collision at home plate resulting in season-ending Tommy John surgery) has become a necessity in the absence of Gregorius and now Troy Tulowitzki as well. Without that four-game losing streak in July 2016, there’s a good chance Torres isn’t a Yankee, and games like Thursday don’t happen.

Torres’ 4-for-4 Thursday with a double and two home runs helped the Yankees avoid falling to not only 2-5 overall, but 1-3 against the Orioles. It was his three-run home run which gave the Yankees a one-run lead in the eventual 8-4 win and maybe in a week or two we will look back at that three-run home run as the turning point of the season.

5. Luke Voit’s Opening Day three-run home run made everyone once again laugh at the Cardinals for trading him to the Yankees for essentially nothing. But after struggling through the next four-plus games with some of the ugliest at-bat you will ever see, I was beginning to question whether or not Voit was worthy of hitting in the middle of the order or if he was still the 27-year-old career .240/.307/.432 hitter the Cardinals gave up on. His three-run home run on Thursday put the game out of reach in the ninth inning, and after being 0-for-15 going into that insurance home run, I needed that home run as much as Voit and the Yankees.

Voit most likely wouldn’t have batted fourth on Opening Day if Gregorius and Hicks were healthy. Hicks would have been leading off, followed by Judge then Gregorius because Boone has to separate the righties in Judge and Stanton. At best, I think Voit would have batted fifth, and he would have batted that solely off his short time as a Yankee last season.

Right now, Voit has to hit in the middle of the order because there are no other options. Clint Frazier still looks like a player who lost nearly a full season, Tauchman is barely on the team and Wade is still trying to prove he belongs in the majors. Those three have to hit in the bottom third of the order, leaving the top six places to established major leaguers. When you start to shake it out from there, Voit is one of the only real options to bat third or fourth consistently, but he’s going to have to produce like he did when he initially became a Yankee to hold that spot when the injured list starts to dwindle.

6. The four Gary Sanchez throwing errors in six games played are a bit alarming, though at least one and possibly two of those should have been caught at second base. There is a good portion of the fan base waiting for every Sanchez mistake the way my dog sits next to me praying I drop food while I eat. I don’t get it. Sure, Sanchez has some ugly passed ball history, was awful at the plate last season and has made some errant throws this season, but he’s still a franchise catcher, and the best overall catcher in the majors.

I don’t understand why people are so quick to discount what he did at a young age in 2016 and 2017, but aren’t quick to discount someone like Voit whose career is essentially one month of what Sanchez did for a year and a half. It’s almost as if Sanchez’s horrendous 2018 season is all he has to show for his career on the back of his baseball card.

Sanchez has once again run into some bad luck this season with hard-hit line drives right at fielders this season. However, I’m happy to see him get off to a much better start from a power perspective with a team-leading three home runs in only six games so far.

I believe in Sanchez and everyone should too. (I’m looking at you, Brittni.)

7. Aroldis Chapman’s implosion on Wednesday could be seen from a mile away. Chapman is far from trustworthy in a save situation and when you put him into a tie game, the level of trust drops considerably. So it came as no surprise when a 1-1 game in the ninth turned into a 3-1 loss thanks to Chapman.

Right now, I put the Yankees’ bullpen order of trust as follows:

1. Adam Ottavino
2. Zack Britton
3. Aroldis Chapman
4. Chad Green
5. Jonathan Holder
6. Tommy Kahnle
7. Stephen Tarpley
8. Luis Cessa

(The drop-off from 3 to 4 is big and the drop-off from 5 to 6 is even bigger.)

Dellin Betances throwing means he’s getting closer to a return, which means the Yankees will have two lights-out firemen in Betances and Ottavino. Most teams don’t have one and some teams never have one. I look forward to the team’s strength getting stronger and the chance of holding leads and turning tie games and extra-inning games into wins increasing.

***

My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!