After a disappointing (and somewhat embarrassing) loss on Saturday, the Yankees looked like themselves on Sunday, winning their first series of the season against a bad Giants team. Beating up on bad teams is what the Yankees should do, and they did just that in two of the first three games to open the season.

Opening Day was awesome. It was as good and as clean of an Opening Day win as you could ask for, and it made for an enjoyable Thursday night, Friday and first half of Saturday, being able to bask in the glory of starting the season 1-0. I wrote about Opening Day here, so while the Thoughts typically cover the entire most recent series, I’m just going to keep this to the games on Saturday and Sunday.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees.

1. Clarke Schmidt was filthy on Saturday … the first one-and-one-third times through the order.

Here is what Schmidt did in the first three innings: 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K

Here is what he did in the fourth inning: 0.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 2 HR

The Schmidt we saw in innings 1 through 3 was the guy I expected him to develop into in now his fourth season of getting innings in the majors. The guy we saw in the fourth inning is the guy I feared he would be with the Yankees needing him to step up with 60 percent of their expected rotation on the injured list.

2. Schmidt was bad, but he wasn’t the only one. Michael King, pitching for the first time since July 22 (and since his offseason comments about the Astros can’t beat the Yankees when healthy) allowed five baserunners and two runs in 1 2/3 innings. Clay Holmes (who is supposed to be the Yankees closer despite losing all fan trust in the second half of last season) allowed two runs on three hits and couldn’t even complete a full inning.

I’m not worried about the Yankees’ bullpen because of its depth and because Jonathan Loaisiga, Wandy Peralta and Ron Marinaccio are all outstanding (even if Aaron Boone had Marinaccio throw two innings and a career-high in pitches in a five-run game on freezing cold Opening Day and then had him throw another 1 1/3 innings on Sunday). But I’m worried that Boone will continue to use King and Holmes as his Nos. 1 and 2 relievers like it’s June of last year and not a completely new season.

3. Because Yankees pitching allowed seven runs to the mediocre-at-best Giants on Saturday, the Yankees trailed 7-4 entering the bottom of the ninth. Aaron Hicks made his 2023 debut as a pinch hitter for Jose Trevino and was immediately granted a 1-0 count because of a pitch timer violation on Camilo Doval. Hicks worked what should have been a walk in the at-bat to lead off the ninth, but got screwed by home plate umpire Andy Fletcher and ended up striking out. (I need robot ball-strike calls or ball-strike challenges in 2024. Enough is enough.) After the Hicks strikeout, Anthony Volpe singled and DJ LeMahieu walked. Aaron Judge singled in Volpe and then Anthony Rizzo walked to load the bases for Giancarlo Stanton with the Yankees trailing 7-5.

Doval got behind Stanton 2-0 and this had been Doval’s appearance to that point: a strikeout that should have been a walk, a single, a walk, another single, another walk, two pitch timer violations and now a 2-0 count to Stanton. Stanton should have laid his bat down and stood in the box batless, because there was absolutely no way Doval was going to throw three strikes before two more balls (unless Fletcher helped him out again). But I knew better than to think Stanton would take. Just as Doval came set, I said to my wife, “He’s swinging at this 2-0 no matter where it is.” Sure enough, Stanton swung and banged into a 6-4-3, game-ending double play.

Upon replay, it looked as though Thairo Estrada wasn’t on second base when he caught the ball for the first out of the double play, and it looked like LaMonte Wade may have not been connected to first when he got the ball for the second out either. There was a chance everyone on the play would be called safe after a review, but at worst, it looked like Rizzo would be safe at second, Stanton out at first with LeMahieu scoring to make it 7-6 and runners on second and third with two outs. Instead, the league office decided the call on the field would stand and the game was over.

You can complain about the horrendous called strike to Hicks (and I will) or you can question how the league office couldn’t recognize Estrada’s foot off the base (it was), but what Saturday’s loss comes down to is you can’t allow seven runs to this Giants team.

4. Outside of the seven runs allowed on Saturday, the Yankees didn’t allow any runs in the other two games. Eighteen scoreless innings from Yankees pitching in Games 1 and 3 of the series and season. Six of those were from Gerrit Cole on Thursday, and on Sunday, in his major-league debut, Johny Brito shut out the Giants for five innings.

With Carlos Rodon and Luis Severino expected back in a month (pray) or so (“or so” is more likely) there will still be a need for a fifth starter in the rotation since Frankie Montas has likely thrown his last pitch as a Yankee. Schmidt bombed in his first audition for that role, while Brito looked every bit the part of a major-league starter in his first opportunity. (Even if Domingo German dazzles on Tuesday, I want no part of German winning the spot in the rotation.)

Brito was phenomenal in first taste of the majors (5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K), and for a pitcher who barely walked anyone in the minors, that carried over to the majors. I love everything about Brito, but especially the lack of walks. Make the opposition beat you. Don’t nibble and don’t give free passes. Give me more Jhony Brito!

5. The power continued its presence as Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Kyle Higashioka all hit home runs, and nearly everyone contributed to the win. If you didn’t watch the game, I’m sure you can guess who didn’t contribute. That would be the dynamic duo of Josh Donaldson and Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who went a combined 0-for-7 with a walk and two strikeouts.

When the lineup was posted on Sunday, all I could do was laugh. DJ LeMahieu wasn’t in it, needing a day off after playing second base on Thursday, getting a day off on Friday and DHing on Saturday. With LeMahieu’s foot issue from last season, Boone and the Yankees are going to take the load management to a whole new level with their leadoff hitter this season. Even if there’s no proof it will keep his foot healthy or prevent him from injuring something else. But that wasn’t even the most egregious lineup decision for the third game of the season. That honor would go to Kiner-Falefa starting in center field.

Kiner-Falefa entered Sunday with zero career appearances in the outfield. He just started getting time in the outfield two weeks ago in spring training, yet here he was playing center field in Yankee Stadium, while a guy the Yankees gave $70 million to (of which they still owe three years and $30 million on) to play center field was on the bench. To make matters worse, the Giants’ starter on Sunday was the right-handed Ross Stripling. Kiner-Falefa is a right-handed bat. The $70 million Hicks is switch hitter who can therefore bat left-handed against right-handed starters.

The decision was more than puzzling. If Hicks isn’t going to play his most customary position over someone who has never played the position before, then why is he on the team? That’s before you even factor in Kiner-Falefa being a right-handed-only bat and Hicks being a switch hitter against the right-handed Stripling. It’s hurting my head trying to simplify this as I write about it.

6. Before the game, Hicks was asked by The Athletic about his playing time and he didn’t hold back.

“I have no idea what my role is,” Hicks said. “It’s kind of uncertain.”

“Uncertain” is a nice way to put it when you’re getting passed over for Kiner-Falefa.

 “I just want to play,” Hicks said. “I don’t want to come off the bench and face closers all day. I want to play the field, I want to play every day, and it’s just what I want to do. I want to start. I really don’t know what else to say.”

Hicks must have a short memory. Luckily, I don’t. Last August, in the middle of one of his many benchings during the 2022 season, Hicks said, “If I’m a guy that’s in the lineup, cool. If I’m not, it is what it is.” He did his best to say he didn’t care if he played or not last season and now all of a sudden he wants to play every day?

“If you would have told me (in spring training) that I wouldn’t have started the first three games, I wouldn’t have believed you,” Hicks said. “But it is what it is. But there’s nothing I can do about it. Just sit around and wait for my opportunity and try my best.”

No one likes saying “It is what it is” more than Hicks. I’m just glad he’s going to try his best when he plays. That’s nice of him.

Word of Hicks’ unhappiness got to Boone who was asked about it.

“He’ll play even though he hasn’t been in the lineup these first few,” Boone said. “It was kind of the last two days, didn’t love that matchup. But likely in there the next two days.”

7. Hicks wasn’t good enough to play in any of the first three games, but now he’s automatically playing the next two games? If Hicks plays that means someone sits,. Someone who deserves to play. You have to admire the Yankees’ inexcusable stubbornness to plan out their lineups days in advance and to begin giving their regulars scheduled days off not even a week into the season.

It’s obvious Boone doesn’t like Hicks, and I can’t blame him. Boone benched him outright on at least three occasions last season and pulled him from that September 9 game against the Rays when Hicks misplayed two fly balls in a row. In February, Hicks spoke about that benching and said, “Boone was like, ‘I’m sorry, I read the situation wrong. I understand what you’re going through … blah, blah, blah.'” And Boone responded by saying, “I don’t know if I said it like that … It was my decision to make and one I felt like I had to make in the moment. It’s as simple as that.”

8. As I stood at my seat at the Stadium in October during Game 5 of the ALDS and watched Boone help Hicks limp off the field following his season-ending collision with Oswaldo Cabrera, I figured it was the last time I would ever see Hicks play for the Yankees. I’m sure Hicks thought the same thing. I’m sure Boone, helping Hicks, thought the same thing. I don’t think Hicks expected to be a Yankee in 2023. I’m sure he thought they would eat money or attach a prospect to his contract to move him. They tried and no one wanted him. The only way another team will want him is if he’s released and then owed just the veteran minimum by the new team. That’s where this is headed, and until it gets there, if Hicks can’t even play his customary position over an infielder with no outfield experience, let alone center field experience, he’s just wasting a roster spot.

9. “I was concerned about things that shouldn’t be concerned about,” Hicks said in February reflecting on last season. “I should have been playing the game, trying to win the game, that’s it. I felt like I allowed myself to get wrapped up in the position change, the dropping down the order. I got really wrapped up in my performance, too.”

Hicks said all of that less than six weeks ago, and it seems like he’s headed down the same road. Rather than replying, “I’m here to do whatever is needed to help the team,” or “I’m just waiting for my chance and I’ll be ready,” or using some other boring, generic answer when asked by The Athletic about his role, Hicks decided the hours before the third game of the season was the time to publicly voice his displeasure with his playing time.

On a day when the Yankees won a game, won a series, posted their second shutout in three games to the start the season and received an impressive effort from a pitcher making his major-league debut, Hicks should be the farthest player from creating a story or headline considering he didn’t appear in the game and has contributed one non-productive at-bat through the first three games of the season. That’s what is called a distraction. The Yankees don’t need an unnecessary distraction, the same way they didn’t needed to extend Hicks and haven’t needed to stand by and wait for him to overcome injury after injury and disappointing season after disappointing season. But they keep rostering him, keep trying to make it work, keep trying to make him happy and now his mere presence is taking away from the actual on-the-field result.

10. When it comes to the schedule, it’s not necessarily about who you play, but when you play them, and the Yankees will play their three games against the Phillies this season this week when the Phillies are without Bryce Harper and when the Yankees will be able to miss seeing Zack Wheeler (as he started on Saturday). The Phillies are off to horrible start, winless in their first three games. They blew a five-run lead on Opening Day, got blown out 16-3 on Saturday and then scored one run on Sunday night. They will be hungry for a win and manager Rob Thomson will be hungry to shove the decision to pass over him for Boone in the face of the Yankees’ front office over the the next three days at the Stadium.

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On Wednesday, I overheard someone ask, “When is Opening Day?” When is Opening Day? When is Opening Day?! WHEN IS OPENING DAY?! I couldn’t understand how someone couldn’t know when Opening Day is. It’s a day I know as soon as the schedule is announced during the prior season. It’s a day I count down to. It’s a day I eagerly and anxiously wait for. Every year.

This offseason seemed to go by incredibly fast. Maybe it’s because the Yankees gave us a somewhat extended postseason run into late October. Maybe it’s because of the mild winter we had. Maybe it’s because I have a two-and-a-half-year-old and an 11-month-old that I’m trying to keep alive every day. I don’t know what it is, but it feels like I was just walking out of Yankee Stadium during (yes, during) Game 3 of the ALCS knowing I wouldn’t be returning to it until this season.

A year ago on Opening Day, Gerrit Cole laid a first-inning egg against the Red Sox, the way he always lays an egg against the Red Sox, and the Yankees had to overcome an early hole on their way to a walkoff win. On this Opening Day, Cole walked the first batter of the game on four pitches for the second consecutive season, and I began to wonder if that was an ominous sign for the season.

Cole wasn’t hurt by that walk though. Instead, he struck out the side. The only thing that he would hurt in the game would be his pitch count as he racked up strikeout after strikeout, which left me yearning for the chance for the Yankees to compete in the NL West rather than the AL East with this type of competition. Cole would go on to dominate the feeble Giants offense, striking out 11 and setting the Yankees’ Opening Day strikeout record. It was as dominant a pitching line as Cole has put together as a Yankee, even if his stuff didn’t look as sharp as it can be when he’s completely on.

If you had to pick a pitcher to beat these Yankees, Logan Webb would probably be that pitcher. Everything he does well as a pitcher combats what the Yankees do well as an offense. As a hard-throwing righty who doesn’t allow home runs, he would face a nearly-all-right-handed lineup on Thursday wanting to hit home runs. Like Cole, Webb was really good, striking out 12 in six innings, but the Yankees were able to do exactly what they wanted to do against him and what they want to do against every pitcher: hit home runs.

I kept thinking on Thursday what if Aaron Judge were batting in the top of the first for the Giants at the Stadium instead of in the bottom of the first for the Yankees. It was close to happening and for a few minutes on December 6, we all thought it was going to happen. Thankfully, Judge is a Yankee, and thankfully, he was there batting second on Thursday and driving a Webb sinker into Monument Park. Webb had to be thinking, “What the fuck just happened?” because Webb doesn’t allow home runs (just 11 in 192 1/3 innings last year), and certainly not home runs like that.

It took until the bottom of the third inning for Anthony Volpe to get his first major-league plate appearance. The rookie shortstop swung at the first pitch he saw (very Derek Jeter-esque), and ended up drawing a seven-pitch walk, in which he saw five balls, but unfortunately, Laz Diaz was the home plate umpire. Once on base, everyone knew Volpe was going to run, including Webb, who threw over to first with Volpe standing on the base. Volpe did run, did steal second and looked every bit like a major leaguer in his debut. He made a nice play off-balance on a slow roller on the infield grass and turned a perfect double play with DJ LeMahieu later in the game. To think, just five months ago Yankees fans had to watch Isiah Kiner-Falefa play shortstop every day.

With one out in the bottom of the fourth, the Yankees were still holding a 1-0 lead and the game under that opened at 7.5 and closed at 6.5 looked like it should have been set at 4.5 or even 3.5 To that point in the game, there were two hits and 17 strikeouts. Despite all the rule changes, it looked exactly like a Yankees game from the past. The game was flying by, but it wasn’t because of the pitch clock. It was because no one was putting the ball in play. There had been just two hits in the game through 4 1/3 innings.

Josh Donaldson changed that with a single on a ground ball to left field before Gleyber Torres extended the one-run lead to three with a two-run home run to right-center. I have been an advocate for trading Torres since the end of the 2021 season, but like I wrote in Yankees Thoughts earlier in the week: I’m fine with Torres being a Yankee, but feel like he should no longer be a Yankee. If he remains a Yankee, so be it. If he’s traded, so be it.

It would be hard to argue for the Giants having had a real threat in the game. They had the walk to lead off the game. They had a runner on second with two outs in the second. They had a leadoff walk in the fourth. They had a runner on second with one out in the seventh. Those were their “threats” for the day. The only threat was that of Cole giving up his pair of home runs that he seems to allow every start, and those home runs never came. Instead the Giants were held to four singles (two from ex-Yankee Thairo Estrada who continued the theme of every ex-Yankee playing well against them), and they never had multiple baserunners in any inning. That’s likely to happen often this season for the Giants, who have Wilmer Flores batting third.

Aaron Boone didn’t have to do anything. He got to stand in the dugout, chew his gum and play with his oversized watch. That’s how I wish every Yankees game would go. Cole gave them six shutout innings, the bullpen added three more shutout innings and the offense did enough to get the win. Boone never had to interject himself on Thursday, and any reliever he called on would have likely shut down the Giants, including Albert Abreu. But it was Wandy Peralta, Jonathan Loaisiga and Ron Marinaccio who did it in on Opening Day. (It was very odd that Boone had Loaisiga only throw two pitches and get one out and then asked Marinaccio to pitch two innings and throw the most pitches he has ever thrown in a game.)

It was as good a Yankees Opening Day win as you could ask for. Cole dominated, Judge did what he does, Volpe looked like he belongs, Torres continued with his returned power from last season and the bullpen was as good as expected. The only Yankee who went home feeling down was Oswaldo Cabrera after going 0-for-4 with strikeouts. I’m not worried about Cabrera, but you just know Boone will now likely play Aaron Hicks in left on Saturday. I would have mentioned Hicks as feeling down for not being in the starting lineup or playing on Opening Day, if not for his comments last season about playing time: “If I’m a guy that’s in the lineup, cool. If I’m not, it is what it is.”

Opening Day always feels more important than other regular-season games, even if it holds the same value as the other 161 regular-season games. It feels like a playoff game. And because of that, there’s nothing worse than an Opening Day loss especially with the scheduled day off following. But there’s also nothing better than an Opening Day win, and there wasn’t anything better on Thursday.

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The Yankees had to re-sign Aaron Judge. They had no choice. As an organization, they backed themselves into this position by not extending him between 2017 and 2021 and by not giving him what he was looking for prior to Opening Day 2022, which was certainly not a nine-year, $360 million deal. (Though their pre-Opening Day 2022 offer was extremely fair.) And then the perfect storm of events for Judge took place leading to him getting the highest average annual salary of any position player in history and a deal that makes him a Yankee through his age 39 season.

Judge had an all-time offensive season, carried the Yankees for six months, broke the American League home run record and won AL MVP. To support his free-agent case, the Yankees were embarrassed in the ALCS by the Astros and his hometown Giants followed up a 107-win season with 81 wins, losing the AL West by 30 games. Then within the last week, whatever backup plan the Yankees had if Judge left was ruined when Jacob deGrom, Justin Verlander and Trea Turner all came off the board. Turner signing before Judge only helped Judge as the new Phillie’s 11-year deal meant the eight-year offer out to Judge wasn’t going to get it done. The elite free-agent options were disappearing, and the Yankees had only one choice: finally give Judge what he wants, which was way, way, way more than what he wanted in early April.

The Yankees’ nonsensical “no extension” policy cost them hundreds of millions of dollars with Judge. Not that I care. No Yankees fan should care. Why should anyone other than the Steinbrenners care about their finances? (Finances they inherited from their father from a franchise they inherited from their father, a franchise their father didn’t want them to run.) If Judge got 15 years and $1.5 billion from the Yankees, only two groups of people should care: the Judges and the Steinbrenners. In a salary cap-less league, the money doesn’t matter. The years don’t matter. Having the best possible roster in the given season it all that matters.

Somehow along the way, baseball owners fooled the public into thinking luxury-tax penalties would sink franchises. There’s no market smaller than San Diego and in the last four years, the Padres gave $340 million to Fernando Tatis, $300 million to Manny Machado, $100 million to Jose Musgrove, traded for Yu Darvish’s $21 million average annual salary, tried to give Turner $342 million this week, tried to give Judge $400 million this week and finally were able to sign Xander Bogaerts for $280 million. If the Padres of all teams can spend the way they do, it’s disturbing to think what the Yankees could truly afford to spend compared to what they actually spend.

The Steinbrenners knew they had to keep Judge, not because it would help them win a championship, but because it would help them financially. Since Game 4 of the ALCS, the Yankees have sent countless emails for 2023 ticket offers, using Giancarlo Stanton and DJ LeMahieu as the images in these emails. I like Stanton and love LeMahieu, but those two aren’t “putting fannies in the seats” like George Steinbrenner used to say. Hal Steinbrenner can act like not winning the World Series for a 13th straight year bothers him and keeps him up at night, but it’s all for show. To Hal, the Yankees had a successful season. They made his family hundreds of millions of dollars, and reaching the postseason was just icing on the cake. Getting five home playoff games (and a sixth when they screwed over everyone for Game 5 of the ALDS) was the cherry on top.

Judge alone won’t help the Yankees overcome the Astros and win the World Series. Steinbrenner said he told Judge the Yankees would be able to re-sign him and more this offseason. So far the Yankees gave Anthony Rizzo a new contract and brought back Tommy Kahnle. The four-win ALCS gap hasn’t been closed. If it has moved, if anything, it’s moved more in the Astros’ favor.

It doesn’t matter that Verlander left the Astros for the Mets. The Astros still boast Framber Valdez, Lance McCullers Jr. and Christian Javier in their rotation, and were able to win the AL in 2021 without Verlander. The Astros can just plug his rotation spot with either Luis Garcia or Jose Urquidy, neither of which made the Astros’ postseason rotation. (Both made 28 starts in 2022 with Garcia pitching to a 3.72 ERA and Urquidy a 3.94 ERA.) The Astros are also returning their World Series-winning offense in addition to Jose Abreu (who they recently gave a three-year deal too).

It feels like the Yankees are going to re-sign Andrew Benintendi, which would be nice since it would put an end to any idea Aaron Hicks could be a Yankee in 2023, but all it does is bring back another piece from a Yankees team that wasn’t good enough. A piece that missed the final month of the season and the postseason due to a second hamate surgery, a surgery that is known to sap power for some time after.

The best thing the Yankees have going for them is that the rest of the AL seems to be content with doing nothing this offseason. The Red Sox let Bogaerts leave. The Rays gave Zach Eflin the biggest free-agent contract in franchise history. The Blue Jays traded away Teoscar Hernandez. The White Sox’ big splash has been signing Mike Clevinger. I guess the Rangers made a statement by signing deGrom, but they then canceled that out by signing Andrew Heaney. Turner stayed in the NL. Bogaerts went to the NL. Verlander went to the NL. Wilson Contreras stayed in the NL. Mitch Haniger went to the NL.

It’s helpful nearly all of the free-agent talent has gone to the NL over the AL, but it doesn’t make me feel better about the Yankees’ offseason, which is shaping up to be returning nearly the same exact roster and core that for a fifth straight season just proved to not be good enough.

I’m not excited the Yankees re-signed Judge. I’m relieved. No one should be celebrating the team that makes more money than any other team being able to retain their own homegrown free agent. Eating money to move Aaron Hicks or Josh Donaldson would get me excited. Moving on from Isiah Kiner-Falefa? Signing Carlos Rodon? Trading for Bryan Reynolds? Giving an everyday spot to Anthony Volpe or Oswald Peraza out of spring training? Now we’re talking. That would get me excited. Those are moves that would begin to close the gap that has grown progressively wider since the 2017 ALCS.

The Winter Meetings are over, but the offseason has really just begun. There’s just over two months until pitchers and catchers report for the the Steinbrenners to make good on their promise to Judge that they could sign him and more this offseason. Having two months to make good on that promise doesn’t mean I think it will actually happen, just that they have two months to make it happen. Right now, they’re the same old Yankees: good enough to make the postseason, but not good enough to win it. For Yankees fans, it’s not good enough. It’s about time it isn’t for the Steinbrenners either.

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