1. The Yankees played a series against a contender, so you know can guess how it went: they lost two of three. To no surprise, the Yankees are 5-11 against the current division leaders this year. (They have yet to play Houston and Philadelphia.)
As currently constructed, the Yankees’ ceiling is likely enduring the same fate they did last year: losing in the World Series (hopefully without the humiliation). And to get there, as of now, they would have to win a best-of-3 against the Red Sox (a team that has won 10 straight and is 5-1 against the Yankees this year) then beat either the Astros or the Tigers in the ALDS, and then likely whichever one of the Astros or Tigers they didn’t face in the ALDS in the ALCS. The road to the 2025 World Series is going to be littered with obstacles. The path isn’t going to be the red carpet the Yankees received last year with Kansas City and Cleveland.
2. With the “first half” complete, the Yankees have the AL’s fourth-best record and the majors’ ninth-best. Despite this, their manager refers to them as the best team in the league. That opinion is shared by the players who talk about how good they are and how good they know they can be (like Will Warren did again on Sunday), but don’t play like it, having lost 18 of their last 29 games.
In that time the Yankees have watched their division lead vanish. Once eight games ahead of the Blue Jays, they are now two games behind them. Once 12 games ahead of the Red Sox in the loss column, that lead is now down to two and they are tied in wins.
3. After beating the Cubs 11-0 on Friday, the Yankees lost 5-2 on Saturday and 4-1 on Sunday. That’s their motto: Win blowouts and lose close games. The offense was no-hit until the eighth inning on Thursday, shut out until the ninth on Saturday and held to one run on Sunday in a game in which they sent the minimum amount of batters to the plate over the final seven innings.
A lot has been made about the Yankees scoring five-plus runs in the first 10 games of July, but they went 5-5 in those games. That’s because their pitching has been atrocious. Inconsistent starting pitching combined with a depleted bullpen and a manager who doesn’t have a clue about how to utilize the relievers he does have has led the Yankees to a 5-7 record this month despite scoring 6.3 runs per game.
4. Carlos Rodon completed eight scoreless innings on Friday with some magnificent help from Aaron Judge in right field. Max Fried left Saturday’s game with a blister on his left hand in what was his shortest and worst start of the season (and he has now been blah to bad in four of his last five starts). Warren put nine baserunners on in 5 1/3 innings on Sunday, but limited the damage to two runs. One good start, one bad start and one OK start. That’s the way it has been going for the Yankees for the last month. Mostly, when they hit, they don’t pitch, and when they pitch, they don’t hit. And when things are going well, their manager hinders their odds of winning, like on Sunday.
5. In the series finale, the game was tied with one out in the sixth. With a well-rested bullpen, 11 outs to get and four complete days off ahead, who do you think was the first reliever out of the bullpen? Ian Hamilton! Hamilton allowed a two-run home run to the first batter he faced, the Cubs took the lead and never looked back.
Paul O’Neill suggested on YES that Boone should have let Hamilton start the inning clean instead of having him come in with a runner in scoring position. Are you new around here, Paul? Stealing outs with the starting pitcher is Boone’s signature move. Whether it’s April or July or September or even the postseason, Boone will stop at nothing to try to get an extra out from a clearly labored and fatigued starter. It’s what he does best.
6. The trade deadline is 17 days away. I wouldn’t give up anything of value for the third base options that have been mentioned. Because the options aren’t worth giving up anything for. You’re either getting a good bat with no defense or good defense with no bat. This team also isn’t a third baseman away from wining a championship. They are a third baseman, a starting pitcher, at least two relievers, a shortstop and a manager away.
Even if the Yankees trade for a third baseman, get a starter and two relievers, Boone will still be in the dugout and Anthony Volpe will still be at shortstop. Brian Cashman likes to say the Yankees went to the World Series with Volpe at shortstop. But when he says that, he doesn’t mention that the Yankees lost the World Series. That they were thoroughly embarrassed in the World Series. He doesn’t mention that Volpe was part of the fifth-inning meltdown. He doesn’t talk about only needing to beat the Royals and Guardians to win the pennant.
7. It’s painful watching Volpe play. He can’t hit for average. He doesn’t have power. He’s a liability on balls hit to him. His arm is weak. His baserunning instincts are poor and his overall Baseball IQ is frightening. There’s not a single positive quality he brings on the field, and his media sessions are every bit as bad as his actual play.
After Sunday’s game, in which he posted his latest 0-for and screwed up two more plays in the field, the media huddled around Volpe to hear him say, “Everything’s in front of us.” I wonder where he learned that line from. From his manger, of course. The same manager who backed Volpe’s ridiculous inning-extending play on Sunday by blaming Jazz Chisholm.
“As a shortstop, you gotta have the freedom to try and get yourself the best hop,” Boone said, “and then, Jazz probably has to turn into a first baseman there where we’re stretching.”
No, it can’t be the Golden Boy’s fault. It can’t be the fault of the shortstop who won’t charge a ball and doesn’t have the arm to make up for his hesitation.
“I feel like we have the makings of a good defensive club,” Boone said, as delusional as ever.
8. Volpe is down to .214/.287/.384 offensively. His .671 OPS is right in line with his .663 career OPS. He’s down to being 14 percent worse than league average with an 86 OPS+. Guess what his OPS+ was last year? 86. There has been no improvement even though Boone told everyone two weeks ago how much he has improved year over year and how “everybody is losing their mind” when it comes to criticizing the Golden Boy’s performance. Volpe is at best the same hitter he was in 2023 and 2024, and now he’s a worse defender and baserunner. But sure, keep telling everyone what they see every single day (since he gets to play every single day the way All-Stars Judge and Jazz Chisholm do) isn’t real and that it’s all an illusion. The Yankees’ internal metrics will tell you Volpe should have been elected an All-Star like Judge and Chisholm. The same metrics that Boone cited when talking about how great Isiah Kiner-Falefa was at shortstop in 2023, only to bench him in the postseason. The same metrics that Boone cited in talking about Gleyber Torres’ 2024 season when he was leading all second baseman in errors, and then when it came time to pay Torres they let him walk.
9. Volpe isn’t the answer at shortstop. He’s likely not an answer at any position, because after 414 games and 1,674 career plate appearances he’s closer to not being a major leaguer than he is to being part of the solution, like Cashman told us last week. He’s not part of the solution, he’s part of the problem. A big part of it.
George Lombard Jr. needs to be part of the solution. The most enjoyable moment of the weekend for the Yankees was happening 900 miles away with Lombard Jr. starring in the Futures Game. Lombard Jr. is the most important person in the organization not currently on the 26-man roster. He needs to work out. He has to work out because Volpe certainly isn’t.
10. I typically hate the All-Star break with no baseball for four days. Not this year. This year I’m welcoming the All-Star break and it couldn’t have come at a better time. The Yankees need a break and I need a break from the Yankees.
Maybe the four days off will reset them before the open the “second half” in Atlanta. Maybe it will cool off the Red Sox who haven’t lost in their last 10 games. Maybe it will serve as tailspin for the Blue Jays who erased an eight-game deficit between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. Maybe it will be the end of the Yankees’ annual summer swoon and for the rest of July and August and September they will be the team they were in March, April and May.
Here’s to four, Yankees-less, relaxing days this week. I don’t think the next nine-plus weeks won’t be so relaxing.
Last modified: Jul 14, 2025
