Yankees Thoughts: Another Series That Could Have and Should Have Been More

The Yankees’ season has been defined by letting opportunities slip away. Whether it’s leaving the bases loaded, not putting a hitter away with two strikes, losing a game in which they led or not winning a game they had countless chances to win, it’s been a theme for 2021. The series against the Astros was no different.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees.

1. The Stadium was rocking the entire series and it’s hard to believe it was only at 20 percent capacity. I missed hearing that sound and that noise and that atmosphere. The “Fuck Altuve” chants for three days and “Fuck Your Birthday” chants on Thursday were magnificent. It’s too bad the birthday chants got ruined by his go-ahead home run in the eighth inning off Chad Green in the series finale.

2. Entering Tuesday’s series opener against the Astros, I would have gladly signed up for winning two out of three and simply winning the series. But now that it actually happened, it feels like a letdown, the same way it felt like a letdown going 3-1 against the Indians or going 8-3 in the recent 11-game stretch. It could have been more and should have been more.

When you win the first two games of a three-game series and have Gerrit Cole going in the third game, and have a one-run lead with six outs to get, and you lose, it’s going to feel like a letdown. The same way it was in Cleveland when the Yankees won the first three games of the four-game series, had a three-run lead in the fourth game and blew it. The same way it was going 8-3 against the Indians, Orioles and Tigers.

3. The Yankees have a weekday afternoon game problem. (They also have a problem winning games started by Cole as they’re now 4-3 in his starts.) They lost on April 1 (Opening Day) to the Blue Jays (3-2 in 10 innings). The Rays came from behind on April 9 to beat them 10-5 at the Trop. The Blue Jays walked off on them on April 14 (5-4). The Orioles walked off on them in 10 innings on April 29. And then on Thursday, the Astros came from behind to beat them 7-4. The Yankees are now 0-5 in weekday afternoon games. Most of the time you can attribute it to Aaron Boone mailing it in with a lineup reminiscent of a mid-March spring training game, but not on Thursday. On Thursday, the Yankees had their best possible every lineup (just not in the right order), and they lost.

4. My current Bullpen Level of Trust (Scale of 1-10):

Aroldis Chapman: 9.8 (No one has been this high since 9.9 Mariano Rivera)
Darren O’Day: 8.6
Jonathan Loaisiga: 8.4
Chad Green: 7.9
Lucas Luetge: 7.6
Wandy Peralta: 5.0
Michael King: 4.9
Justin Wilson: 2.6
Albert Abreu: 2.3
Luis Cessa: 1.9

5. I have never felt this good about Chapman before. No one has. My confidence in a Yankees lead being protected in the ninth hasn’t been this high since Number 42 was on the mound.

I really, really, really trust O’Day, and it’s crushing he’s currently on the injured list with a rotator cuff (never want to hear that term) issue.

Loaisiga has gone from unpitchable in high-leverage spots in October to now being the most trusted active member of the bullpen behind Chapman. I wanted Loaisiga in the eighth inning on Thursday, but understood why Boone went to Green.

When Green walked the leadoff hitter, facing the bottom of the order, I had a bad feeling. That feeling came true. I still trust him, but I have seen him do what he did on Thursday one too many times to trust him more than the names above him.

Peralta gets a 5.0 starting position as a new member of the bullpen. I think there’s a very good chance he becomes this team’s version of Everyday Luis Avilan from last season and Boone goes to him too much and in too big of spots and it backfires, but so far so good from the lefty.

King hasn’t allowed a run in three appearances and 11 innings this season, but I’m not a fool. That’s not enough to trust him after his 2020 overall performance. I’m not a fool, like those who thought Nelson was suddenly going to be David Robertson in 2021 after his 2020 overall performance.

Wilson is the same pitcher he was six years ago with the Yankees, Abreu hasn’t pitched enough for me to get a feel for him and Cessa will never not be the least trustworthy member of the Yankees bullpen unless Nelson is called back up.

6. I think the Yankees have turned their season around. Normally, I would be hesitant to make a claim like that, but I saw enough of a change out of the team this week to believe their level of play in the season’s 25 games is behind them and they will continue to be the team they were expected to be in 2021. (Now watch them get swept by the Nationals this weekend.) The Astros are the best team the Yankees have played this season and they handled them in the first two games and had a lead with Green and Chapman lined up to get the final six outs.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still scared of the Astros. With or without George Springer, Justin Verlander and Cole, I still wouldn’t want any part of the Astros in a postseason series. I didn’t want any part of the Angels in the 2009 ALCS after what happened in the 2002 ALDS and 2005 ALDS. I didn’t want to see the Tigers in the 2012 ALCS after what happened in the 2006 ALDS and 2011 ALDS. There are only team I ever feel confident about seeing in the postseason: the Twins and the A’s.

7. It took Rougned Odor going on the injured list to get him out of Boone’s lineup, and if Odor hadn’t been injured on Tuesday, you can bet your ass he would have been playing on Wednesday and Thursday, forcing DJ LeMahieu off second base where he is a three-time Gold Glove winner. I would think once Luke Voit is back (and how is he not already back given his performance in Scranton?) that Odor is a full-time bench player and Tyler Wade is back off the roster. That is unless the Yankees sign Albert Pujols since he won’t cost them anything and there’s nothing the Hal Steinbrenner Yankees like more than acquiring free players. I’m kidding, but only half kidding. I could easily see Pujols batting fifth as protection for 4-hitter Odor. That’s something these Yankees would do. In all seriousness, this should be the lineup once Voit is back:

DJ LeMahieu, 2B
Giancarlo Stanton, DH
Aaron Judge, RF
Luke Voit, 1B
Gleyber Torres, 2B
Gio Urshela, 3B
Clint Frazier, LF
Gary Sanchez, C
Aaron Hicks, CF

I said that’s what the lineup should be. If you think Hicks is ever hitting any lower than sixth, you haven’t been paying attention. Boone would bat Urshela (his current cleanup hitter) ninth before he ever bats his personal favorite Hicks ninth. This will be Boone’s lineup with Voit:

DJ LeMahieu, 2B
Giancarlo Stanton, DH
Aaron Judge, RF
Luke Voit, 1B
Gleyber Torres, 2B
Aaron Hicks, CF
Gio Urshela, 3B
Gary Sanchez, C
Clint Frazier, LF
Gio Urshela, 3B

8. If Boone moves Stanton out of the 2-hole, he’s an even bigger idiot than I already think he is, and I’m not sure that’s possible.

I have (like most Yankees fans) heavily criticized Giancarlo Stanton for the majority of his Yankees tenure, and rightfully so. Overall, Stanton has been a bust for the Yankees. He has barely played since the start of the 2019 season and now he’s 31 and relegated to being a full-time designated hitter and his contract is on the brink of becoming an albatross. With Stanton, it’s a matter of staying healthy, and given everything that has gone on with him the last two years, I hold my breath watching any movement of his in the box and on the bases. But what he’s done over the last 12 games is why I and most Yankees fans have been so hard on him. Because we know this level of him exists.

Since April 23, Stanton is 25-for-52 (.481/.509/.904) with four doubles, six home runs and 11 RBIs. He’s not only getting hits at a ridiculous rate, he’s getting big hits as well, something he has rarely done as a Yankee. In the 2020 postseason, everyone saw what Stanton is capable of when he’s healthy, and we’re seeing that player again right now. This is the player I thought the Yankees traded for prior to the 2018 season. This is the player who I thought would put the Yankees over the top.

9. The Kyle Higashioka Starting Catcher train is slowing down. I would say it’s already stopped, but with Boone running the team it’s going to make much more than the three-week slump Higashioka is in for him to lose the job, even though it took Sanchez with an actual career resume less time this season to lose the job. That’s the difference between being a Boone favorite and not.

Higashioka is 5-for-34 going back to April 14, hitting .147/.275/.382 in his last 40 plate appearances. The job was never going to be his forever, and he lost his grip on it faster than even I thought he would.

Jameson Taillon pitches Friday and is coming off his best start of the season, which Sanchez caught. Then Corey Kluber is pitching on Saturday and coming off his best start of the season, which Higashioka caught. Boone doesn’t believe in hot like the idiot he is, but he does believe in personal catchers. I think Sanchez plays on Friday and Sunday and Higashioka plays on Saturday. This could be the beginning of Sanchez regaining his job. I hope it is.

10. The Yankees are now 16-15. They have won five of six and 10 of 14. It’s good, but they have a long way to go to undo the damage they did in April and the first 25 games. This weekend is going to be tough. The Nationals can’t hit, but with Patrick Corbin and Max Scherzer on Friday and Saturday, it won’t be easy, though it never is for these Yankees, not even in two out of the three games they played against the Tigers.

After the Nationals, there’s a day off on Monday and then it’s three more against the Rays. I wanted a 6-3 homestand and three straight series wins. (It could have been even more than that if not for Thursday’s collapse.) I still do. Take two of three this weekend and I’ll be happy, even if I will have a hard time accepting only taking two of three, like I always do.

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