As a Yankee fan, I am seriously concerned. I was flipping from game to game the other night right as a whole bunch were starting and all the lineups were being read and I went to the Yankees. When I saw their order, the feeling I got was could certainly not be described as confident. Behind Derek Jeter, who is having a great year despite cooling off a bit, Curtis Granderson, who is performing the way he should be expected to perform, realistically, and Robinson Cano, who is under preforming but pretty certain to bounce back, the Yankees have 6 question marks. On top of a lineup with major issues, the starting rotation has been abysmal and the Marino Rivera-less bullpen is made up of people you, me, and even Brain Cashman have never heard of. The Yankees won on Wednesday to avoid falling into last place, which is good, I guess, but avoiding last is a far cry from the type of success we’ve come to expect from the Bombers. The lineup is less of an issue, so lets start there.
Alex Rodriguez is the Yankees’ amazingly expensive 4 hitter. He is making an astonishing $29 million this season which is, shockingly, less than he made the last 3 seasons. Though A-Rod clubbed 30 bombs in 2009 and 2010, his average and overall production have plummeted. He hit only 16 homers in an injury plagued 2011 and has only 7 homers this year. Basically, unless Alex can prove otherwise, the Yankees are paying almost $30 million a year, a sum that would cripple half the teams in the majors, for, in essence, Scott Rolen past his prime. This a very bad thing for this franchise.
Past A-Rod, Mark Teixeira has been awful this season, despite a very hot streak recently, he’s still hitting only .257 with 9 homers. Until recently, he was hitting in the .220’s. Nick Swisher is a mediocre defensive outfielder who’s only hitting .244. That’s not good enough. Further, catcher Russell Martin is hitting .187. That leaves veteran Raul Ibanez, and either Eric Chavez or Andruw Jones filling out the order. Ibanez has been playing well but he’s very old the Phillies cast him off so I’m not sure that this pace is sustainable. In terms of Chavez and Jones, I think that they are just the type of over the hill star that has characterized the Yankees for the last decades (see: Strawberry, Daryl. Johnson, Randy. Sheffield, Gary. Justice, David. Just to name a few). I do not trust them to carry the team, nor do I think they are capable of it. This lineup simply doesn’t stack up against the likes of the Tigers, Rangers, or Rangers. That’s a serious problem considering the amount of runs the starting rotation gives up.
CC Sabathia is the Yankees’ ace and he has pitched like it, more or less. He’s got a 1.2 WHIP and a 3.66 ERA. That’s not Cy Young worthy but next to the other guys in the rotation he looks like Nolan Ryan. Phil Hughes has a losing record, an ERA over 5.6 and a WHIP over 1.4. To be honest, I’m willing to chalk his good season in 2010 up to being a fluke and call him a full fledged bust. I’m sick of this guy, he’s a disaster who never seems to improve and has been maddeningly inconsistent. I think its time for the Phil Hughes era to end. Moving on, I still think Hiroki Kuroda was a good signing but he has struggled more than expected moving from the NL West to the AL East. He’s currently leads the league in losses and has a 1.37 WHIP and a 3.96 ERA. That’s certainly not good enough for the 2 starter we hoped he’d be. Ivan Nova wins a lot of games but his ERA has always been very high but now its up to 5.6 to go with an astronomical 1.58 WHIP. This brings us to Andy Pettitte. I love Pettitte, I think he’s The Man and he’s my favorite player but he’s 39 and, after more than a year off from baseball, can’t possibly be considered one of our most important pitchers. The Yankees don’t have a guy they can count on to give them a solid start most times out. They don’t really even have a guy they can count on to 7 innings most times out. This is an issue.
In terms of the bullpen, all I’ll say is this: The main pieces of the Yankees’ ‘pen other than David Robertson (DL) and Rafael Soriano are Corey Wade, Clay Rappada, David Phelps, and Boone Logan. Has anyone besides the most ardent Yankee fans heard of any of those guys? I think not.
So, what should the Yankees do about all these glaring problems? We’ll, not much. As it is, the Yanks farm system is pretty thin and I don’t think its wise to trade away more of our prospects for another starting pitcher. I really don’t think this team is good enough for one pitcher to make much of a difference. I honestly don’t think the Yankees are good enough to compete this season. Not with Tampa, Detroit, Texas, Anaheim, Boston, and apparently the White Sox and even Orioles to contend with. Going forward, the Yanks need to ditch Swisher as fast as possible, move away from Chavez and Jones, hope Brett Gardner can return to form, hope Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances develop as planned and sign another good pitcher. Most of all, the Bombers have to hope that A-Rod and Tex play well. The Yanks are stuck with those two players at the corner infield positions for better or worse. There is simply too much money sunk into them to even think about moving them. If Rodriguez continues to decline at this amazing rate, the Yanks have serious problems. Overall, it is kind of a stressful time to be a Yankee fan.
-Max Frankel
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