The New York Yankees still seem to have no answers. After Friday’s loss to the Rays, a 9-0 beatdown that has the Rays within five games in the AL East, the pitching staff seems thin, the batting order looks short, and manager Aaron Boone is losing his temper on a regular basis.
After starting the season 61-23 and boasting a 15.5-game lead in the AL East, the Yankees are 18-30 since. Trade acquisition Frankie Montas still hasn’t found his footing, Luis Severino is still rehabbing from injury, Nestor Cortes is working back from an injury as well, and Jordan Montgomery is dominating since being traded to the Cardinals.
After Friday’s loss, Boone didn’t mince words, again.
“That’s an embarrassing loss,” he said, per ESPN. “Hopefully, one of those rock-bottom situations, where you should be pissed off and embarrassed. We’ve set a better standard around here. We just got to be better. Period.”
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The Yankees are coming off their worst month since 1991 after posting a 9-18 record in August. The difference, however, is 1991 was a season of suffering. 2022 was a celebration until the precipitous dropoff.
“It’s just embarrassing when you get beat like that and you’re going through the struggles you are,” Boone continued. “I’m in charge of this team. What we’re going through right now, I know better than anyone, there’s going to be hard moments and hard times. I do think the effort’s there, I think the care is there. But we’ve set a much better standard in that room that we’ve got to start living up to.”
Boone may be accepting accountability, but eventually players have to start hitting. The team’s OPS was a season-low .649 in August, and that’s with Aaron Judge’s 1.091 OPS in the month.
How good was the Yankees start?
The Yankees got things off to a scorching start in 2022, powered primarily by an outstanding pitching staff. They still have the fourth-best ERA and sixth-best FIP in baseball, thanks in no small part to incredible starts by the likes of All-Star Nestor Cortes and and Jameson Taillon. Geritt Cole, despite some inconsistency, has also been a rotational stalwart.
At a point, the Yankees looked like a surefire 100-win team and runaway winners in the AL East. While the law of averages was bound to catch them eventually, it instead got ahead of them and stopped them in their tracks.
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What happened to the Yankees?
Basically, reality happened.
The short Yankees lineup has stopped hitting outside of Judge, Gleyber Torres and DJ LeMahieu have been some of the worst hitters in baseball in August, and the pitching staff has been snake-bitten by injuries.
Meanwhile, the rest of the AL East (Red Sox notwithstanding) has woken up. The Rays are streaking, the Blue Jays are prowling, and the Orioles are stunning. In other words, teams improving while the Yankees falter is hurting them.
While there’s no need to go full-doomer mode yet, the Yankees have to turn things around soon. If Severino and Cortes return and pitch at a high level, this team can still make waves in the playoffs. But as Boone said, they’re playing like a flawed team and other teams are exploiting it. Judge is the only constant, Giancarlo Stanton doesn’t seem to be up to speed since returning from injury, and Andrew Benintendi has returned to his OPS+ of around 100 rather than the 124 he boasted in Kansas City.
Is it too late to turn it around? Of course not. But Boone — who is generally composed — has been more and more prone to his frustrations. He had harsh words for his team on back-to-back days in August, and he knows all eyes are on him.
Boone has been questioned for his October decisions before. If these struggles continue and if — in some crazy twist of fate — the Yankees lose the AL East, Boone could well end up being a fall guy. That backdrop certainly contextualizes his more-and-more visible frustrations.
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