How Did The Yankees Get so Bad? Editorial

The Yankees started the season like they were shot out of a canon, and in turn, they were the first team to achieve 50 wins. Since that 50th win, the Yankees have been the second worst team in baseball, record wise, and if you watch the games every day you will see just how bad, flawed, and lifeless they are. Since June 18th, the Yankees are 9-20 second worse only to the Chicago White Sox, who are on pace for the most losses ever and only have seven wins since that date. https://twitter.com/BNightengale/status/1816305768536367267?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1816305768536367267%7Ctwgr%5E63771aa60b9487ba8f296748ec50f4354e4bafe5%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fbleacherreport.com%2Fnew-york-yankees The standard is no longer the standard. The Yankees have completely changed over the past 10 years from who they were throughout the majority of their history. The team has gone almost completely analytic-based, and it feels like the people running the show for the New York Yankees have zero feel for a baseball game. The Yankees didn’t bring back Joe Girardi after he overachieved with a bunch of young baseball players and a few veterans, when he reached game 7 of the ALCS. Why wouldn’t the Yankees bring back a manager, who took the team to within one game of the World Series with a team that clearly overachieved? The answer is simple, they wanted a puppet. That’s where Aaron Boone comes in, Boone has been managing the team for now his 7th season and has not gotten to within reach of the World Series like Girardi did back in 2017. Instead, the Yankees have seemingly regressed every year since 2020 and have gotten even more boring. Now, you can’t put all the blame on Boone, because after all he just does what General Manager, Brian Cashman tells him to do. As mentioned before, the Yankees have moved their focus a lot over the years to be a more analytically based team, but maybe that’s not the case over the past few weeks, because in what analytical department does it say to lead off Jahmai Jones and to have J.D Davis bat fourth for the New York Yankees. The rest of the team isn’t hitting well, actually at all, but the Yankees have led off a minor leaguer who is not even considered a top prospect, for a couple of games, that poses the question, "where is Oswald Peraza?" Now, is J.D Davis batting fourth because he was released from one of the worst teams in baseball because he was too good for them? The answer is no, he was released because he was not good enough to be on the team, with the younger players that Oakland has, so under no circumstance should J.D be playing over Ben Rice, even when a lefty is on the mound. Another issue the Yankees have is that they hold onto players for too long. Gleyber Torres is no longer a Yankee. Just trade him and move on. It's not only good for the team but it is good for Torres as well. Torres just needs a fresh start with a new team, and the Yankees need a fresh start with a second baseman that better fits this team. Jazz Chisholm would be the number one fit for the Yankees lineup, as he can lead off for them. Another name that could replace Torres is Jonathan India, India could lead off for the team as well, and while India may not be flashy it will be addition by subtraction for the New York Yankees. A better option than India could be Nico Hoerner, who would lead off and get on base for Soto and Judge. Hoerner also steals bases which is something the Yankees currently lack. The Yankees have one quality, trustworthy bullpen arm, and they have all year. The Yankees bullpen stinks and they need to figure out how to add 2-3 reliable arms in the bullpen if they have any serious thoughts about righting the ship. The Yankees season is sinking and at this point with the feel of the team, trading Juan Soto can’t be off the table, especially if they are not going to address multiple glaring holes. Soto recently said he wants to sign with a contender, and after an 82-80 season last year, and a sinking season this year can the Yankees be looked at as a serious contender? If he’s not going to re-sign with the team, and they clearly have no chance of winning this year with this team currently constructed the way it is, it could be in the Yankees best interest to trade him and get value back. It would certainly be a mistake to not address the team’s needs and to trade Soto, but this Yankees organization could do anything at this point. The Yankees need a new manager, second baseman, third baseman, catcher, and multiple bullpen arms. If they can address a majority of these needs within the next five days, the season has a chance to be saved. If not, the season that started off almost historically will wind up with the Yankees wasting a monster year from Juan Soto, and another prime year from Aaron Judge's career.