In a 162-game season, losing streaks and bad stretches are inevitable, but things have seemed to go from bad to worse for the Yankees in the first month of the regular season.
An embarrassing 15-2 loss on Sunday afternoon ended their April as the Bronx Bombers watched the calendar flip to May while they sit tied for last place in the American League East. It’s the first time since 2016 that the Yanks had ended April in last in the division and that was also the last time New York had failed to make the postseason.
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While it’s still too early to start pondering that thought, the Yankees’ struggles have raised plenty of alarm bells and put the focus back on the offseason moves, or lack of offseason moves by general manager Brian Cashman.
The Yankees have been dealt a number of injury blows already that have hurt them in the early going. Their pitching staff has been bombarded by issues, including losing the team’s only major offseason acquisition Carlos Rodon to a forearm strain.
Add to that injuries to the likes of Giancarlo Stanton, Harrison Bader, Josh Donaldson and now potentially an IL stint for Aaron Judge and the Yankees have found themselves in a real pickle. While the Yankees had managed to win despite some of their issues, the latest round of injuries has highlighted a concerning lack of depth among the team’s roster without some of their power hitters.
Until Anthony Volpe hit an RBI double in the third inning of Sunday’s loss, the Yankees had not scored a run in 15 innings of baseball. Dating back to April 10, the Yankees have had 14 games where they’ve scored three or fewer runs which is the most among major league teams in that span.
Judge had already been struggling a bit at the plate before he was injured last week in Minnesota and beyond that they have failed to get much production out of anyone else.
Oswaldo Cabrera has been a solid defensive player and someone the Yankees can use just about everywhere, but his offensive production has been not where its needed to be with an OPS of .516, which is one of the lowest in the American League. Aaron Hicks and Isiah Kiner-Falefa have zero extra-base hits when they’ve gotten to the plate.
Even worse as a team, the Yankees are in the lower half of the league in batting average, runs scored and OPS.
The problem is the Yankees don’t seem to have the personnel to get themselves out of the current situation. Bryan Reynolds had long been viewed as a possible target for the Yankees to help their outfield, but he signed a contract extension in Pittsburgh essentially closing the door on that dream for the Bombers.
“We’ve got to keep on preparing and competing, and realize we’re the ones that got to dig ourselves out of this a little bit,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said on Sunday, according to the New York Daily News. “We did have some good at-bats today, but we’ve got to find a way when we’re missing some pieces and stuff to scratch out some runs. (It’s) tough when you fall behind like that to work yourself back.”
It’s clear that the Yankees will have to get themselves out of the mess, but it’s a question of whether they have the players to do it.
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