The confusion about what the New York Yankees have become can be seen in the faces of their players, who are asked the same questions as everyone else.
Why isn’t the team better?
With a lineup full of consummate stars, why do big hits seem so elusive?
How can a team that led the majors in races scored between the 2017-2020 seasons rank in the bottom third of race production this year? How is it possible that the body of pitchers is so weak?
Upon entering the weekend series against the New York Mets, the Yankees were half a game ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays for a place in the playoffs after being swept by that same team – in a series in which the Yankees they never had a lead in all four games for the first time since 1924– and yet because of their problems, it felt like they were 10 games behind. They begin Sunday, before their game with the Mets, tied with Toronto for second place in the American League wildcard.
Whatever happens, there will be a winter of difficult decisions within the organization.
The following are the most important and we will consider them in reverse order.
What are the plans with the team’s best position player, Aaron Judge?
It’s hard to imagine how bad the Yankees offense would be this year without Judge, who leads the roster in fWAR (4.6) and almost every other major offensive category, from runs to home runs and container percentage. He’s his best hitter, he’s his best defender, he could be his best base runner and he’s a clubhouse leader.
He will also be a free agent after the 2022 season, so the Yankees must decide whether to invest large sums of dollars in the toletero, who will turn 30 next April. Judge lost about a third of the team’s games during the three seasons before 2021, but in addition to being absent due to a positive COVID test in July, he has remained on the field this summer. year.
Many X factors will be at stake in the relationship between Judge and the Yankees. Its marketability and star power. The importance for the player association that Judge covers his financial ceiling in his negotiations. The financial conditions of the industry under which the Yankees could increase their payroll in the future. The fact that the Yankees already have two big investments in their books, Gerrit Cole and Giancarlo Stanton, will account for more than $ 65 million in budget space in the coming years.
The Yankees will probably have to decide this winter if they are willing to let Judge go free.
2. What are the ratings of the players who got a lower exercise this year?
Are DJ LeMahieu’s problems in 2021 an atypical value, or is his diminished power something the team should expect in the coming years? Is it time to move on, once and for all, beyond the likes of Miguel Andujar and Clint Frazier? Can Joey Gall, who has been terrible on the plate, punching in about 40% of his appearances on the plate, make the necessary adjustments and feel more comfortable in New York?
3. Who can you count on in the rotation?
The Yankees opted for pitchers with an extensive history of injuries to complete the back of their 2021 rotation, hoping to get more high-level performances than breakdowns, and have scored two. Corey Klüber has been a $ 11 million failure, throwing just 7⅔ tickets in the last four months due to injury. Jameson Taillon evolved during this season and for two months was the Yankees’ best pitcher. But he was lousy at first and was out of action in recent days due to a tendon injury.
The Yankees will need more rotation base behind Cole and Jordan Montgomery in 2022.
4. Who will be the Yankees ’next shortstop?
It’s hard to imagine a scenario in which Gleyber Torres will put himself in place for 2022, given his baffling decline in the offensive. Torres has proven to be unsatisfactory and erratic with the glove, prone to making mistakes, and the Yankees could probably live with all that if Torres were batting. Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada and Bernie Williams were never consistently considered among the elite defenders, but they were the backbone of the last dynasty of baseball because they were among the best offensive players in their respective positions.
Torres’ offensive, especially his power, has evaporated. In 144 games in 2019, Torres connected on 38 homers and recorded a slugging percentage of 535. In 147 games during the 2020-21 seasons, he has nine homers in 586 appearances on the plate, with a slugging percentage of 349. The Yankees they will enter the winter considering alternatives in the position, and there will be many available in the free agency, including Trevor Story, Corey Seager and Carlos Correa. The Yankees have the option to move Torres to second or third base this winter, or change him.
5. Does owner Hal Steinbrenner believe in the vision of General Manager Brian Cashman?
Steinbrenner is not reactionary in the same way as his father, who may well have reacted to the frustrating 2021 season with a big change, either with Cashman or those around him. Halfway through the season, Hal Steinbrenner said, in many words, that the Yankees ’central problem was the low performance of the players.
If the Yankees miss the playoffs, and that would be a shocking outcome, given July’s preseason expectations and resource investments in Anthony Rizzo and Gall, Steinbrenner must decide whether to continue supporting the plot presented by Cashman. If he does, presumably Aaron Boone will return as manager and everyone in the organization can enter 2022 in a double secret probation.