Last-place Yankees’ issues easy to anticipate yet overlooked in offseason

NEW YORK — The Yankees‘ lineup is unapologetically the opposite of well-rounded. It was built to be reliant on one big bat, star slugger Aaron Judge, and that was never going to work. Now, with Judge on the injured list with a hip strain, it’s become even more evident how mediocre New York is without him.

In the six games since Judge slid into third base and injured his hip, the Yankees have scored the fourth-fewest runs (14) in Major League Baseball. Even before Judge hit the IL, the offense was scuffling amid the absences of Giancarlo Stanton (left hamstring strain), Harrison Bader (oblique strain) and Josh Donaldson (hamstring strain). 

All three of those players, and even Judge to some extent, have a history of missing time because of injuries. Stanton’s hamstring strain, in particular, was as predictable as the sunrise every morning. He has missed time due to various injuries in five straight seasons. Such issues, for the most part, were to be expected. It’s the Yankees’ front office that seems surprised by — and woefully unprepared for — the deficiencies. 

The Yankees rank 26th in MLB in batting average (.227), 26th in on-base percentage (.297), 20th in slugging (.379), 23rd in RBIs (115), 21st in runs scored (118), 23rd in walk percentage (8.3) and 15th in strikeout percentage (23.4). 

If that doesn’t tell the story, here’s an idea of how each active regular in the Yankees lineup has been producing in terms of weighted runs created plus (wRC+), which is useful to quantify run creation for players who play in different ballparks and different eras (league average is 100): 

While the established veterans are pulling their weight at the plate, the Yankees have six hitters — a crop that includes more than half of their recent lineups — with a wRC+ of 65 or below. Besides Cabrera, who was terrific as a rookie last year and merits demonstrating patience with, no one else on the roster with a wRC+ below 70 is severely underperforming. They’re generally playing to form, and it’s a collective standard that simply doesn’t cut it for a team with World Series aspirations. The onus for the Yankees falling to the basement of the AL East isn’t on utility players, however.

New York’s scuffling offense was easy to anticipate, but the optics suggest its front office didn’t prepare for it.

“We expect these moments and you gotta deal with them and you gotta grind your way through ‘em,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “We’re equipped to handle that. We know there’s going to be stretches in the season where it’s not real easy, whether it’s around injuries, we got some guys scuffling, whatever it may be. Those things are part of it. 

“We’re confident as a group that we’re going to be a good team.”

The Yankees got a bit better Tuesday with the return of Bader, who made his season debut. Just don’t expect that alone to jumpstart the offense. Such logic is what brought the organization to this point in the first place. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman and his top brass were rightly determined this past offseason to re-sign Judge, and they did for a whopping nine years and $360 million. The MVP slugger reportedly rejected a better offer from the San Diego Padres and an equal deal from his hometown San Francisco Giants, opting instead to return to the team where it all started for him. It was work well done.

However, in the glee of Judge’s comeback and subsequent captaincy announcement, the rest of the lineup’s holes strangely went unaddressed. The Yankees knew their superstar wouldn’t replicate his historic season and thus required more support. The need for a left-handed left fielder was obvious from the moment they were swept by the Astros in last year’s ALCS. There were myriad options on the board, including Andrew Benintendi, a former Gold Glover who had just produced a 110 OPS+ in a 33-game stint with the Yankees to close out the 2022 campaign.

Andrew Benintendi walks it off to give the White Sox a 3-2 win over the Twins

Roughly 20% into the regular season, the void remains. And with Judge on the IL, it’s fair to wonder whether Bader was rushed back from his oblique injury so that the Yankees could present an offense that doesn’t resemble a Triple-A lineup.

“There was never any pressure from the Yankees, on their side, to push anything along,” Bader said on Tuesday. “And that’s the same on my side. I know what I have to feel to be effective for this team, to help them win. And that doesn’t involve pushing the timeline up in any way. It was a mutual decision. You kind of have to separate the two and realize my situation individually coming back is different than what the team is really needing.”

The Yankees have historically flaunted one of baseball’s largest front offices, which they added to this past offseason with the estimable Omar Minaya and Brian Sabean. They were seemingly brought in to give the club more balance between analytics and instincts. Well, after inking Judge, did anyone feel concerned about not acquiring at least one other impact bat? It’s almost as if, upon landing Judge and All-Star pitcher Carlos Rodón in early December, Yankees brass headed to their vacation homes and took the rest of the winter off. Why work toward building a complete roster, with an emphasis on depth in case of absences from injury-prone veterans, when Judge’s presence will put butts in the seats either way?

There’s 360 million reasons for Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner and Cashman to now get to work. One of the prerequisites for Judge’s return to the Yankees this winter was his desire to win. He reportedly made sure Steinbrenner verbally committed to building a championship-caliber club around him before agreeing to his nine-year pact. 

Championship? Wins? The last-place Yankees are playing at a .500 clip with little reason to believe that trajectory won’t continue without reinforcements. 

Tuesday’s 4-2 rally over the Guardians marked the Yankees’ fourth comeback win of this season — only the Nationals and Rockies have fewer, per Stathead’s Katie Sharp. That’s the kind of company New York is keeping five weeks into the season. Sure, it’s only May. The Yanks have oodles of time to turn things around before October. But, for a team with the second-highest payroll in MLB, ranking alongside the unambitious rosters of the Nationals and Rockies is unacceptable, no matter how early it may be in the season. Moreover, a playoff spot is hardly promised in the ultra-competitive American League, especially in this division.

Willie Calhoun’s solo homer breaks the Yankees’ tie vs. Guardians

This Yankees season is beginning to remind a bit of the 2018 Mets and Jacob deGrom‘s first Cy Young campaign, when his starts every fifth day were just about the only thing Amazins fans could look forward to during a lost 77-85 season. In that vein, Gerrit Cole is enjoying the best start to a season in his career. The Yankees ace leads the majors in innings pitched (46.2) and is tied with Zac Gallen for the best starting pitching fWAR (1.7) in MLB. He is, at least for now, the only consistent bright light in the Bronx. 

The biggest difference between deGrom in 2018 and Cole this year is that the Yankees actually win when their ace is on the mound — they’re 7-0 in his starts. A disconcerting trend, however, is the Yankees typically don’t win when their big right-hander isn’t on the bump (9-15). This past week, four New York losses were sandwiched between Cole’s outings. All of which points to the larger issue of the missing pieces in the Yankees rotation and how much having Rodón and Luis Severino pitch every fifth day would stabilize the team. But then we’re back to the original premise, only with the pitching staff. Rodón, Severino and Frankie Montas have a history of injuries. The front office should’ve been prepared for the worst-case scenario in that all three pitchers could be injured at the same time, as they were before this season even started.

“Well, I think our starting rotation is very good,” Steinbrenner said in December after signing Rodón. “But it’s about health. We have to stay healthy. Every team has to stay healthy. It’s going to be a big part of it.”

You know what’s better than hoping for good health? Building a well-rounded team with added depth to protect against inevitable injuries and ineffectiveness. The front office had the freedom to do so, but apparently not the foresight. 

Deesha Thosar is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets for three-and-a-half seasons as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. She never misses a Rafael Nadal match, no matter what country or time zone he’s playing in. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar. 

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