Grading The Yankees At The All-Star Break

I hope everyone enjoyed some time away from the Yankees - God knows we all needed it given the way things have gone the last month. Today I thought I’d give out some All-Star break grades, and I’ll also answer a couple questions down in the mailbag, though unfortunately, there wasn’t much to choose from. Also, a reminder not to look for the newsletter Monday - it’ll be out Tuesday because the series with the Rays wraps around through Monday. Lets get to it.

Grading the position players

1B Anthony Rizzo: Is there anyone pining for Rizzo to rejoin the team once he’s medically cleared to play? I didn’t think so. Rizzo has not been the same player since his concussion in late May 2023 and before he broke his arm this year, he was having another awful season at the plate while also starting to have a few struggles in the field. GRADE: D

2B Gleyber Torres: What a mess. Last year he gave the Yankees a competent bat with an .800 OPS, but in his contract year, he is choking away money by the day thanks to a pathetic .654 OPS, a .307 on-base and just eight homers, coupled with his usual sloppiness in the field as his 11 errors are the most of any second basemen in MLB. GRADE: D

SS Anthony Volpe: I can’t tell you how disappointed and disheartened I am about what has happened to the second-year player. The start to his season was so exciting because he had scrapped his home run swing and was working gap to gap, getting on base and being a sparkplug at the top of the order. Remember that 22-game hitting streak he had? Feels like that was a million years ago. And then, he just drove off a cliff and he’s been one of the worst offensive players in MLB. Since June 9 his average is .168 with a .203 on-base and zero home runs. Staggering how bad he has been. His grade is saved only because outside of that unbelievable error last Sunday, his play in the field has been mostly excellent. GRADE: C-

3B D.J. LeMahieu: He turned 36 years old last week and he’s shot. He’s still capable of playing decent in the field at third and first, but it looks like he’s swinging a wiffle ball bat these days. No home runs, just three doubles, a .188 average, and a .497 OPS tell the story. The Yankees can no longer play him regularly and the reality is, they should DFA him despite the more than $30 million they’re still on the hook for. GRADE: F

LF Alex Verdugo: He’s better in the field than any left fielder the Yankees have had since Brett Gardner, but he has become a black hole in the lineup. In his last 25 games his slash line is .158/.220/.228 for an OPS of .448 with one home run. Simply incredible how bad he’s been after a promising start in pinstripes. GRADE: C

CF Aaron Judge: Thanks to the Giancarlo Stanton injury, Judge has spent most of the past few weeks as the DH, but regardless, I’m not concerned about his defense which was fine when he was in center field. Judge is still the AL MVP frontrunner even though after his scorching May-June, he has scuffled a bit in July. Without Judge, the Yankees wouldn’t even be holding a wild-card spot right now, let alone being close to the Orioles in the division race. He leads MLB in homers (34), RBI (85) and OPS (1.112) which is amazing since there’s only one other threat in the lineup. GRADE: A+

RF Juan Soto: That other threat is Soto who leads MLB with a walk percentage of 18.5% (Judge is second at 17%) and ranks behind only Judge in on-base (.426) and behind only Judge and Shohei Ohtani in OPS (.984) while hitting 23 homers with 66 RBI. He’s been outstanding, and we can only hope the Yankees can re-sign him as a free agent. GRADE: A

C Austin Wells: He has been coming around a little at the plate after a terrible start. He provided nothing on offense through his first 21 games, but in 40 games since May 8 he’s been a little better with a .234 average and a .733 OPS. Still, he has a long way to go as he has just six homers and 20 RBI and he’s not exactly elite as a defender. With Jose Trevino sidelined at least a month, Wells has to take charge behind the plate and be a more impactful player on offense and defense. GRADE: C-

DH Giancarlo Stanton: Before his annual month-long injury, Stanton was having a solid season which I certainly didn’t see coming. He was hitting .246 with a .795 OPS, 18 homers and 45 RBI and what was really eye-popping was his work with runners in scoring position, a .292 average and .946 OPS. Now the big question will be can Stanton regain that form when he returns because history has told us that he has not fared well coming back from injuries, most notably in 2022 and 2023. GRADE: B.

C Jose Trevino: He’s a great pitch framer and he calls a good game. Otherwise, he doesn’t do much of anything else. His weak throwing arm has been exposed and while his OPS of .713 is slightly better than Wells, Trevino scares no one as a hitter. The Yankees have to get better at this position in the offseason. GRADE: C-

IF Oswaldo Cabrera: Well, he’ll always have that magical two-week start to this season, right? Cabrera has crashed back to earth with his .288 on-base and barely average play in the field. He’s a nice player to have in a pinch because he can play everywhere, plus he’s a happy kid with a great attitude, but he’s not someone the Yankees will ever be able to rely on. GRADE: C-

OF Trent Grisham: He’s been a little better at the plate since he’s been forced into the lineup due to the Stanton injury. Believe it or not, in his last 19 games (14 starts) he’s batting .302 with an on-base of .356 and 10 RBI. And while he had the one horrible, bad-look error against the Mets, he’s a terrific defender. GRADE: C

IF Jon Berti: What a shame he can’t stay healthy because he could have slotted in as the full-time third baseman and gotten LeMahieu and Cabrera out of the lineup. Instead, he’s played only 17 games. His expected return around the end of the month could help solve the third base dilemma. GRADE: C-

Grading the starting rotation

Carlos Rodon: What a disgrace and this is starting to look like one of the worst big-money free agent signings in Yankees history because they still have four-plus years left on his ridiculous $162 million contract. It seemed like Rodon was back on track after his awful 2023. He was 9-2 with a 2.93 ERA through 14 starts, though there were some underlying issues that hadn’t burned him. Well, now he’s in full inferno mode. His last six starts rank as one of the worst stretches we’ve seen in recent memory as he has a 9.67 ERA and batters are hitting .336 against him with a 1.066 OPS. GRADE: C-

Nestor Cortes: If only he could pitch just at Yankee Stadium. In 10 starts at home he has a 1.81 ERA and 0.789 WHIP which is incredible. On the road he has a 6.04 ERA and 1.540 WHIP which is just as incredible, only in a negative way. One thing he has done well is put up a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 5.00, easily a career best. GRADE: C

Marcus Stroman: There have been a few rough outings, but for the most part he’s been pretty consistent with a 3.51 ERA. One thing Stroman has been able to do is get out of jams because his 1.324 WHIP is not good, inflated by a poor 4.00 walks per nine innings rate. There’s plenty of traffic on the bases in his starts, and you wonder if he can keep finding ways to escape. GRADE: B-

Clarke Schmidt: He was having such a great start to the season when he got hurt, and ever since he went down, the Yankees’ rotation has not been the same. Schmidt had a 2.52 ERA and he pitched at least five innings in all but one of his 11 starts while striking out 10 batters per nine with a 1.137 WHIP. The Yankees really need him to get back and pick up where he left off. GRADE: A-

Luis Gil: Outside of a disastrous three-start stretch in late June, Gil has been a revelation and one of the best starters in MLB. Even giving up 16 earned runs in those three games, his ERA is still just 3.17 and his 5.43 hits per nine innings is second-best in MLB. His biggest issue is walks as he has 49, the most in MLB. The big question will be how long Gil can keep this up. He has already pitched 102.1 innings and you have to figure the Yankees are going to pull him back at some point because he’s coming off Tommy John surgery and has already pitched more innings than he ever has in one pro season. GRADE: A

Gerrit Cole: Cole finally started to look like himself in his fifth start last Saturday against the Orioles. His velocity and command were outstanding and he held that potent lineup to one run over six innings. The guess here is that he’s going to start locking it in and get back to being a horse every fifth day. GRADE: C+

Grading the bullpen

Clay Holmes: He’s a free agent at the end of the year and I won’t miss him. Look, you can do worse at closer, but you can also do better. Holmes’ lack of strikeouts is a detriment in his role because as we saw last Sunday, when the ball gets put in play, too many bad things can happen. It was funny that he didn’t allow an earned run in his first 20 appearances because I didn’t think he was all that great then with too many runners reaching base. Well, it has caught up to him because in his last 20 appearances he has a 5.68 ERA, five blown saves, and batters have hit .317 with an .830 OPS. Those numbers mean he should be pitching in the fifth and sixth inning. GRADE: C

Luke Weaver: I didn’t understand why the Yankees signed him in the offseason after such a brief stint with them in 2023. Turns out that was one of the best moves Brian Cashman made as Weaver has been superb with a 2.47 ERA and 0.805 WHIP. If the Yankees don’t acquire a closer, they should consider giving Weaver a look in that spot even though, like Holmes, he doesn’t strike a lot of guys out. GRADE: A-

Michael Tonkin: When he was signed, we figured he was going to be a mop-up man. Instead, he’s been their best reliever to date. Since he arrived in late April, he has pitched 27 times and has a 1.47 ERA and a .158 average against. It feels like at any moment the opposing hitters are going to light him up, but it hasn’t happened yet. GRADE: A

Caleb Ferguson: What a bum. The lefty was acquired from the Dodgers along with Victor Gonzalez who the Yankees already DFA’d. Ferguson has been a nightmare with a 5.28 ERA and if the Yankees add to the bullpen at the deadline, they should get rid of him, too. GRADE: F

Ian Hamilton: He’s been out close to a month now, but before he got hurt he was highly inconsistent with a 4.55 ERA and a brutal 1.584 WHIP. He was averaging 10 hits and 4.2 walks per nine innings, numbers that are untenable in any situation. GRADE: D-

Tommy Kahnle: Mr. Changeup has been a mixed bag. For the most part he’s been good with a 2.95 ERA but his 1.324 WHIP has to get better, as does his 4.4 walks-per-nine rate. Serving up that game-losing homer to the Red Sox a couple weeks ago still stings. GRADE: B-

I only had a couple questions sent in to me, so I’ll answer those and hope that next time I do this, there will be a better response.

From Steve Elwell: The consecutive winning season streak stands at 31 years. How much of a factor do you think that is when it comes to making personnel decisions (e.g. not firing Boone/Cashman, when and who they call up from the minors, overpaying for washed up veterans, etc.)? My feeling is that the top of the organization believes Yankee fans won't accept a losing season, and that may be handcuffing them on roster decisions. Maybe not, but here's one fan who would GLADLY see the streak come to an end if it means winning another WS. They've been spinning their wheels for a few years now and they're clearly going nowhere.

Steve, I don’t think the winning season streak factors into the decision-making at all. I just think the Yankees are extremely arrogant and do not believe in ever taking a step back and trying to rebuild which, quite frankly, is what you want. Their problem has been they haven’t added the right pieces for far too long. It was somewhat amazing that they sold at the 2016 trade deadline, but I don’t see that happening any time soon, especially with Judge locked in for seven more seasons, not to mention the other big-money contracts they have, plus the potential re-signing of Soto. However, if they continue to fall apart this year and somehow miss the postseason, or get eliminated before the World Series, I could definitely see Boone being gone. Probably not Cashman, but Boone for sure.

From Joe Robbins: I haven't panicked yet. I'm waiting for the trade deadline. What will the Yankees do? I say trade Gleyber Torres. I've seen enough. They need a hard-throwing reliever, a starter and an infielder. That's a lot of course. But one can dream.

Joe, one can dream and I do think they’re going to make moves at the deadline, but I think they’re stuck with Torres the rest of the year because no one will take him. However, I think they could trade for a second baseman and send him to the bench. I love the idea of getting Jonathan India from the Reds who would be a perfect fit. They need a few hard-throwing relievers who can strike guys out. Mason Miller of the A’s is going to cost way too much, but one I like is Anthony Nardi of the Marlins. Not sure they’ll get a starter because I think they’re banking on Schmidt returning in September.

The Yankees will open a four-game series Friday night at home against their forever irritant, the Rays. I’d say it’s a big series, but that would become redundant because with just 64 games left to play, they’re all big.

They’re big because the Yankees are still right in the hunt for the AL East title because the Orioles, who I remain steadfastly convinced are the better team, have struggled lately and have been unable to leave the Yankees in their wake.

But also, the Yankees’ own massive slump has created a much less comfortable race for the three wild card berths. The Yankees have the top spot followed by the Twins (three games back) and the red-hot Red Sox (3.5 back). However, the Yankees are only 5.5 ahead of the Royals and seven ahead of the Astros, the two teams trying to break into a wild-card spot.

So yeah, the Yankees need to stop screwing around and get their shit together.

The pitching matchups are as follows:

Friday at 7:05 on YES it’s Gerrit Cole (5.40 ERA) against Zach Eflin (3.99); Saturday at 1:05 on YES it’s Nestor Cortes (3.67) against Taj Bradley (2.90); Sunday at 1:35 on YES it’s Marcus Stroman (3.51) against Shane Baz (5.23); and Monday at 1:05 on YES it’s Carlos Rodon (4.63) against Zach Littell (4.26).