Thoughts About The Yankees

It is interesting to note that Joe Girardi was the Phillies manager at the start of the season, when they were floundering.  Of course, Girardi had previously been the Yankees manager.  The Yankees did win the World Series back in 2009, but there has been a drought since.  You have to wonder whether managing the Yankees becomes unlike managing other teams, because of the overwhelming media attention, in which case it is inevitable to manage not to lose, rather than to win.  At the time the Yankees let Girardi go, there was talk about him being distant from his players.  I'm belaboring this bit of history, because I wonder if something similar happened to Aaron Boone.  The talk in Twitter is about bringing in Mattingly and Jeter to replace Boone and Cashman (GM).   But I haven't seen anyone talk about the pressurized environment that they operate under.  Can anything be done about that?  I don't know, but I'd like to see some chatter about that. 

I actually think that Cashman did quite a good job this year/last year.  Trading for Harrison Bader late in the season was a great deal.  Likewise, trading for Andrew Benintendi was the right move, though he got hurt and was entirely out of the playoffs.  Together they eliminated the Yankees outfield woes plus Benintendi could bat leadoff, filling the slot that DJ LeMahieu normally fills.  That both of these players ended up not participating in the playoffs was a definite problem, but it can't be blamed on Cashman.  

The one trade I wasn't happy about was getting Josh Donaldson in the preseason.  I would have preferred it had the Yankees kept Gio Urshela.  But it was a package deal and trading Gary Sanchez was a big thing as just a few years earlier he was viewed as the future of the Yankees.  Yankees catching, from a defensive point of view, definitely ticked upward with the acquisition of Jose Trevino.  

Overall - it seems to me that Cashman did a very good job during the past year.  I feel less good about Aaron Boone's performance for the following reasons.

There were mental mistakes made by players who don't normally make them.  This showed up mainly on defense.  Aaron Judge running in front of Harrison Bader right before the baseball landed in Bader's glove, which he then dropped for an error, was perhaps the most egregious example.  Bader surely had been instructed to take all the balls he could reach in left center field, to take the pressure off of Giancarlo Stanton. What were the instructions for Bader and Judge about the balls hit to right center field?  That Judge made an apparent mistake suggests the instructions weren't clear to him, or the matter hadn't been previously addressed.  Preparation of the players is ultimately a managerial responsibility.  The stress of the playoffs is likely to inadvertently reveal where the players are under prepared.  This was one glaring instance.

There was also the revolving door about who plays shortstop.  I didn't understand that, but evidently Boone lost his faith in Kiner-Falefa, the regular shortstop for the entire season.  The substituting at that position during the playoffs looked bush-league to me.  Indirectly, I think it was why there was an error on a double-play ball hit to Gleyber Torres, who made a gentle toss to the bag, but Kiner-Falefa had already scooted past the bag; I suppose to avoid contact with the base runner.  That was a backbreaking play.  Again, I think ultimate responsibility for it goes to the manager.

The Yankees had a Jekyll and Hyde year.  Was it injuries that explained the big drop off in performance around mid season?  And did the Yankees have an unusually high number of injuries?  Or was something else going on?  The team that appeared in the playoffs was some combination of the early excellence and the later dismal performer. So the real question is whether the early excellence can return and, if so, can it last for a full season?  

I want to make on more note, this time about Aaron Judge, and compare him to Alex Bregman.  Judge has a huge swing and there is a definite upper cut in it.  Bregman has a much shorter stroke and his swing is flatter. Judge has clearly developed his swing over several years.  It seems designed to produce the long ball, making contact is a secondary concern.  Judge obviously did make a lot of contact during the season, as evidenced by his high batting average.  But he didn't do it in the playoffs.  Either the home run chase took too much out of him to recover from that, or against good pitching the swing Judge has is less reliable.  It makes you wonder.