My Rays will be doormats for the AL East but I'm loving this Yankees lineup. I mean Judge, Stanton & Sanchez could be the most powerful trio ever assembled and at times Didi looks as if he's the most professional hitter of them all. Manny & Ortiz with Boston was scary but Judge & Stanton are going to be the best 1-2 punch ever.
Betances looks really shaky. In addition to getting hit, he has the yips throwing to the bases. When I hear yips, I think of Steve Blass, Rick Ankiel, Steve Sax and Chuck Knoblauch. Does anyone remember any MLB player who was cured of the yips? I can't, but I may be forgetting someone.
Steve Blass was another one, great pitcher who just lost it, by the way Ankiel became a great defensive CF
People have overrated this bullpen for over a year now...I understand the ERA was really good last year but blown saves and holds killed the Yanks...pulling starters after 5 doesn't exactly help either.
The bats are cold, and that has exposed the bullpen weaknesses. I agree that the bullpen has been overrated for a while. It takes more than 95+ to get major-league hitters out. The starting rotation is mediocre, so the bullpen has to carry a heavy load if the team is to succeed. Here's the big question:who's making the on-the-field decisions, Boone or Cashman? My sense is that it's Cashman, and that Cashman pushed Girardi out, as he did with Torre, because he wants a manager who will do what he says.
It's one week. The baseball season is a 162 game rollercoaster. You can't judge the Yankees yet. Is what they are doing concerning. For sure. If tis is happening Memorial Day then be very concerned. Bullpen hasn't been as good. Bullpens are like that. One year a guy is great and then the next awful. They're up and down. I also think the Yankees have what the Mets had a few years ago. Too reliant on the home run. No home run then a strike out. No way to manufacture runs. I think that'll be they're biggest issue too boom or bust. That being said it's April 11th. Reassess in a month.
In the end, that may be the biggest problem. One encouraging sign last night was that on one at-bat, Stanton actually tried to go the other way and got an easy basehit. Maybe he should try that the next time he's up with men on base.
With shifts etc drives me nuts guys don't go the other way or bunt. In the 80's when I fell in love with baseball it was all about getting on base. Bunting stealing etc. I miss that.
