The Broken Toolbox
I’ve been asked by a couple people today, “What’s wrong,” or “What happened, to the Yankees?”
My answer, as a fan, is straightforward. There’s nothing wrong with the Yankees – this is the team they built. A three-player [offensive] team, and you don’t have to be a baseball expert to make the jump that three-player teams don’t win series let alone championships.
It’s different in other sports where three players — one dominating forward line in hockey, or QB/WR/TE combo in football, can lead the charge. (See also: Brady/Gronk/Edelman amongst others). In baseball it’s a little different. Pitchers can steer around danger if they need to, and attack when they smell despair at the plate.
The Yankees are woefully assembled. Their power three are Judge/Stanton/Rizzo. After those three there is a serious drop off into the abyss, and we saw it — have seen it — for several seasons now. Has any team ever gone into the playoffs not knowing who their lead off batter is? Those are the Yankees. They have rotated names in the slot including Judge and DJ LeMahieu. They did it for Judge to get him more at bats in his quest for 62, but they were able to do so because of the injury to LeMahieu afforded them the opportunity. However, this was a problem long before LeMahieu had been placed on the IL, and any comment to the contrary that it would have been different is just a diversion from the fact it’s how the team was…is…constructed. LeMahieu wasn’t a prototypical lead off man to begin with and, when he was in the lineup, was largely an experiment at names thrown to the wall to see what stuck on the lineup card. It was an example of how too few of the Yankees parts fit together. Look at Saturday night’s starting lineup that plated zero runs against the Astros to put them in a 3-0 series hole.
- Rizzo, 1B
- Judge, RF
- Stanton, LF
- Torres, 2B
- Carpenter, DH
- Bader, CF
- Donaldson, 3B
- Cabrera, SS
- Trevino, C
Let’s examine the line up.
Rizzo leading off? Really? A guy with power (left-handed at Yankee Stadium mind you) who smashes the ball should be cleaning up the bases in front of him like Judge and Stanton. The problem here is the lineup is stacked with cleanup hitters and no table setters, but let’s continue.
Judge batting second. Again the same problem as Rizzo. I blame the general manager for this for an unbalanced roster.
Stanton batting third. This might be a good spot for him, but I’d personally like to see him batting second, and the left-hand hitting Rizzo between him to balance left and right-handed aspect with Judge in the cleanup spot.
Torres was batting cleanup. I don’t know what to say about that except he’s less of a cleanup hitter than Rizzo and Judge lead off. This is an instant fail.
Carpenter batting fifth. Carpenter has the look and feel of the classic veteran from central casting that should have been in The Natural. Not so much that he had Roy Hobbs talent, but he did some sweet things in pinstripes this year in his sun setting season. However, I can’t justify him being this high on the card. He needed to be dropped further down or completely off to be used late as a pinch hitter, but this is the corner the front office painted themselves into.
Bader sixth. Fans waited a long time for him to get into the lineup following the July trade, and he did bring an intensity and high energy that was noticeably absent. If the front office was throwing names at the wall they should have had him as lead off — which ironically they did in Game 4 and he went 3 for 5.
Donaldson seventh. There is no nice way of saying this — the acquisition of Donaldson was a complete bust. They might as well had kept Urshela.
Cabrera batting eighth. Like Bader he brought an energy that analytics doesn’t quantify. He’s a utility guy at short or the outfield, and maybe a little shaky defensively, but that would improve with playing time. He needed to be higher, and please don’t say it would have been better with Aaron Hicks. It wouldn’t have been. If it isn’t a Titleist Hicks struggles to hit it.
Trevino at catcher. Acceptable, but both he or Higashioka could be interchanged here.
Now here is the declaimer. I’m not suggesting what should be done in 2023. That’s a different discussion. Nor am I addressing the pitching staff because that’s another debate as well. This is what my lineup card would have looked like.
- Bader. For the reasons I mentioned he should have brought an energy to the spot.
- Stanton. I could put him in the three hole but I want to put a lefty between him and Judge.
- Rizzo. Left-handed bat between Stanton and Judge and all three have power.
- Judge. He had 62 home runs and 131 RBIs in 2022. I’ll let you figure that one one out on your own why I have him cleanup.
- Cabrera. Switch hitter. A good spot after Judge.
- Torres. He’d be a good setup guy when he realizes he’s not a home run hitter. Oh, it’s great when he does hit one, but he’s not Stanton/Judge/Rizzo. One of the worse things during the season is when the big guys go yard because Torres then feels he also needs to swing out of his shoes. It wasn’t Chuck Knoblauch, Willie Randolph, or Bobby Richardson’s thing. It shouldn’t be yours.
- Carpenter. The classic veteran lands here.
- Trevino. Not much protection for Carpenter, but when you get this far down the list protection is going to be thin.
- Donaldson. Not my first choice for a ninth place hitter, but these were the options I was given.
My lineup is no worse than what the Yankees produced, and again, the problem really is with the Tool Box at this point. The Yankees are overpaying for some of their bolts, screws, and nuts which is going to make it very costly to afford the hammers, crescent, and socket wrenches. That falls completely at the feet of the purchasing agent — the GM.
The Yankees should be cultivating that minor league system, building that next wave, and then back-fill the gaps with trades and free agency, but it seems Cashman’s m.o. has always been the reverse. That’s how teams get swept in 4 games. 2022 is practically a blue print on how to unbalance a roster and have an early exit in the playoffs.
Again, there’s nothing wrong with the Yankees – this is the team they built.
Now to concentrate on football.