Yankees find new ways to hurt their fans: Trade Deadline Recap

 

Yankees GM Brian Cashman

At this point, the season is pretty much a cruel joke.  Between the daily Boone-isms -- the most recent being an infuriating way to say nothing helpful -- and the lack of urgency from the entire organization, the players included, the Yankees have given us no reason to keep watching them play baseball.  Alas, most of us still will torture ourselves by tuning in every day just to watch them find new ways to embarrass a team most of us have loved our entire lives. Let's start with the trade deadline and the terrible decisions that started way before the 6pm ET deadline passed.

Live look at Yankee fans during the Trade Deadline

The Trade Deadline

Brandon Kuty of the Athletic said it best when he tweeted "The Yankees put the dead in Trade Deadline." After looking like a defeated team Monday night (we'll talk about this later), most believed the Yankees would do a minor sell at the deadline, offloading players with expiring contracts such as Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Wandy Peralta, Harrison Bader, and others.  There were also plenty of reports that the Yankees would consider buying at the deadline, something that most fans would've convinced themselves was a good move if the players brought back were meaningful players and did not have a high prospect cost. The one thing, that would be unforgivable, would be to do nothing and then send out the same tired reports and lines we've heard so many times: "The cost wasn't worth it", "we were getting enough value in return", "we did our due diligence but decided to go another direction", "Bryce Harper can't play first base", whoops that last one is a bit of a throwback and not (entirely) relevant. 

Somehow, I wasn't too surprised the Yankees only added two relievers, and did nothing else.  The worst part is these trades weren't completed until the last 30 minutes of the deadline and are more of a "see we did something" type of deal.  Now, the Yankees will continue to rely on Aaron Judge to somehow carry a lineup that has at least four dead spots (first base, third base, catcher, left field, DH, and shortstop) on any given night, to the postseason.  

The Yankees were also too indecisive in their approach to the deadline, waiting until the last minute to decide what they wanted to do (as well as make any moves), and missed out on all the players that could've helped them. Whether it was because another team on the fence decided to go for it (like the Cubs), or if the player they were targeting was traded to another team before the Yankees picked up the phone, the Yankees refused to put themselves in the best position possible to have a great trade deadline.  As soon as teams farther back in the playoff race decided to go all-in, the Yankees should've made a decision about how to approach the deadline rather than delay their decision and end up in this no-mans-land with no idea how they should proceed or who they should target.

The lack of activity will hurt this team in the long run as now they did not commit to trying to win it all this year and will be in a worse situation than last year, having to fill the spots of role players that will be leaving in free agency for nothing ( while still needing to address the righty heavy lineup, left field, and potentially first and third base if Rizzo and DJLM aren't able to bounce back.

What's Next?

I have no doubt Matt Blake and the pitching coaches will be able to turn these two relievers into elite bullpen arms, but the lack of activity is a slap in the face to all the Yankee fans that have spent their hard-earned money supporting this team, and continue to take time out of their day watching the team play non-competitive baseball and consistently don't try to win a baseball game every night.  Last night was a prime example of what a defeated team looks like.  A team with no margin for error isn't running hard down the line and continued to employ a hitter with a 53 wRC+ since late May (the worst in the league since that date) in the three-hole, after benching their star player in the rubber match against the first place Orioles the night before.

If the Yankees want to turn it around they need to trust the kids and hope they can provide a spark.  They should call up Peraza, Florial, and maybe even Everson Pereira to see if they can help this team win games and bring some excitement to Yankee baseball like Gary Sanchez did in 2016.  The Yankees are in last place, they quite literally can't fall lower in the AL East standings and it would be hard for their fans to be angrier than they currently are. 

Aaron Boone and his staff need to stop the cheerleading act.  He's too busy defending the team and not holding them accountable.  Except for Aaron Judge and his bad toe, everybody should be sprinting down the first baseline to try to get on base and every time someone makes a base running mistake they should be benched on the spot  A team that's struggling this much offensively has no margin for error and can't afford to give free outs to opposing teams.