MIDWAY EVALUATION OF THE NY YANKEES

The Yankees have produced a remarkable year!  It’s the All-Star Break, which is always a good time to evaluate our team.  Here’s my assessment of their performance as they are currently one game beyond the half-way point of the season:

Record

The Yankees currently have the best record in baseball with 64 wins and 28 losses (a .696 winning percentage).  That percentage after 82 games is the third best since the 2001 Mariners (66-26) and 1998 Yankees (68-24).  Their standings hold them 13 games above the second-place Rays, 14.5 over the Blue Jays, 16.5 over the obnoxious Red Sox, and 18 over the Orioles.  Their 28 come-from-behind wins has caused us fans agita, but what the hell – it leads the Majors and always offers us hope!

Pitching

Their pitching staff is the third best in the Majors with a 3.08 E.R.A. (Earned Run Average).  The opposing offense has a meager .214 batting average against us.  We also go into the break with a phenomenal W.H.I.P. (Walks and Hits per Innings Pitched) of 1.08! 

This year’s key starting pitchers include Gerrit Cole.  His record is at 9 wins/2 losses, a 3.02 E.R.A., and a 0.98 W.H.I.P.  {Nasty} Nestor Cortes has 7 wins/3 losses, a 2.63 E.R.A., and a 1.00 W.H.I.P.  The rest of the starting pitchers’ W.H.I.P. is as follows:  Luis Severino (1.07), Jameson Taillon (1.13), and Jordan Montgomery (1.04).  To top all of that, they have J.P. Sears who they’ve called up to spot start and provide some bullpen help.  He seems to have a lot of potential and has proven it so far in his short stint with a 0.95 W.H.I.P.  Having these starters and having someone with talent like Sears makes our starting pitching staff strong.  If the need for Cortes (who is pitching more innings than he has in the past) to lessen his pitches comes along, Sears should be good for that role.  Of course, you can never have enough pitching; so, an acquisition of another great starter would still be welcome - offering us even more flexibility and strength.

In the bullpen, they have two superstars in Clay Holmes and Michael King.  Holmes has 16 saves after being the main closer during Aroldis Chapman’s injury absence.  Chapman had 9 saves earlier in the season and has recently returned but lost his closer role to Holmes.  All of baseball has taken notice of Holmes and his dominating 0.87 W.H.I.P., 1.31 E.R.A., and other successful numbers.  Mainly as a middle reliever, Michael King has also dominated hitters with his W.H.I.P. of 0.95 and 2.19 E.R.A.  In all, the relievers have been well above most teams and offer confidence to us fans.

Hitting

The Yankees have a lot to brag about so far this season including their offense.  It all begins with Aaron Judge.  He has been having an awesome year.  It seems like every broadcast offers a stat comparing him to Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Babe Ruth, and many of the other all-time greats!  Currently, he has smashed 33 homeruns and has an O.P.S. (On-Base Plus Slugging) of .982.  His homerun total is projected to be at least 60 if all goes the same for the rest of the season, which is why Maris is usually mentioned.  

Giancarlo Stanton has also been having a heck of a year so far with 24 homeruns, 61 R.B.I.s, and an .835 O.P.S.  His power has N.A.S.A. considering him to hit their rockets to the moon to save on their gas spend - LOL!  

Other hitters have also contributed including Gleyber Torres who is also having a decent year especially compared to last year.  Then, there’s Matt Carpenter.  He has only been a NY Yankee since the last week in May and, in only 79 at-bats, has produced 13 homeruns, which is an average of 1 homerun for every 6 at-bats!  He has also driven in 34 runs in 31 games!  His current 1.380 O.P.S. is even higher than Judge and almost anyone who has ever played the sport!  Defensively, the man has defended at many varying positions without a gripe and rather effectively.  Such wonderment from him is not expected to carry on throughout the whole season, but all fans have been enjoying the ride enormously!  

Does anyone miss Gary Sanchez?  Our catching offense has been much improved with the recent addition of Jose Treviño (and the defense from him and Higashioka has skyrocketed this season) compared to the Gary Sanchez era.  Treviño has done so well that his Win Probability Added ranks him ahead of the Mets’ Pete Alonso.  

Let's add a very good or an excellent outfielder to our team to stop our bleeding eyes every time we look at Joey Gallo strikeout as he has unfortunately shown that NY is too much for him.  Some critics believe we don't need to add another bat, but anyone who stands still should expect to be passed.  Improvements should be an ongoing thing, especially for "our" Yankees!

Season-Ending Outcome:

It’s easy math to project that the Yankees will win at least 100 games!  That’s a comfortable thought.  Our problem for quite a while is actually getting to the World Series, something we have to do before we can win another one!  The good news this season in regard to that is unless we completely fall apart, we should get the homefield advantage over all teams.  A slight concern would be the Astros, as they are not too far behind us at this moment in time.  To help our cause, as mentioned above, we have is to improve our team.  The infamous trade deadline is weeks away (August 2).  Come on Cashman, you need to be more aggressive this year than you’ve been in recent years.  Let's not just improve slightly, let's topple it ridiculously!  We all want it, and 2009 is fading too far away in our rearview mirror.