Note: If unsure about the stats, please check the key at the bottom of the article.
The Yankees are a respectable 16-9 throughout their first twenty-five games. As a result, here are 25 storylines to pay close attention to throughout the season.
- After having thirty players on the Injured List (I.L.) last year, the Yankees continue to be injury-prone in 2020. Whether it is bad luck, or their new strength training staff is not working out, the Yankees keep losing their star players. The current Injured List includes Gleyber Torres (strained quadricep and hamstring), James Paxton (forearm), DJ LeMahieu (thumb), Aaron Judge (calf), Luis Avilán (left shoulder inflammation), Kyle Higashioka (oblique), Giancarlo Stanton (hamstring), Tommy Kahnle (Tommy John surgery), and Luis Severino (Tommy John surgery). Many of these players will be out for the entire season (Kahnle and Severino), while other players will try to make a late-season comeback (Torres, Stanton, Avilán, and Higashioka). At least Judge and LeMahieu will be back soon because when on the field those two can really produce.
- Injuries came at the worst time. LeMahieu was batting .411 before his thumb injury, whereas Judge was leading the AL in Homers. LeMahieu was a common pick to hit .400 in the shortened season, which would be the first time any player reached that plateau since Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941. As for Judge, he was proving the haters wrong after mashing the Yankees to victory, and talks of him being injury-prone slowly started to fade away. So the question remains…
- Is Judge (and Paxton injury-prone)? Aaron Judge responded to the question in a quote before the season: “You break a bone in your ribs from diving, trying to make a play for your pitcher, get hit in the wrist by a pitcher – it’s just freak things. I’m going to keep playing this game hard, and that’s all I know.” Judge is not wrong, his injuries have been surprising, and when back on the field he always produces. Still, his rib injury would have sidelined him for most of the 2020 season, if not for a shortened year. Also, his calf injury makes the injury-prone narrative hard to ignore. As for Paxton, he has undergone stints on the I.L. almost every season of his Major League career. At least Paxton pitched 150+ innings from 2018-19, so at least he has been more durable in recent years.
- While Judge and Paxton are somewhat injury prone, Giancarlo Stanton always seems to find himself on the I.L. He missed significant time in 2013 and 2015 for the Marlins, and has also missed significant time with the Yankees the past few years. The Yankees would love for Stanton to live up to his 13-year, $325 million contract they took on, but he has been disappointing. The unfathomable expectation after his 2017 MVP campaign, the injuries, and the strikeouts have not helped his cause either. Similar to Judge, he is great when on the field, but needs to put together a string of healthy seasons. Hopefully, he can return to the team before the end of the season.
- The injury bug has hurt the Yankees in more ways than one. Tommy Kahnle who has been a fixture in the bullpen since they traded for him in 2017, will miss all of 2020 and most if not all of 2021. He was poised to repeat a bounceback 2019 season before the injury. Additionally, Kahnle is an unheralded presence in the clubhouse. He is one of the most mic’d up goofballs on the Yankees. His antics can even rival fan favorite and World Series champion, Nick Swisher. So please do yourself a favor, and look up “Tommy Kahnle Mic’d Up” on Youtube.
- The injuries to the Yankees’ middle infielders have paved the way for Tyler Wade and Thairo Estrada. In short, they are not the duo the Yankees want up the middle as they are a major downgrade from LeMahieu and Torres. Both Wade and Estrada really struggle and should be in the backup role. Wade has great speed, but still has not hit Major League pitching. Estrada can hit a little bit, but cannot get on base (.289 OBP in the Majors).
- Besides the I.L. stints, COVID-19 has affected the Yankees too. DJ LeMahieu, Aroldis Chapman, and Luis Cessa all missed time because they caught COVID-19. Additionally, Yankees vs. Phillies series had to be moved around at the beginning of the season, and now Yankees vs. Mets series faces a similar scenario. At least they have sluggers in the lineup that have been healthy and ready to go all year-long such as…
- Luke Voit! Remember how in 2019, Voit was competing with Greg Bird for the first base job and totally ran away with the gig? There were whispers that Ford could dethrone Voit in 2020, especially with Voit’s abdominal injury in the second half of last season. Voit shut down any talks of a platoon by pacing the American League with 10 homers. Although Ford does have power as he hit 35 HR between Triple-A and MLB in 2019, he is just batting .175 this season. However, Voit is not the only regular contributor for the Yankees right now…
- Gio Urshela has silenced the haters. The above-average defender was a backup for his entire Indians career, but once he left their organization and had a brief stint with the Blue Jays he finally found his home in New York. Last year, Urshela exploded out of nowhere as he hit more homers in 2019 than his entire Major League career. Many critics were doubtful, Urshela could repeat his success in 2020. However, his tantalizing 91.7 Exit Velocity has helped him hit 5 HR and 18 RBIs this season. The late bloomer has made strides as a ballplayer and should be a mainstay at third base for years to come.
- What can the Yankees expect from Gary Sánchez? He has incredible power and a cannon of an arm, but he has difficulty putting it all together. He may never replicate his performance from his 2016-17 season, but he can still go on a tear. Sánchez still has burgeoning power, so perhaps he can step up during the home stretch of the season.
- Who is Tanner Swanson and why should you know him? Tanner Swanson is the Yankees catching coach, and the one that has been teaching Sánchez a new stance. Swanson has been teaching Sánchez to position himself lower to the ground and so far it’s working. While the passed balls and wild pitches are still a problem, Swanson has turned Sánchez into a below-average framer to an above-average framer. In a season, where the pitching staff needs any help they can get, at least Sánchez is becoming more reliable behind the plate.
- After Gerrit Cole, the rest of the rotation struggles. Gerrit Cole has been everything the Yankees asked for. He goes deep into ball games, gives up few runs, and strikes out a ton of batters. The problem is not Cole, but everyone else that pitches after him (James Paxton, Masahiro Tanaka, Jordan Montgomery, J.A. Happ, Jonathan Loaisiga, and Michael King). In fact, Gerrit Cole has a 2.75 ERA in 36.0 IP, while everyone else 5.47 ERA in 77.1 IP. Without him, the Yankees would not be a game back from first place right now.
- The Tampa Bay Rays have wrecked the Yankees in head-to-head matchups. In a sixty-game season, it’s hard to coast to a division title even if you are the New York Yankees. The main reason why Tampa has leapfrogged the Yankees is because the Bombers have dropped six out of the seven games played against the Rays. They also have been outscored 34-24, so their bats have been quiet against the Rays dominant pitching. The rivals play their last regular-season matchup between 8/31-9/2, which feels like a must-win series for New York.
- Although the Yankees have struggled against the Rays, they own the Boston Red Sox. The Sox are a shell of their 2018 team that won 108 games and a World Series. They traded Mookie Betts and David Price, Rick Porcello signed to the Mets, Chris Sale is out of the season and Eduardo Rodriguez is likely to follow suit. The Rivalry has not lived up to its reputation as the Bombers have won all six games against their divisional foe. It might be a little while before the Yankees and Red Sox are both gunning for a playoff berth at the same time again.
- The Yankees could use some players to aid them for the rest of the regular reason; Aaron Hicks could answer the call. His seven-year, $70 million after a big 2018 season (27 HR, .833 OPS, 5.0 fWAR) was a bit surprising because of the length and the fact the Yankees locked him up so quickly. Since then, he has been injury-prone the last two years. If not for the delayed start of the season, Aaron Hicks would have started the year on the I.L. because Tommy John surgery may not reach that plateau again. However, when healthy he can still be productive on the field. Furthermore, his walk rate (20.2 BB%) and strikeout rate (16.7 K%) indicates he is seeing the ball well.
- Clint Frazier can also step up during this time. He had a lights out series against the Red Sox (7/12, 2 HR, 8 RBIs), but is just 2/20 since then. Still, he’s proven time and time again that he can hit major league pitching when called up. If he can continue to contribute, perhaps he can win the 2021 left fielder job.
- By the way, who should man LF in the future? The Yankees have a variety of options Miguel Andújar, Mike Tauchman, Giancarlo Stanton, Brett Gardner, and Clint Frazier. Mike Tauchman is probably winning the rat race at the moment as Boone is more than comfortable with Stanton as a DH. Nonetheless, any of these players could make a run at the left-field gig. Consequently, whoever nails down the position, someone else needs to get traded. As a result, Tauchman, Frazier, or Andújar’s time in New York could be dwindling to a close.
- Starting pitching is also an uncertainty heading in 2021 for the Yankees as well. Only Gerrit Cole, Jordan Montgomery, and a delayed return from Luis Severino will be around in 2021. That being said, free agents Masahiro Tanaka (4.60 ERA), James Paxton (6.64 ERA), and J.A. Happ (6.39 ERA) are all free agents and are not helping their case to be re-signed. Tanaka is one of the best postseason pitchers the Yankees have ever had, but remains lackluster during the regular season. Paxton has ridiculous strikeout numbers, but he remains inconsistent and somewhat injury-prone. Happ has been downright awful since 2019, but if he reaches 62 innings pitched or 10 games started, then the Yankees would have to keep him on the books for another year. Fortunately, for the Yanks, Happ has just three starts and 12.2 IP this season, so he probably will not reach those thresholds.
- One attribute the Yankees can rely upon is that their closer, Aroldis Chapman, is absolutely jacked. The Cuban Missile must be eating spinach because he has forearms that even Popeye couldn’t ascertain. He even dialed up to 101 MPH in his season debut. The Yankees are glad to have him back because the bullpen has been up and down this season.
- The bullpen is still holding on. The Yankees had Chapman miss the beginning of the season because he had COVID-19, Tommy Kahnle is out for the year, and Britton, as well as Avilán, are injured. On a positive note, Chad Green is doing well and Jonathan Holder is having a good start and Chapman is back, so the bullpen is not all bad.
- But what happened to Adam Ottavino? He had an unsustainable walk rate last season (5.43 BB/9) and that has continued into this year (6.00 BB/9). His struggles with the free passes were amplified against the Astros in the ALCS last season. Probably the biggest difference between 2019 and 2020, is that Ottavino had an outlandish 87.8 LOB% clip. Now that Ottavino has regressed back to the mean, those walks allow more runners to score.
- Pitching, as a whole, has been difficult for the Yankees, especially with their rookies. The new rookie pitchers are getting their cups of coffee, but have not been contributing. Michael King, Nick Nelson, Brooks Kriske, and Albert Abreu have combined for a 7.13 ERA in 24.0 IP. Although it’s nice the Yankees are letting these prospects have their shot at the highest stage, they have little room for error in a shortened season. Perhaps they will keep looking in-house and could bring up Clarke Schmidt or Delvi Garcia, or…
- The Yankees can find reinforcements on the trade market. The best options for the Yankees would prefer trading for an upcoming free agent such as Trevor Bauer or Brett Anderson. Unfortunately for the Yanks, both the Reds and Brewers are seeking a playoff berth, so Bauer and Anderson may not be traded. They can also look towards Lance Lynn, Dylan Bundy, or Mike Clevinger. All of those are quality arms, but they belong on teams that want to be competitive shortly, so they might not be traded either. Also, the Yankees would like to have at least one of their pitching prospects step up next year, so trading for a starter who will not be a free agent until 2022 might be out of the question.
- In case you missed it, Erik Kratz is back. If you have never heard about the legend, I am happy to introduce him to you. For starters, Kratz has played in 1027 Minor League games compared to just 327 Major League games. He has also played in 14 Major League organizations, including the Yankees back in 2017. Oh, and the best part is that Kratz turned 40 years old before the season began, Make sure to save the date and tune into the Yankees game when he gets an occasional start to let Gary Sánchez.
- Lastly, virtual fans can never replicate the real ones. Seeing the fake fans in the audience, and other times just empty seats should make baseball fans shed a tear or two. The noise, the atmosphere can never be replicated. MLB and all major sports for that matter have done a great job allowing their fans to interact at the stadium from home, but everyone is hoping there can be a safe way to go back to the ballpark in 2021.
Key:
OPS: On base Percentage (OBP) and Slugging Percentage (SLG). This stat measures how often a player gets on base along with how much power they have at the plate. MLB average: .758 OPS (.323 OBP and .435 SLG)
fWAR: Wins Above Replacement for Fangraphs. For example, if a player has a 0.1 fWAR they are worth 0.1 wins more than a replacement-level player (0.0 fWAR).
BB% and K%: Walk percentage and strikeout percentage. These stats are mostly used for hitters. MLB average: ~8.0 BB% and 20.0 K%.
BB/9 and K/9: Walks per nine innings and strikeouts per nine innings. These stats are mostly used for pitchers. MLB average: 2.92 BB/9; 7.2 K/9.
ERA: Earned Run Average. MLB average: 4.49 ERA.
IP: Innings Pitched.
LOB%: The percentage of base runners left on base. MLB average: ~72.0%.
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