Yankees Yak: Opening Day Edition
Well, that opening week couldn’t have gone much worse, huh?
Sure, I suppose they could have gone 0-6 and every player could have gotten hurt, but you get what I’m saying.
It was an ugly 2-4 start. The offense was mediocre. The Yanks starters gave them no length. The bullpen blew multiple games. The infield defense was bad, and it definitely cost them. To top it all off, their best and most exciting player (Gary Sanchez) landed on the 10-day DL with a right biceps strain.
So, sure, things could have gone better. It’s still great to have baseball back though. The mood swings baseball fans endure can be awful, but we still wouldn’t trade it for anything. Saturday night, after another blown game and the Sanchez injury, I was depressed all night and already looking to top 2018 draft prospects. Now on Sunday night, after a win and excited for Opening Day tomorrow, I currently write this quite content. Some would say, “Tom you’re bipolar.” To them I say, “No. I’m a baseball fan.”
Let’s take a look at some of the top storylines from the past week and preview what lies ahead in their opening week at home.
Gary Gone
We’re used to #GaryGood but after his right biceps strain on Saturday, he’s now #GaryGone. It wasn’t the hottest start for Sanchez, but it’s still a devastating loss. The star catcher was just 3-20 with a home run and two runs batted in. It wasn’t going to be long before he snapped out of it though, as evidenced by his long homer against Baltimore on Friday.
The worst part of the Sanchez injury isn’t that the Yankees will miss his bat and his glove. It’s that we don’t get to watch him play for awhile, and that stinks. Baseball is entertainment, and Gary Sanchez is certainly entertaining. For at least ten days, we won’t be able to watch him mash the cover off balls and gun runners down. That’s bad for everyone. So here’s to a speedy recovery for Gary.
Austin Romine and Kyle Higashioka will hold down the fort in the meantime. Romine is serviceable as a backup, but won’t provide much offensively in the starting role. Higashioka, 26, will get his first crack at the big leagues after being drafted back in 2008. His bat is legit. Across 370 minor league at bats last year, the righty slashed .276/.337/.511 with 21 homers and 81 RBI. He also looked solid this spring. His bat may surprise some people.
Starters Struggling
We knew the rotation was going to be a problem for this team, but I don’t know if anyone thought it’d be this bad. Here are the lines for each start so far.
April 2nd- Masahiro Tanaka: 2.2 IP, 7 ER
April 4th- CC Sabathia: 5 IP, 0 ER
April 5th- Michael Pineda: 3.2 IP, 4 ER
April 7th- Luis Severino: 5 IP, 4 ER
April 8th- Masahiro Tanaka: 5 IP, 3 ER
April 9th- CC Sabathia: 6 IP, 2 ER
It’s tough to win games with those types of performances, and that’s why the Yankees have only won two. It’s no surprise that the two games they have won came when they got their two best performances from their starter (Sabathia both times). Everyone else has really struggled though.
Tanaka got beat up bad in the opener and again struggled Saturday but was able to limit the damage. Although his fastball was clocked in the high-90s, he’s been struggling with control which is very rare for him.
Pineda made all those dumb idiots (who I’m definitely NOT one of) that said he’d contend for the Cy Young look like dumb idiots. Severino’s start was much better than his line indicated and should give reason for optimism.
So through six games, the Yankees have gotten just one quality start, and their starters are averaging under five innings per start while pitching to a 6.59 ERA. That’s no recipe for success. The starters have to (and should) improve.
Sophomore Struggles
A lot of expectations were put on Gary Sanchez, Aaron Judge and Greg Bird this year even though it’s just their second season playing in the Majors. I already mentioned Sanchez, but Bird and Judge have had their troubles as well.
In 18 plate appearances, Bird is 1-16 with two walks and seven strikeouts. He’s also dealing with a right foot injury (not believed to be serious) and the flu. He didn’t play Saturday or Sunday. The good news is that nothing is serious and Bird has shown he can hit. Expect him to break out soon.
Judge has struggled the least of the trio, and his numbers are looking better, especially after his game against the Orioles on Sunday. He had a game-tying homer, and his 2-4 day brought his average up from .133 to .211.
The good news for the Yankees is that the veterans have been picking up the slack. Jacoby Ellsbury is thriving in the five-spot; he’s hitting .368 with a homer and a steal. Chase Headley is hitting .333 with a homer. He already has seven hits. I’m not going to fact check this, but I don’t think Headley got his seventh hit until June last season.
Brett Gardner (.280 AVG, .379 OBP, 3 SB), Starlin Castro (.320 BA) and Matt Holliday (.333/.538/.556, 1 HR, 4 RBI) are all off to good starts as well.
Ronald Torreyes, who can’t be counted as a veteran, is off to a real solid start filling in for Gregorius at shortstop. He’s hitting .300 and leads the team with 7 RBI.
Overall, the offense has been unspectacular but decent enough.
Defensive Deficiencies
The Yankees infield defense has been a problem so far. Greg Bird is no Mark Teixeira at first base. Even in 2015, I remember being unimpressed with Bird at first. Starlin Castro is average at second. Torreyes is a downgrade from Gregorius, and Headley is a wild card at third. At times, he seems like a Gold Glover. Other times, he’s just terrible.
There’s been a number of mistakes and misplays by the infield in the first week, and it’s definitely not helping the Yankee pitchers (who need all the help they can get).
Opening Day!
For all the negativity in Yankee Universe right now, at least we have the home opener today. Opening Day in the Bronx is always one of my favorite days of the year. It’s like New Year’s Day. With good weather expected, it should be a picture perfect day at Yankee Stadium.
Personally, this will be my 11th straight Opening Day and 12th overall, but it’ll be my first in the press box, which I’m excited for. My streak may seem solid, but this will be my dad’s 46th consecutive Opening Day, so I have a long way to go. And although he may try his hardest, he will not be joining me in the press box.
Here are some of my Opening Day memories that stand out:
2008: I was 11 at the time and was pulled aside to be interviewed by a news station. The reporter asked my favorite player, and I told her “Joba Chamberlain.” She then asked “How many home runs do you think he’ll hit this year?”. Now, I may have been 11, but I wasn’t stupid. I knew Joba was (at that time) a shutdown reliever and not a hitter. But for no reason whatsoever, I just blurted out “50.” To this day, I have no idea why I answered that. I guess I thought my chances of getting on TV were better if I didn’t show up the reporter. I also remember trying to convince myself that maybe she asked “How many home runs will A-Rod hit this year?” Or maybe I was just expecting a huge interleague from Chamberlain. Well, anyway the interview never aired, and my embarrassment was saved.
2009: Getting to see the new Stadium was cool. Losing 10-2 to the Indians was not.
2013: The Opening Day roster included Travis Hafner, Brennan Boesch, Lyle Overbay, Jayson Nix, Ben Francisco, Vernon Wells and Kevin Youkilis. I probably slapped myself 100 times that day, just hoping I’d wake up from what was surely a nightmare.
2017: Let’s hope today brings some good memories for Yankee fans everywhere.
