About Last Night: The Yankees Were Pummeled by the Orioles 9-3
By Tim Kabel
July 31, 2023
*** The last-place Yankees completed a three-game series and the season series against the first-place Orioles last night, losing the game, the series, and the season series. The Yankees teased us by winning Saturday night. Last night, they sank back to a mere five games over .500 and are 55-50 for the season. That puts them on pace to win 85 games this year. They are firmly in last place in the American League East. They are in 5th place in the wild card race, only half a game ahead of the Angels and a game ahead of the Mariners. The Yankees will now play seven games against the second-place. Tampa Bay Rays and then the surging Houston Astros. Both those teams always give the Yankees a hard time. This week is crucial to any chance for the Yankees to make the playoffs. It is unrealistic to expect them to gain much ground in the next week. In the words of Willie Nelson, "Turn out the lights, the party's over."
Quick Stats -
The last time the Orioles were in first place and the Yankees were in last place this late in the season was 1966. Many of the readers and writers of SSTN were not yet born.
Luis Severino gave up nine runs and ten hits in 3.1 innings. Was that his last start as a Yankee?
Aaron Judge has 39 career home runs against the Orioles. Yet, he was on the bench last night.
The Orioles won a season series against the Yankees for the first time since 2016.
Yankees' batters struck out 18 times last night. Anthony Rizzo struck out 5 times. Is that a platinum sombrero? After the game, Aaron Boone actually said, "Outside of the strikeouts, we grinded it out well in our at bats." That would be comparable to the captain of the Titanic saying, "Outside of hitting the iceberg, we had a pretty good voyage."
Aaron Judge rejoined the Yankees on Friday, after a lengthy stint on the IL. It has been written and talked about constantly that he is crucial to the Yankees' success. The Yankees are in last place and need to make up ground. Last night was their final face-to-face meeting with the Orioles this season. Yet, Aaron Judge was given a day off after playing two games. Why? As Yul Brynner said in The King and I, “Is a puzzlement".
Anthony Rizzo is 14-84 in July. That is .166.
On July 30th, 1990, George Steinbrenner was forced to resign as general partner of the Yankees by Commissioner Fay Vincent. The stage was set for the resurgence of the franchise.
The Big Story -
The Yankees are 6-8 since the All-Star break. Three of those wins came against the hapless Royals. They will not play the Royals again until the last weekend of the season. If the Yankees played them every game, they might have a chance to make the playoffs. Unfortunately, they don't.
I wrote earlier in the year that the Yankees had to be careful with the Baltimore Orioles, because if they were not, the Orioles, a very young team, would start to believe that they could win regularly against the Yankees. Well, that is exactly what happened. When you look at the two teams right now, the Orioles are clearly better. One of the main reasons is that the Orioles have developed young, athletic players. The Yankees do not do that, and in fact seemed to stunt the growth of their young players.
I have written many times that I do not believe Aaron Boone is capable of successfully and fully developing young players. I think whatever success Anthony Volpe is having and will have in the future, is in spite of Aaron Boone, not because of him. If the Yankees decide to retool with younger players and cast aside some of the fading veterans, they cannot entrust that to Aaron Boone.
Player of the Day -
Jake Bauers had a home run and a double and drove in two of the Yankees' three runs.
Notable Performances-
Harrison Bader had two hits and a sacrifice fly. Ron Marinaccio pitched 2 2/3 innings of hitless relief with four strikeouts.
Better to Forget-
Just about everything else. You have to give Luis Severino points for honesty. After the game, he said, "rRght now, I feel like I'm the worst pitcher in the game." If only his manager could be that forthcoming after a game, instead of coming up with inane explanations and excuses for what we all saw.
My Take -
It is possible that the Yankees could make the playoffs this season. For the division, they trail the Baltimore Orioles by nine games. Conceivably, the Yankees could catch them. It would be extremely difficult to do so. When you add in the fact that they don't play the Orioles again, it becomes even more unlikely. On top of that, the Yankees are in fifth place in the American League East. They would have to pass all four teams ahead of them, which with less than 60 games to go, would be virtually impossible.
If you look at the Wild Card race, the Yankees are only 3 1/2 games out. But, even if they get into the playoffs, they're extremely unlikely to go very far. I know Aaron Judge is back. I know Carlos Rodon is back. Nestor Cortes and Jonathan Loaisiga will be returning very shortly. However, there is not enough time and not enough talent on the roster for the Yankees to win a championship this year.
It would be foolish to add pieces at the expense of prospects to chase the dream of making the playoffs as a Wild Card team. The best they could realistically hope for would be the third Wild Card spot.
At this point, it makes much more sense to purge the roster of players who will not be long-term solutions. Jake Bauers has demonstrated that he might be solid contributor as a hitter. He is not an outfielder. The Yankees should trade Anthony Rizzo and make Bauers the starting first baseman. In the meantime, they should work on developing someone to play that position in the minor leagues.
The Miami Marlins are reportedly very interested in acquiring Gleyber Torres. The Yankees should send him there for as many prospects as they can get. Oswald Peraza. could play second base. Or if they choose, they can move Anthony Volpe to second base and play Peraza at short. DJ LeMahieu should also be traded, as well as Isiah Kiner-Falefa. IKF has not been bad this year. In fact, he has been better than expected. He may bring a decent return from a playoff team that needs someone who can get on base and play a variety of positions.
Greg Allen should be released, as he really serves no purpose for this team. For now, Billy McKinney can play a role off the bench. If the Yankees get offers for Domingo German and Luis Severino, they should be traded as well. Harrison Bader could be traded for a few prospects and re-signed in the offseason as a free agent, much like the team did with Aroldis Chapman in 2016.
This team should look much different on Wednesday morning than it does right now. If it does not, success will be further away than it is now. The Yankees need to take this opportunity to refresh the roster externally and internally. Everson Pereira should be brought up and inserted in the outfield every day. Estevan Florial should either be brought up or traded. Oswaldo Cabrera should be brought back up and given the chance to play regularly instead of playing once out of every five days. Presumably, if they trade veterans, they will get people back who could fill in spots in the rotation or bullpen and possibly the outfield or third base.
Realistically, it is fair to say that Aaron Boone will most likely not be the manager next season. I do not see how he can survive the team not making the playoffs. Six years of coming up short is too long of a tenure. As I have stated on many occasions, along with many others, Boone is not the person to rebuild this team. Leaving him in charge of younger, developing talent would be a colossal mistake. A new direction requires a new leader. Since that is the case, Boone should be replaced now. I know the Yankees don't like to do that anymore. And they don't like the notion of interim managers. But, if Boone remains at the helm during a transition, he could cause a great deal of harm to the development of multiple young players.
Boone likes to say at the end of every game that they have to get back on the horse the next day. He should be provided with a horse to ride off into the sunset.
Next Up -
Tonight, the Yankees open a three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays at 7:05 PM at Yankee Stadium. Domingo German (5-7 4.78 ERA) will face Tampa Bay's Tyler Glasnow (4-3 3.36 ERA).
