Four Thoughts on the Yankees After Two Months of Baseball

By EJ Fagan

May 29, 2026

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The following post comes from EJ Fagan's Substack, Baseball Is Life. It is shared with permission.

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The Yankees have now played two months of the 2026 season. They are 34-22 (98-win pace), a game and a half behind Tampa, and have a 75% chance to win the division according to Fangraphs. Their World Series odds are at 17%, second behind the Dodgers and more than double the third place team. They appear to have pulled out of the mid-May dive. Things are going well in Yankeeland.

When things are going so well, I sometimes struggle to find things to write full posts about. Yet I still have thoughts about the team.

Here are four observations for your reading pleasure:

The Yankees Have the Best Starting Pitching in the Major Leagues

And it’s not really close.

We’ve been daydreaming for months about what the Yankees rotation could look like if everyone were healthy and pitching to the back of their baseball card. While Max Fried is still hurt for now, we’re getting mighty close to that reality.

Between Schlittler, Cole and Fried, the Yankees are on track to go into the playoffs with the three best starting pitchers in the American League. Among the current MLB playoff teams, here is their competition:

• Rays: Drew Rasmussen

• Guardians: Parker Messick

• White Sox (!): Davis Martin

• Twins: Joe Ryan

• Mariners: Bryan Woo

  
  

No one there scares me. I barely know who Messick and Martin are. Even if Toronto manages to sneak into a playoff spot, I’d give the Yankees an advantage against Kevin Gausman and Dylan Cease, especially with Cease against Cole on the mound.

There are some competitors in the National League, but the Yankees are better both at the top and in depth than the Dodgers, Phillies and Braves. Only the Pirates can really compete, but they aren’t making the playoffs.

What about Rodon? He’s felt shaky since his return. But when you check his Statcast page, you stop worrying so much:

Rodon’s control has been an issue through three starts, but everything else is working.

Rodon is still one of the hardest pitchers in the league for batters to do damage against.

Chalk it up to rust and some bad batted ball luck. Rodon was underrated last year as a top-5 starter in the American League. And he’s our fourth starter.

I’ll do some more work to compare the Yankees rotation around mid-season, but right now we’re looking at easily the best Yankee crew in a very long time. Maybe ever.

They Should Probably Trade for the Infielder or Catcher

We’re getting closer to trade season. The Yankees are probably going to trade for a few relief pitchers, but they should also try to improve the bottom of their lineup. Ryan McMahon, the shortstop pair and the catchers are playing poorly enough that they could get a pretty big upgrade without having to trade for tippy-top talent.

Ryan McMahon stands out. Between the inconsistent defense and awful hitting, McMahon has been one of the worst third basemen in the league. The Yankees can do better. But who is available? The state of MLB third basemen is pretty rough right now; Jose Ramirez is third in WAR with a .396 Slg%, Matt Chapman is 13th with a .313 Slg%.

Here’s who I am watching:

• Josh Jung

• Bret Baty

• Royce Lewis

• Matt Shaw

• Isaac Paredes

• Maikel Garcia

• Yoan Moncada

  
  

Yikes. Catcher isn’t much better either. You’re probably looking for some kind of creative platoon solution at this point. Alternatively, maybe George Lombard Jr. works as a late season call up. He’s holding his own at Triple-A, but by no means excelling:

No easy solutions here. I wonder if they’ll expand their upgrade search to shortstop, where guys like Zach Neto and CJ Abrams could be available.

The Farm System is a Dumpster Fire. That’s Going to Limit them at the Deadline.

For about two decades, I’ve made it a habit of checking the minor league box scores for Yankees affiliates every night. There’s usually someone interesting to follow at each level, even if most players don’t matter much.

This year? There’s no one to follow below Triple-A. The Scranton box score will tell me about how Jasson Dominguez (when he’s healthy), Spencer Jones, Elmer Rodriguez, Carlos LaGrange and George Lombard are doing. But below that, there’s not much to check. Dax Kilby has been out with a mysterious hamstring injury since the Spring. Ben Hess and Bryce Cunningham have been hurt. Some other promising guys like Kyle Carr, Kaeden Kent and Allen Facundo have been mid to bad.

The team is going to feel the deficit in a few years. But, more importantly, the Yankees are going to struggle to make trades for mid-level relief pitching at the deadline. They used solid 7-15 ranked prospects like Roc Riggio, Edgeleen Perez, Jesus Rodriguez and Agustin Ramirez to acquire guys over the last few years. Those guys simply don’t exist right now.

That’s why I think the Yankees might take fewer, bigger swings at the deadline this year. Will Warren, Anthony Volpe, Ryan Weathers, Carlos LaGrange and Elmer Rodriguez will all be on the table. But they will fetch more than a David Bednar type. They could trade for someone with a lot more service time when you’re willing to give up a Will Warren. Keep an eye on contending teams with poor starting starting pitching like the Diamondbacks and Cubs.

In the longer term, I still believe that the Yankees need to reconsider their farm system strategy. Guys like Cam Schlittler and Ben Rice have been huge successes. But where are all the 50 FV guys? There’s no reason why the team can’t do both.

Batters Are Struggling Again in 2026

The average MLB hitter in 2026 is hitting .240/.318/.389. They are walking a lot more than in 2025, but batting average and slugging are at historic lows. Pitchers are getting a lot more weak contact than in 2025.

That’s, in my opinion, very bad for the sport. Games need more action. Pitchers are just too nasty right now. I hope MLB continues to continue to explore significant rule changes, such as tightening the strike zone or messing with the mound. One thing that we don’t talk about enough: teams are getting way too good at positioning outfielders. Maybe we need to move the fences back - I should write that post.

Besides that, the lower offense means that we all need to update our priors on what kind of numbers are acceptable or even good for a major league hitter. If you are just breaking a .700 OPS, you are an average-ish MLB hitter. Lots of guys who contribute on defense are plus players with significantly lower numbers. That doesn’t mean that Austin Wells can get by with his current batting line, but it does mean that a .670 OPS or something would be perfectly acceptable (MLB catchers are at .666 this season). Ditto for guys like Volpe, Cabarello and McMahon; as long as they are playing good defense at plus positions, their recent batting line is acceptable for a MLB player.