By Paul Semendinger
November 13, 2023
***
I figured...why not? (For the third time.)
What if every single Yankee replicated his career worst season in 2024, what might the team's production look like? (I took each players worst full seasons, if such a thing exists, or at least a year when he was on the roster all season... for the most part. Please forgive any creative licenses that I took.)
You know...
Well...
YIKES!!!
***
1b - Anthony Rizzo (2023) 99 games - .244/12/41 94 OPS+, 0.5 WAR
2b - Gleyber Torres (2020) 42 games (of 60) - .243/3/16 103 OPS+, 0.0 WAR
ss - Anthony Volpe (2023) 159 games - .209/21/60 81 OPS+, 3.2 WAR
3b- DJ LeMahieu (2014) 149 games - .267/5/42 75 OPS+, 0.8 WAR
lf - Oswaldo Cabrera (2023) 115 games - .211/5/29 58 OPS+, -1.5 WAR
cf - Estevan Florial (career) 48 games - .209/1/11 71 OPS+, -0.1 WAR
rf - Aaron Judge (2023) 106 games - .267/37/75 175 OPS+, 4.5 WAR
c - Jose Trevino (2021) 89 games - .239/5/30 66 OPS+, 0.1 WAR
dh = Giancarlo Stanton (2023) 101 games - .191/24/60 87 OPS+, -0.8 WAR
SP - Gerrit Cole (2016) = 7-10, 3.88 (21 starts)
SP - Carlos Rodon (2023) = 3-8, 6.85 (14 starts)
SP - Nestor Cortes (2023) = 5-2, 4.97 (12 starts)
SP - Clarke Schmidt (2023) = 9-9, 4.64 (32 starts)
SP - Mike King (2021) = 2-4, 3.55 (22 games, 6 starts)
***
My big fear, my biggest fear here is that this scenario seems much more realistic than the other two I presented (Glass Half-Full and Glass Completely Full).
Also frightening is the fact that numerous ( a lot of) players are coming off their career worst seasons in 2023.
This makes it clear that the Yankees have a lot of work to do this winter.
Just a question, a real and sincere question, if the scenario above plays out and the Yankees have a miserable 2024 that includes them not acquiring any of the big stars, will Aaron Boone and Brian Cashman be back for 2025?
If it plays out that way, the GM would have to go. I can't say the same for a manager that is given that scenario and expected to win more then 82 or so games. But, he may just leave on his own accord.
And speaking of "completely empty," the training staff got a vote of confidence: https://www.nydailynews.com/2023/11/14/yankees-eric-cressey-injury-giancarlo-stanton-aaron-judge-carlos-rodon/ Apparently, the injuries to Judge and Rizzo are "freak." Now, why there is no responsibility for the other 26 players who wound up on the IL (and why Rizzo's freak concussion wasn't properly diagnosed for two months) is left to the imagination of the reader.
As I wrote elsewhere, my gut tells me Hal reamed out Cashman and told him he has one more chance to fix things, and that's why Cashman had the press tantrum. Although I could be utterly wrong, if the Yankees miss the playoffs again, Hal will clean house.
Torres has been nothing but solid offensively when he's been the starting 2B. His problem is when he was the starting SS. He left his bat at 2B.
If there are enough horrific regressions, I can't see how Cashman can survive it.
does it really seem more realistic that all the players will have bad seasons than that they'll have average seasons?
seems to me that you've discarded realism in two of the three exercises.
min/max calculations are designed to do that