by Paul Semendinger
July 15, 2023
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No commentary from me in this article. The following are simply statistics I gathered from baseball-reference this morning.
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Here are the top MLB teams by winning percentage:
Braves .678
Rays .624
Orioles .611
Dodgers .578
Rangers .576
Marlins .570
Diamondbacks .565
Blue Jays/Astros .554
Giants .549
Brewers/Reds .543
Yankees/Red Sox/Phillies .533
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The Yankees are tied with the Detroit Tigers for second to last in the American League in batting average (.231)
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Only the A's, White Sox, and Royals have a lower On Base Percentage than the 2023 Yankees (.300)
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As a team, the Yankees' OPS+ is 96
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The Yankees are 3rd in the American League in home runs
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Out of the 15 teams in the American League the Yankees rank as follows in positional "Wins Above Average"
Catcher - 8th place
First Base - 5th place
Second Base - 7th place
Shortstop - 6th place
Third Base - 13th place
Left Field - 14th place
Center Field - 10th place
Right Field - 12th place
All Outfield - 13th place
Designated Hitter - 13th place
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In overall fielding percentage, the Yankees rank 12th in the league.
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By batter's age, the Yankees, at 29.1, are the oldest team in the American League.
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In the American League, only the A's have had fewer hits than the Yankees' 690.
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The Yankees are 10th in the A.L. in stolen bases.
The Yankees are 4th in the most times caught stealing.
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Only the Guardians, Royals, and White Sox have drawn fewer bases on balls than the Yankees.
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Of the players on the 2023 Yankees who have played at least 50 games, none is hitting even .260.
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The Yankees are #1 in attendance in the American League
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Of the Starting Pitchers, only Gerrit Cole has an ERA+ over 100. (148)
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The Yankees have eight relief pitchers with over 15 games pitched with an ERA+ over 100.
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Baseball Reference calculates the odds of the Yankees winning the World Series in 2023 at 1.9%
BC has been allowed to keep this organization totally analytically driven. Thst itself has really weakened the big league club. Most other clubs for a few years now had started to put the human element back into their equation. Hopefully this Casey hiring works, simply because that would definitely lessen the hold analytics has on this mess.
But to me, i have like 7 different other things that need to be changed, the biggest issues are the medical-based ones.
Paul as usual you make your case. All Hal cares about are that the Yanks are first in attendance. Yankee tradition is no longer as the patches on the uniforms attest to. World Series or bust are just words. Don’t believe anything will change as long as fans keep coming. If Hal would sell the team to someone who really wants to bring championships to the Bronx, true Yankee fans can only hope for. Don’t think that is going to happen. If the fans really want change then they will have to stay away from attending games and not buy or support anything Yankees. Don’t see another way!
I agree 100% with Andy. The only statistic that Steinbrenner cares abut is attendance. I'm sure he has a spread sheet somewhere that tells him how much money to spend to achieve optimal profit. Speaking of tradition, one of my peeves is the loss of the Auxiliary scoreboards. In my mind they were as much of part of Yankee Stadium as the frieze that surrounds the ballpark. Specifically, I am thinking of the photo of the last pitch of Larsen's perfect game.
The Yankees are not a terrible team, but they are not a very good team. The way to give the Yankees a good chance of winning it all before say 2027 is to recognize that this team is not very good and avoid the temptation to buy at the deadline. Very good teams try to add at the deadline to become excellent teams. Other teams are better off not taking that approach. Ask yourself this question: which current Yankees on the big league roster are likely to be contributors in a significant way to the next Yankees championship team. For me the answer is Cole, Rodon, Volpe, Bader and Judge. Everybody else is either just marking time and contributin in…
Paul: The data doesn't lie. What bothers me the most is the apparent lack of honesty coming from Yankee management about the current problems and Boone's platitudes after every loss. If ever there was a situation where a complete do over both of on-field personnel and management, including scouting and minor league coaching and instruction this is it. I often use the analogy of the New York Giants who lived in the wilderness for 10 years before John Mara finally realized he had to turn the organization over to the football professionals (and raided other top NFL organizations to find these pros). Now the Giants are headed in the right direction. I truly believe the Yankees have reached a po…