September 27, 2022
***
This week we asked our writers:
As the season winds down, please share your favorite and least favorite memories from the 2022 regular season.
Here are their responses:
***
Paul Semendinger:
My Favorite Memories: April through June...there was magic and glory and wonder. Sports is best when it creates magic. I'm also loving Aaron Judge's pursuit of the Triple Crown.
My Least Favorite Memories: July and August. Those were miserable months.
***
Cary Greene:
This season, I’ve reached my melting point with the Yankees and it’s mainly due to Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner.
That said, it was easy to state my favorite memories so far this season, they’ve been:
1. The All-Star game “live-mic” scenario where the most unlikely of All Stars at season’s start, Nestor Cortes Jr and Jose Trevino were having fun and dominating on the game’s biggest stage.
2. The month of June, when the Yankees were a torrid 22-6 and were enjoying some of the best pitching and hitting in baseball.
3. My third favorite memory was watching what Matt Carpenter was able to accomplish during his stint with the Yankees. I found myself really liking the way he played the game. Granted, his defense is very poor, but what a veteran presence he is. Carpenter proved exactly why Cashman MUST add more reliable left-handed hitting. He’s a dead pull hitter (60% Pull-Rate per FanGraphs). His .471 wOBA was just craziness and I loved every game he played in.
4. The Aaron Judge “home run chase” hasn’t blown me away. While I enjoy watching Judge, I resent Cashman for not extending him and it’s hard to stomach all of this, knowing Judge will likely simply go elsewhere to get paid what he’s worth. I’m glad Judge is killing it, good for him, but with each positive thing he does, it’s all becoming very bittersweet for me. He’s such a well rounded player and fans sure do love him. I don’t get Brian Cashman, I really don’t. He needs to go. For the month of September, the Yankees are playing by far and away the easiest schedule in the American League East. While it’s great that they’re playing .714 baseball in September, I’m not fooled by the mirage. Teams like the Astros, the Dodgers and perhaps the Braves are also built to win and I just don’t feel Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner are truly running this ball club with an all-in mentality. In fact, I feel Steinbrenner is a detached owner for the most part.
My least-favorite memories this season were:
1. The Trade Deadline, where Brian Cashman failed to add enough clout to the bullpen and also failed to land Luis Castillo. I had hoped he would trade for Joe Mantiply (Diamondbacks All-Star lefty who didn’t wind up getting traded), David Robertson (who the Cubs traded to the Phillies) and possibly David Bednar (Pirates All-Star closer). I felt a GM intent on winning a World Series would act decisively to address the one real area of concern on the team that injuries to key relievers like Chad Green, Mike King and others combined with the declining performance of Aroldis Chapman had clearly made visible to even a casual onlooker by the time the August second, 6pm Deadline struck. After Cashman failed to land Castillo, he scrambled to find a fallback and landed on Frankie Montas, who was battling shoulder soreness and whose numbers really weren’t in the same realm as Castillo’s. Then, Cashman traded J.P. Sears and Jordan Montgomery, both of which seemed like very questionable decisions.
2. My second least favorite memory was the way the Yankees handled their youth this season. It took Cashman WAY too long to bring up Oswald Peraza and Oswaldo Cabrera and they also yo-yoed Clarke Schmidt and Ron Marinaccio back and forth between the MLB Active Roster and the minors. I thought this showed an utter unwillingness to give their youth a real chance and instead, fans were forced to watch Aaron Hicks and Isiah Kiner Falefa bumble away in July and August. Now, rather than having young players well acclimated to MLB pitching, the Yankees have declining veterans to turn to in order to win a World Series.
3. My final least favorite memory has been watching Aroldis Chapman pitch. Being honest, I’ve never liked him and it’s not simply because of his questionable character. I don’t trust him in big spots and considering the Yankees Closer role was defined by Mariano Rivera, I’m very disappointed that Brian Cashman has snoozed on this key roster-construction element for as long as he has.
4. The near collapse was of course not fun at all to watch, much less to write about and study so much in fine detail! What Yankees fan did enjoy watching Yankees baseball in July and August? Obviously, injuries were the main culprit and so I get it, but wow - the Yankees pulled one heck of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
***
Mike Whiteman:
Back in mid-August the Yankees were sinking fast, and in the fan frenzy much criticism (overstated in my opinion) came down on Isiah Kiner Falefa. On August 13th he basically carried the team to a 3-2 win over Boston with his first home run of the season and drove in the eventual winning run with a beautiful squeeze bunt in the eighth. He helped the lead stand when he made a real nice scoop of an errant Jose Trevino throw on a force play in the ninth.
IKF has emerged as one of my favorite Yankees this year. He's not the most talented shortstop in the league, but he's a gritty, hustling player. In today's three outcome game, his game of contact and speed is enjoyable to watch. It was great to see him come up big, plus the team really needed the win!
My least favorite moment was the Mike King injury. He was so good, and seemed to be enjoying himself so much. It was just devastating to see him go down knowing that there would be a long journey back to the mound.
***
Tim Kabel:
My least favorite moment of the 2022 season was when Aaron Hicks had the two abysmal plays in a row in left field against the Tampa Bay rays on September 9, leading to the loss.
My favorite moment hasn’t happened yet because they haven’t clinched officially and Aaron Judge has not yet hit the record-breaking home run.
***
Ethan Semendinger:
My best moment of the year with the Yankees came on June 23rd when the Yankees were playing the Astros. I was lucky to go to the game with a bunch of friends (Thanks for the tickets, Chris!) and- though I do have to admit we left before the 9th inning- it was an absolutely fantastic atmosphere, and it was really fun to listen to the Yankees come back with 4 runs to walk-off in the 9th. A great Aaron Hicks moment.
The game on June 9th (which I talked about here) was also a highlight game of the season.
My least favorite part of the season, outside of watching the Yankees fail to address the Joey Gallo disaster for months, was the Yankees inability to bring in Juan Soto and failure to get David Robertson. I was so excited for what could've been a fantastic trade deadline and the Yankees ultimately didn't do much.
