Yankees hurting and have been dependent on Aaron Judge
Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge looks on from the dugout after hitting his 54th home run of the season in the bottom of the sixth inning against the Twins at Yankee Stadium on Monday. Credit: Errol Anderson
The Yankees never posted a lineup on the clubhouse door for Tuesday night’s rainout against the Twins, so we don’t know what it was supposed to look like.
More and more, neither does manager Aaron Boone.
For the Yankees, formulating a lineup is no longer about Boone consulting matchups or data or whatever cards the computer spits out to choose from. It’s a matter of which bodies are physically capable of playing baseball, and that number keeps shrinking.
Tuesday had to be the first time in recent memory the Yankees were thankful they didn’t have to face the Twins, a team that is typically an automatic W (112-39 vs. Minny since 2002). All these games usually require is the Yankees stepping on the field and sticking around for nine innings. The result feels almost predetermined.
Instead, Boone sat at a microphone Tuesday and ticked off the names unavailable for that night’s game -- or later in the week, this month and possibly October, too. Anthony Rizzo (back/headaches), Giancarlo Stanton (Achilles), DJ LeMahieu (toe), Andrew Benintendi (wrist surgery). We’ve stopped counting Matt Carpenter (broken foot) because his return is iffy, at best.
No wonder the Yankees’ offense has evaporated over the past 50 games. While we’ve praised them in past seasons for their resiliency when sustaining such rapid-fire losses to the trainer’s room, the timing for this health crisis, desperately cling to a 4 1/2-game lead in the AL East, is particularly worrisome.
Can the Yankees survive solely on Aaron Judge homering every other day -- or in three consecutive games, his current streak? They’ve won the last two anyway, but since July 9, the start of their 20-31 swoon, the Yankees have hit 67 homers and Judge is responsible for 24 of them (36%). The Marlins had a total of 27 home runs during that same stretch; the Tigers 29.
“He’s the best player in the league,” Boone said Tuesday. “Whether we’re at full strength, and everyone’s going, that’s huge. Obviously right now we’ve been struggling a little bit and guys are down, but his level of consistency and production has been the reason we’re in this position.”
That position is still atop the division, at 27 games over .500 (81-54), but trailing the Astros by 5 1/2 games for AL home-field advantage in the playoffs.. Regardless of who you want to pin the blame on for the Yankees’ tailspin over the past two months -- Boone, GM Brian Cashman, Hal Steinbrenner -- the reality is Judge is going to need some help from the rest of the the clubhouse, especially when teams decide to stop pitching to him. And the Yankees are having trouble getting a few of the key players to suit up on regular basis.
Rizzo, who initially was expected back Wednesday after getting an epidural for his aching back on the West Coast, will go on the IL for what will seem like an indefinite period due to headaches -- possibly stemming from his condition or the shot to alleviate it or a combination of the two. Either way, Boone wasn’t exactly sure when the doctors would clear him to leave his couch, so the timetable for ramping him back up to be major-league ready is unclear.
On Monday, the solution was to put Marwin Gonzalez at first base, and he responded with a home run that snapped an 0-for-29 skid (he also booted a throw for an error). Tuesday’s corresponding move for Rizzo was to summon the former Rangers first baseman Ronald Guzman from Triple-A Scranton, where he was hitting .260 with 12 homers in 90 games.
It’s been a RailRiders reunion in the Bronx, with Guzman now joining Estevan Florial, Oswaldo Cabrera and Oswald Perez. But leaning on Scranton’s finest was not how this was supposed to go, and as cloudy as Rizzo’s condition seems to be, Boone also was vague about Stanton and LeMahieu, two players that look too broken at the moment to be counted on down the stretch.
Stanton clearly was hurting before traveling to Los Angeles for the All-Star Game, and he’s been a shell of himself since, batting .105 (4-for-38) without an extra-base hit after missing more than a month due to the Achilles strain. Boone tries to be optimistic about a Stanton bounce-back, but the signs suggest otherwise.
LeMahieu may be the most confounding one of all, as his aching big toe either puts him on the bench or renders him ineffective on the field. Since Aug. 1, the two-time batting champ is hitting .187 (20-for-107) with a .497 OPS in 27 games. Boone admitted Tuesday they’re constantly evaluating what percentage of LeMahieu is enough to play him, and he doesn’t look to be improving.
“It’s complicated,” Boone said.
Everything is with the Yankees lately. Or at least for the non-Judge portion of their roster. Rather than enjoy Judge’s historic chase of Roger Maris, the Yankees are wondering if that can carry them -- with few others healthy enough to do any heavy lifting.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
