New York Yankees: Current woes a sign of things to come?
By Andrew Padyk
While it’s still only the first half of the season, the New York Yankees have entered the month of June at an early crossroads. The club has started the month off on the wrong foot dropping the rubber match against Minnesota, a makeup against Seattle, and a three game set against Oakland. The lineup has faltered at the plate and the bullpen has faltered on the mound. The worry about holes in the lineup are starting to show as the team has been averaging just two runs per game and have only twelve extra base hits in their last eight games. The bullpen in their recent span of games has failed to maintain or hold onto close game leads late into games, especially as David Robertson has been interesting to say the least in the ninth inning.
It appears that there really is not a quick fix or another Yangervis Solarte in the wings to rejuvenate the Yankees lineup or a quick solution for the pitching. They’ll have to look for help from the outside in the form of trades and wait for players to get healthy too. Though sometimes that wait could be a prolonged one as Mark Teixeira has been in and out of the lineup and Carlos Beltran has just returned.
On the market, the obvious move would be for pitching either a starter such as Jeff Samardzija if the Cubs do deal him or a starter of similar quality to anchor down the pitching and provide another outlet aside from the success of Masahiro Tanaka. It really just depends on where the Yankees will be come the start of the month of July.
As for now, the Yankees are a game above the .500 mark with a record of 30-29. They are six games behind the upstart Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East in third place. Their next series will be against the Royals, but come mid June there will be key series against the Mariners, Orioles, and Blue Jays, which could be big determinants on which way the Yankees are going. While it is only June, it is also the point where teams are either looking to be potential contenders or look to be fading into the summer wind.