The New York Yankees had come into the 2021 season with high expectations, the same as they have had in every other year. However, this was a team with obvious holes entering the season – there were questions about the rotation and bullpen, and the lineup suffered from a perceived lack of depth.
As the calendar flipped to July, that has been the reality of the situation. Not only has the Yankees’ roster drastically underperformed, but they enter Friday in fourth in the AL East, having a worse record than the Mariners. It would make sense if, for the first time in years, the Yankees found themselves as sellers come the trade deadline.
New York Yankees need to face reality
That may not happen. According to owner Hal Steinbrenner, not only are the Yankees refusing to consider selling, but they may even go over the luxury tax if baseball ops does not feel the team is good enough to win a championship and there is a player that can help available.
It is clear to anyone that has actually watched this team that the Yankees are not close to being good enough to win a title. In fact, it is clear that this is not even a playoff team. They are far too reliant on the home run, the bullpen has struggled, and there are major questions in the rotation. Perhaps if Steinbrenner had been willing to surpass the luxury tax in the offseason, these problems would not be as drastic.
The Yankees are already trying to make moves to improve the roster. They added Tim Locastro in a minor trade on Thursday, giving them an element of speed that they are missing. Then, naturally, they assigned him to Triple-A because the corpse of Brett Gardner must remain in pinstripes.
And that is the problem. The Yankees have too many players that simply should not be on the roster taking up space because ownership wanted to duck under the luxury tax. With some of the contracts that the team has on the books, there was little room left to fill out the roster and remain under that threshold.
The result is the flawed roster that the Yankees currently have. Key pieces have underperformed, and the usual injury woes have hit the team hard once again. This has resulted in a disappointing record and a team that appears to be on the outside of the postseason looking in. Another tough stretch, and the Yankees may be forced to change their path.
The New York Yankees have to look at the reality of their situation. No matter what ownership says, this is not a contending team as currently built.