Stock Up, Stock Down: Detroit Tigers, Miami Marlins, New York Yankees, Texas Rangers

Stock Down: Aaron Boone and the New York Yankees

Things have gone from bad to worse for the New York Yankees in the six games since the break. In fact, the blame is being spread around from manager Aaron Boone to the players on the field. Things are quickly turning into a lost season in the Bronx.

A six-game road trip against the Rockies and Los Angeles Angels went from turning around the Yankees’ place in the standings to sliding into the AL East basement and fading quickly in the wild-card standings. They are not out of it, but they are 3.5 games behind the Houston Astros for the final Wild Card spot and they need to also jump the Boston Red Sox.

The loss of Aaron Judge has led to the Yankees’ offense struggling, but against the Rockies and Angels, it was decisions by Boone and the bullpen that fell apart. In Sunday’s 8-7, 11-inning loss in Colorado, they took a 7-5 lead into the bottom of the 11th. Instead of calling on Michael King to close the door after using closer Clay Holmes, Boone brought in Nick Ramirez and he gave up a two-run home run to Nolan Jones. Later in the inning, Boone summoned Ron Marinaccio and he surrendered a game-winning home run to Alan Trejo.

What followed the Colorado series was not any better. The Yankees were swept by the struggling Angels and once again, decisions by Boone played a part. Leading 3-1 in the first game with two outs and a runner on base, Boone decided to pitch to Shohei Ohtani and MLB’s home run leader launched a two-run shot to tie the game and allow L.A. to steal a 4-3 extra-inning win. In the three games, New York batters struck out 42 times, which is a franchise record for the Angels in a three-game series.

If things don’t turn around quickly for Boone and the Yankees, they might be sellers at the deadline, but what they have to sell remains to be seen.