The Good
Mark Teixeira is having a renaissance season. Every year he says he wants to hit 30+ HRs and 100+ RBIs. If he repeats his 1st half, he’ll wind up with 40 HRs and 118 RBIs. His .243 average leaves something to be desired, but his power numbers and production are beyond dispute. This is what the Yankees are paying him to do.
Brett Gardner joins Teixeira as one of the main cogs to the Yankees' offensive machine right now, and Gardner is, so far, having the best season of his career at age 31. He is on track for 18 HRs, which would surpass his career high of 17 set just last year, and 174 hits. His SB’s are down but he can still reach 30, which would be his highest total since 2011.
Dellin Betances. Enough said right? The young righty has continued his dominance from 2014. Even with his blown save on Saturday evening, Betances is sporting at 1.50 ERA and is on pace for 136 SOs and just 36 BBs. Those numbers are simply incredible.
The Bad
Could this list start with anyone other than Stephen Drew? His batting average is just .178, and he’s on track for just 84 hits and 48 RBIs. That line makes even the Brian Roberts mistake of last season look reasonable. The Yankees were surely not expecting this from their 2B. They are keeping him around for his defense (just 2 errors) and his power numbers (on pace for 22 HRs) but they are hoping for better in the 2nd half.
The bullpen has logged the 3rd most innings in the American League at 264.1, which puts them on pace for almost 530. That’s a heavy burden to lay on a relatively young bullpen, especially for a team with playoff aspirations. Betances has logged the second most innings of any A.L. reliever at 42.0 IP. Andrew Miller would be joining his teammate near the top if he hadn’t been injured, due at least in part to over-use.
The Ugly
Brett Gardner joins Teixeira as one of the main cogs to the Yankees' offensive machine right now, and Gardner is, so far, having the best season of his career at age 31. He is on track for 18 HRs, which would surpass his career high of 17 set just last year, and 174 hits. His SB’s are down but he can still reach 30, which would be his highest total since 2011.
Dellin Betances. Enough said right? The young righty has continued his dominance from 2014. Even with his blown save on Saturday evening, Betances is sporting at 1.50 ERA and is on pace for 136 SOs and just 36 BBs. Those numbers are simply incredible.
The Bad
Could this list start with anyone other than Stephen Drew? His batting average is just .178, and he’s on track for just 84 hits and 48 RBIs. That line makes even the Brian Roberts mistake of last season look reasonable. The Yankees were surely not expecting this from their 2B. They are keeping him around for his defense (just 2 errors) and his power numbers (on pace for 22 HRs) but they are hoping for better in the 2nd half.
The bullpen has logged the 3rd most innings in the American League at 264.1, which puts them on pace for almost 530. That’s a heavy burden to lay on a relatively young bullpen, especially for a team with playoff aspirations. Betances has logged the second most innings of any A.L. reliever at 42.0 IP. Andrew Miller would be joining his teammate near the top if he hadn’t been injured, due at least in part to over-use.
The Ugly
Someone replaced the slick fielding Chase Headley Yankees fans grew to know and love in the 2nd half of last season with a tentative, error prone 3B who makes us hold our breath when a ball is hit in his direction. He already has 16 errors on the season, which is more than his career high in a season. He’s on pace for 32 errors and his fielding percentage is just .926, the lowest of any qualifying 3B in MLB.
CC Sabathia is on pace for 6 wins and 16 losses, which would easily make this the worst full season of his career. The Yankees opted to push back his Sunday start until Wednesday, presumably to give him time to work on some things in the bullpen, but also so he only gets one more start before the All Star Break. As hard as it is to believe, the fewer starts the Yankees get from their former ace, the better at this point. Let’s hope this is one trend that turns around for the second half.
CC Sabathia is on pace for 6 wins and 16 losses, which would easily make this the worst full season of his career. The Yankees opted to push back his Sunday start until Wednesday, presumably to give him time to work on some things in the bullpen, but also so he only gets one more start before the All Star Break. As hard as it is to believe, the fewer starts the Yankees get from their former ace, the better at this point. Let’s hope this is one trend that turns around for the second half.
1 comment:
Good choices for each. How could you not include Adam Warren & Alex Rodriguez in the good? Without them the Yanks would likely be looking up at 1st place.
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