Why The Yankees Whiffed Yet Again
By Jason Evans
Sep 4, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; Seattle Mariners designated hitter Kendrys Morales (8) hits a 2 run home run against the Kansas City Royals in the ninth inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports
The offense is sputtering. Brian McCann hasn’t hit the way that we thought he would. Carlos Beltran and Mark Teixeira have been injured. The lineup is just sputtering. One change they could have made yesterday might have given the team a jolt. One change.
Signing Kendrys Morales and releasing Alfonso Soriano.
Soriano has the same amount of plate discipline as Miley Cyrus has pairs of underwear. Zero. Dating back to May 25, he’s 4 of his last 24. He’s struck out in almost 29 percent of his plate appearances this year.
The Yankees reportedly didn’t sign Morales because they wanted more time to see if Tex and Beltran were healthy enough.
Mistake.
When you’re now six games out of the division and cant score runs and still have guys like Soriano, Brian Roberts (who’s 3-for-19 so far this month) and Kelly Johnson (who’s hitting just .221 this year) you need another stick.
Sometimes you need to be aggressive when an opportunity is there, especially when all it costs you is money and not prospects.
When the Yankees needed a bat back in 2000, they traded Zach Day, Ricky Ledee and Jake Westbrook to Cleveland for David Justice. They didn’t wait around, they acted.
I’m not comparing Morales to Justice. I’m saying the organization wasn’t passive and waiting for something to happen. They were proactive.
Morales going to Minnesota may not impact the Yankees chances to make the playoffs. Signing Morales would have. The Yankees had a great opportunity to improve the club and whiffed. I think it will come back to bite them.