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Yankees’ Editorial: Bronx is Boiling: Forever Young

By Wayne Cavadi

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When one writes a weekly editorial that specifically looks for the bad in a certain team, that author has to remain firm in his convictions. Luckily for me, the New York Yankees blunders and bad moves the past year and a half have been pretty easy to stand behind and remain strong, even when fans have bashed me. Take my stance on how Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances were going to be way better than David Robertson (a view in which one reader asked if I knew anything about baseball). A combined 3-0, a perfect 10-for-10 in saves, and ZERO earned runs later, I feel confident in my convictions. 

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That being said, every now and then a Brian Cashman move that you think has no positive outcome for the Yankees, turns out to be a winner. He did it last year with Brandon McCarthy, and now he’s done it again and made me look, well, like I don’t know anything about baseball. The Bronx is boiling and I need to blow some steam.

FINE… CHRIS YOUNG CAN STAY

I’ll admit it. I was wrong. If you look back to my November Bronx is Boiling about the start of the offseason moves, I strongly disagreed with the re-signing of Chris Young. He was a player, I thought, that was getting older and rapidly declining, with his big home run numbers diminishing to single digits and his batting average annually hovering near the Mendoza Line.

I never denied Young’s talent and that he was once an exciting baseball player. What I did see wrong was his fit with the Yankees as a fourth outfielder. That was simply because being a fourth outfielder on the Yankees, a team with a broken Carlos Beltran, a Jacoby Ellsbury who routinely needs a few days off, and Brett Gardner (who is overly aggressive and sometimes needs a day off to recover), see’s way more playing time than the average fourth outfielder.

When Chris Young came to the Yankees last season, he had a strong performance, albeit in a small sample size. Fans grew enamored with him because his hits were big, often coming in walk-off fashion, and he helped keep a Yankees’ team that many fans gave up on in Wild Card contention. Again, I thought they were blinded by a 23-game performance highlighted by a few big home runs. And again, it looks like I was wrong.

Through 24 games this season, Chris Young is the best hitter for the first place New York Yankees. Like I said, the fourth outfielder for the New York Yankees can be expected to play more than the average fourth outfielder, and Young has, appearing in 22 of the Yankees 24 games already. And in those 22 games, he has been nothing short of sensational.

Young is slashing .317/.386/.698 with 6 home runs and 12 RBI. He is showing the ability that made him once one of the most promising young outfielders in the game, the game who was once a perennial 20/20 outfielder.

More importantly, he has played all three outfield positions this season. He has also played them well, committing no errors thus far. He is invaluable in the outfield right now, giving primarily breathers to the ice cold Beltran, but showing he can spell both Ellsbury and Gardner on the right night.

Maybe Young simply fits with the Yankees and their role for him. We often see writers and fans venting about how certain players simply don’t fit in New York. They can’t handle the constant media, they can’t handle being showcased on MLB Network and ESPN four times a week, and they can’t handle a relentless fan base that often wants instant results. Where Chris Young failed at the start of 2014 in Queens, he has excelled ever since then in the Bronx. Maybe he simply loves being a Yankee. Sometimes, that’s all a player needs: to be happy with the organization in which he plays.

Now, many Yankees fans want Young to be the every day right fielder since Beltran has been so atrocious. While I agree Beltran is one of Cashman’s biggest blunders, I don’t think Young should be moved into the starting lineup regularly.

Young is excelling in his role that, if you think about it, essentially has all four Yankees outfielder in a rotation. This is working and down the road, for a very injury prone team, this could help keep them fresh. Young is excelling in his role, why mess with it?

I could understand if Young were some rookie prospect, who the Yankees were uncertain with and wanted to slowly see if he were ready to take over right field. That is not the case with Young. He is a 31-year old Major League veteran, who perhaps was being misused by other teams. Perhaps he was just searching for not only the right team, but the right role.

Keep Young as the fourth outfielder for now, and keep the Yankees’ outfield in a rotation. Young will still play four or five games a week and get his at bats to keep him fresh. And now, I can say I am happy for that.

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