The Yankees, in 2017, will live or die with their offense

The Yankees, in 2017, are not a team like the Los Angeles Dodgers built around pitching. Instead, they are a team built to crush and score more runs than their opponents. Their fate will be decided in the same manner.

The Yankees were never supposed to have good pitching this season. Brian Cashman never constructed the team in that way. Instead, he brought in Matt Holliday to replace Brian Mc Cann and let everything else leave set.

Unless, of course, you want to include the addition of Chris Carter, but please let’s not go there. Cashman saw his pitching for what it was. Decent, but not great, He figured that if the Yankees could score more runs than the team they were playing against; they would win.

And win they did. Throughout the entire month of April, and well into May, the team was the talk of baseball for their explosive power and their ability to score runs at a clip that was at or near the top of all major league teams.

If the Yankees are going to continue to thrive in a division that, much like them, is composed of teams built to score runs, they have to keep pace.

The standings in the American League East reflect that with the team ten games over .500 in a season that, for many, was predicted to be a .500 finish at the end of the season.

Nevertheless, the fact remains that the Yankees pitching is not built to last. The offense is supposed to be, but make no mistake, that’s the crucial factor in determining where the Yankees will find themselves at the end of September.

To reiterate, the pitching is what it is. Michael Pineda and Luis Severino continue to move forward in their career development, and both have been an overall plus to the team’s rotation to date. And CC Sabathia has been, well, CC Sabathia the cagey veteran who goes out there every fifth challenging anyone who steps up to the plate.

And at this point, let’s face it. Masahiro Tanaka is no longer the ace of the Yankees staff. In fact, no one is. Tanaka, at this point, due to his inconsistency is a number two or thee, even behind Pineda and Severino, who on any given day can make Tanaka look like an afterthought in the team’s rotation.

Live or let die

So it all boils down to whether or not the Yankees can maintain or keep near the pace they set in April when they were scoring runs at close to six a clip in each game.

They’ve managed to stay more than alive with the drop in May by almost two runs a game, still holding onto first place in their division, but how long can that last.

More from Yanks Go Yard

• No, Yankees should not acquire Trevor Bauer for 2023
• Yankees’ Marwin González replaces Red Sox LF in Japan in logical next step
• Blue Jays overpaying for Yankees trade target shows they’re trying too hard
• Aaron Judge’s influence on Carlos Rodón shows he’s more powerful than Yankees
• Yankees sign 2022 Red Sox reliever, invite him to spring training

Chase Headley is not the .400 hitter he was in April.But he doesn’t have to be. All he needs to do is hit .270 with some pop here and there while fielding his position at third base with excellence.

And Greg Bird needs to be somewhere in the middle of what he was in Spring Training, and the horrific hitter he was (.100) before the ankle injury.

Between Bird and Tyler Austin, who is also slated to return to the lineup soon, the Yankees will seize on the hot bat whoever it might be.

Aaron Judge is everything he appears to be, and the Yankees can count on him to continue the pace he has set for himself. His season has yet to begin. He’ll be a top of the ballot All-Star and a major star for all of America to witness in the Home Run Derby in weeks to come.

Gary Sanchez, meanwhile, remains a puzzle that needs to be sorted out. Yes, he has less than 100 at-bats this season due to injury. But still, when’s the last time you heard his name mentioned in anything that’s tied to a Yankees win. It’s time to step up.

Reaching for straws

The Yankees don’t want to do this by reaching for straws. For example, if Chase Headley can’t turn himself around or Bird comes back and is still as flummoxed by major league pitching as he was before he was injured, that can’t be cause for panic.

Video courtesy of the YES Network

And Brian Cashman does not want to declare an “emergency,” the term he used recently as the only reason that Gleyber Torres would be called up before the rosters expand much later in the year.

The one thing about Joe Girardi, though, is that he sticks with his players, for better or worse. And Greg Bird will walk off the field with crutches when he returns before his manager removes him from the lineup. And ditto Chase Headley on that.

Yankees: Four players with value who should be traded

The Yankees don't seem to want to make any trades at the moment. Nevertheless, they could improve the team by swapping these four players.

So, you just toss away a game like last night when the Orioles scored ten runs. No team can overcome that. But if the Yankees are going to continue to thrive in a division that, much like them, is composed of teams built to score runs, they have to keep pace.

Recently, the alarm bell is ringing.