Yankees Editorial: The Bronx is Boiling

Happy Memorial Day, everybody. While people are sitting on the beach and striking up the barbecue, the New York Yankees are reeling… and it’s been in pretty ugly fashion.

Last weekend, yours truly got hitched down in Miami. The new bride and myself returned to reality this past Thursday and I found we had something in common with the current Yankees team. The honeymoon was over.

This is the reality of this Yankees team. The Bronx is boiling and I need to blow some steam.

NOW WHAT?

Maybe it was the hot start, but it seems like everybody forgot that the 2015 rendition of the New York Yankees wasn’t heavily favored to do much of anything this year. It was pretty much obvious what their problem was. If the Yankees Opening Day roster stayed healthy, they could compete, but if they didn’t they were in trouble.

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Well, the Yankees started out healthy and they rolled. Then Masahiro Tanaka went down. Then Chase Whitley, who filled in admirably for Tanaka, saw his season end. Now, Jacoby Ellsbury is on the shelf. And the Yankees keep piling up losses.

Here is the thing, however. There is no reason to panic. The American League East is absolutely horrendous right now, which gives the the Yankees time to right the ship. Tanaka pitched well in a rehab game and could be heading back soon. But it looks like Brian Cashman may have his work set out for him at the trade deadline yet again this year.

Can this Yankees team still make the playoffs? Believe it or not, I still think they are capable. It doesn’t have so much to do with their roster, but as I already mentioned, the rest of the AL East is equally bad.

The Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox have a worse pitching situation than the Yankees do. The boom or bust philosophy that the Baltimore Orioles have lived by the past few seasons is catching up to them and, right now, they are busting more often than booming. The Tampa Bay Rays look good, but they are a young team. How long can these guys sustain what they are doing?

Why can this Yankees team make the playoffs? There are actually quite a few reasons.

The table setters. When Jacoby Ellsbury returns from the disabled list, he and Brett Gardner set up the middle of their lineup better than anyone else in the league. Look how much Gardner has been struggling since Ellsbury hit the DL.

It happened last year. Joe Girardi moved Ellsbury from the leadoff spot to the three hole and the lineup struggled. Ellsbury is the cog that makes the Yankees engine run, and once he returns to the top of the order and Gardner slips back into the two slot, the Yankees lineup causes a lot of problems to opposing pitchers.

The heart of the lineup. They are an injury risk for certain, but the way that Carlos Beltran, Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez are hitting RIGHT NOW is impressive. They are bashing home runs, driving in runs, and Beltran has become a doubles machine. That’s why it’s so important that Ellsbury comes back soon. Unlike last season when the Yankees lineup had no oomph, this season, they have the bats ready to drive runs in… they just need baserunners there to do so.

The bullpen. It really is amazing and the recent call-up of Jacob Lindgren only makes it stronger. I know Andrew Miller blew his first save this past week and raised his ERA to a whopping 0.98, but give the guy a break. This is his first go at closer and he has been nothing short of remarkable, did you honestly think he wouldn’t allow a run all season?

The rotation, even should Tanaka return healthy, is awful. CC Sabathia is done. Nathan Eovaldi is unreliable. Adam Warren is inconsistent. But if they can keep the Yankees in games for five innings (which I am not so sure CC can do anymore), their bullpen can shut it down.

The Yankees need to make some changes, and it is clearly in the starting rotation. They can fix some holes in the lineup in their Minor League system, but until they feel Luis Severino is ready for the big leagues, they need to look elsewhere for starting pitching help. Are they going to open the flood gates and go after a Cole Hamels or Johnny Cueto type pitcher? Or can Brian Cashman find this year’s version of Brandon McCarthy out there on a trash heap?

I wish I could answer those questions, but I can’t. But I also know that Cashman HAS to answer them, or this team is heading into dangerous waters.

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