Yankees eke out a win, but team needs a thunderbolt to strike

The Yankees eked out a win last night behind strong pitching that offset another night of a flailing offense. Make no mistake, though; this team needs a jolt, a thunderbolt wake-up call. Something like this…….

The Yankees may have won a battle last night, eking out a 2-1 win over the Cleveland Indians, but they are losing the war. Every hitter in their lineup struck out at least once, and fifteen of their twenty-seven outs never saw a bat touch the ball. Four batters struck out twice and one three times.

At one point during the YES telecast, John Flaherty observed Aaron Judge flailing at a pitch with no exaggeration that was two feet outside, and said so. Michael Kaye corrected him saying, “It’s the whole team.” Save, for Didi Gregorius, who was inserted as the clean-up hitter in yet another Girardi experiment to shake things up, Kaye is dead-on right.

The Yankees are not hitting, and it’s costing them. But it’s the way they are not hitting that is disturbing. And more significantly, who’s not hitting.

The Monday Morning Quarterbacking has already started with charges being levied at Brian Cashman saying he did a splendid job of invigorating the pitching at the trade deadline, but nary a move to bring in position players.

Lucas Duda and Jonathan LeCroy were both available and snapped up by the Rays and Diamondbacks. Cashman claims he did everything possible with Duda, but the Mets and Sandy Alderson refused to deal with the Yankees. Maybe so, but it’s also true that Cashman always gets his man as in the case of Sonny Gray.

The time has come for a few changes……..

Radical Problems Demand Radical Solutions

The Yankees need a jolt or a thunderbolt to hit them right smack in the face. Call it a wake-up call if you wish, but there are guys in the lineup who need a week or so to “think about it” because no matter how many ingenious lineups Joe Girardi can come up with, it’s not working.

Following the Cleveland series which wraps up this afternoon, the Yankees have an off-day Monday before playing three game sets against the Blue Jays and Red Sox.

I said a thunderbolt is needed to fix this team and I meant it. Immediately following today’s game, the Yankees can deliver that jolt by sending Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez down to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, at least until Friday when the Boston series begins at the Stadium.

Or better yet, send them to Double-A Trenton Thunder who are scheduled to play in nearby Hartford, Connecticut, instead of the Railriders who will be wandering off to Georgia for most of the week.

For the players in the minors, it’ll be a treat to be around Judge and Sanchez, as well as a chance to eat well for a week, it being a tradition for big leaguers dropping by to buy catered food for the team, rather than the usual sandwiches and chips following a game.

Moreover, it’s a good lesson for all as once again it proves what baseball minds have always said, it’s easy to get to the majors, but the trick is staying there.

The Case Before The Judge

Judge, in particular, appears to need a short stint of simply “getting away from it all.”  His meteoric rise to fame in the first half gave the impression that he was handling it pretty well. But maybe, that wasn’t the case, and it’s showing now.

With each at-bat and every puzzled look on his face, as in one case, last night when he took a called third strike on a 96 mph fast ball dead center on the plate, Judge’s confidence level is noticeably dropping. He just needs a “vacation” and maybe a bus ride to settle him down.

To his credit, and the reason to think Judge just needs some time off, his defense in right field has continued to be superb. This was indicated last night when he took a ball careening off the wall, and fired a strike to second base, holding the runner to a harmless single in a tight game.

It was only a matter of time before pitchers caught up with Judge and the All-Star break was the perfect time to do it. Coaches on opposing teams, as well as the thinking man’s pitchers, had four days to view the video to come up with ways to combat the Ruthian Judge of the first half.

Their apparent solution? Don’t throw him a strike. Or, at least, feed him a steady diet of breaking balls off the plate, making him over anxious to the point where he sees a fastball, he freezes as he did last night.

With Judge, it’s only a matter of time before he counter-adjusts, and things get back to some sense of normalcy for him. He’ll be fine; he just needs a few days to clear things out.

Guilty As Charged

Sanchez, however, is another matter. His situation is more of a disciplinary move and a legitimate wake-up call for his defensive lapses and his seeming inability to be “in the game,” especially when it comes to handling his pitchers and calling a game.

The numbers support the claim as well. Sanchez has the most passed balls of any catcher with fourteen and the most errors with ten. As a catcher, it might sound mundane, but first and foremost, you have to catch the ball.

Noticeably, Sanchez was the DH again last night as Girardi chose Austin Romine to catch Jordan Montgomery, who pitched lights out with a curve ball Romine kept calling for over and over again.

As noted yesterday in my column, Girardi has all but run out of patience with Sanchez and his post-game press conference Friday night pulled no punches about his catcher’s defensive play, stopping just short of calling Sanchez out for not hustling.

Girardi insists that Sanchez has received and continues to receive excellent instruction. But for whatever reason, he is not carrying it into game situations.

Add to that, Sanchez’s 31 extra base hits and .265 batting average is nothing to write home about, especially when compared to a player like Didi Gregorius, who has contributed 36 extra base hits and is batting .304.

Sanchez is a good player, but at this point, his career is bound to take a right-hand turn to first base if he can’t (or won’t!) straighten out his defensive woes.

Like Judge, Sanchez was rushed into the limelight by the Yankees and the media, declared at one point to be the team’s next Captain and the Face Of The Team.

Expectations remain high, and that’s just something Sanchez is going to have to mature into. A wake-up call while staying in a Hartford motel might be just what the doctor ordered.

Cashman’s life gets more complicated

These moves may look good on paper and are necessary, but for Brian Cashman, they represent a headache because he needs to treat them as roster moves. And that’s because every move he makes has a trickle-down effect on rosters throughout the Yankees system.

Meaning, for example, if Sanchez and Judge are moved to Scranton, two Railriders would need to be “sent down” also, followed by, presumably two plays on the Thunder, and so on.

A catcher from the system would also be needed, and the pickings are slim for the Yankees unless they reach way down to Class-A for Donnie Sands, if he’s deemed to be ready, which is probably not the case.

Or, a waiver deal could be made. But a check on the MLB Transactions List does not reveal any candidates at the moment, and teams are hanging on to the catching talent they have.

On another front, Met’s right fielder, Jay Bruce, was placed on and has cleared waivers, opening up the possibility of a trade with stubborn, but very needy, Sandy Alderson. Bruce is having a career year, and the Yankees can afford him.

Plus, Bruce can be used as an alternate at first base. In April, the Mets experimented with the idea, and Bruce threw a hissy fit. Too bad, you’re a Yankee, and it would be a whole new atmosphere for Bruce to fit into, if a deal can be made.

But, that’s what the man gets paid to do, especially during times as stressful as these.