Yankees: Tommy Kahnle and Giancarlo Stanton sum up season thus far

As to add further wood to the fire, reliever Tommy Kahnle was added to the 10-day DL before news broke that Yankees manager Aaron Boone may very well drop the struggling Giancarlo Stanton in his batting order.

Another day, another inconsistent performance from the Yankees. Just one night after shellacking Derek Jeter’s club 12-1, the Marlins laid their own lumber to the Yanks, jumping all over starter Masahiro Tanaka on their way to an 8-1 victory.

In all fairness to Masa, early errors by the usually reliable Didi Gregorius and improved glove of Miguel Andujar extended innings that shouldn’t have been.

For the better part of a full season, Tanaka has struggled to keep the ball inside the park. Again, this was on display following catcher JT Realmuto’s two-out, three-run homer in the fifth inning.

Tanaka turned the ball over to Luis Cessa, who would only last two innings before leaving with a left oblique strain. Following the contest, the Yankees placed Cessa on the 10-day DL and are expected to recall Jonathan Holder from Triple-A Scranton — yikes.

Yes, rookie third baseman, Miguel Andujar, hit his first career home run with two-out in the bottom of the ninth-inning, but it’s hard to get excited about anything when you’re on the wrong side of the score to the Marlins.

Following the loss, which dropped the Yanks to 8-8 on the season, general manager Brian Cashman said this to the New York Post.

“We’re dealing with injuries and poor performance,” Cashman said. “Obviously, we’ve got to play better baseball.”

Cashman’s profound observation came on the heels of the club placing another right-handed reliever on the 10-day DL, Tommy Kanhle.

Kahnle, whose velocity has dropped from his traditional 98 mph to around 95 mph, has reportedly been battling right shoulder tendinitis, which is evident in him throwing his go-to fastball 44 percent of the time as opposed to 66 percent when healthy.

So what gives?

Though the raucous chorus of boo-birds does little to subdue the madness, Stanton’s 0-for-5 outing on Monday (only Yankee without a hit) and 0-4 performance on Tuesday must be directly tied, to what I can only assume is an insane amount of pressure to live up to the home crowds expectations.

With the likes of Didi Gregorius and Aaron Judge being the only consistent offensive performers thus far, Stanton shouldn’t shoulder all of the blame. However, he’s the Yanks’ shiny new toy.

Coming off a magical 2017 NL MVP campaign, the hype train started when Stanton blasted two opening day home runs in Toronto. But we’d be wise to remember Stanton’s in a new league, facing pitchers he’s likely only seen once or twice via interleague play — if at all.

Like manager Aaron Boone, I’m optimistic Stanton will eventually figure it out. In the meantime, though, something needs to be done — and dropping Stanton in the lineup is the first thing to put into practice, even is Boone won’t do anything drastic.

Next: Aaron Judge rewrites record books again

Via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com:

“Depending on how their pitching lines up, I might flirt with splitting different guys up and stuff, but not moving him down too far,” Boone said. “He’s one at-bat away from getting it locked back in, and the last thing you want is him down in the order getting pitched around.“He’s too premier of a player and an at-bat away, in my eyes, from locking it in. I might juggle with the top five or six, but as far as moving him down significantly, no.”

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As to add further wood to the fire, reliever Tommy Kahnle was added to the 10-day DL before news broke that Yankees manager Aaron Boone may very well drop the struggling Giancarlo Stanton in his batting order.

So what gives?

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