Yankees overachieved with a bad lineup after key injuries

A 17-13 August might be considered lifeless by Pedro Martinez but when you take a step back and really assess the situation the Yankees have overachieved during the dog days of summer. Just look at who replaced the heart of their banged-up lineup.

Didi Gregorius, Aaron Judge, and Gary Sanchez all went down and got replaced by the likes of Kyle Higashioka, Austin Romine, Shane Robinson and Ronald Torreyes. Take in this Pedro quote one more time and you just realize he’s wrong about these Yankees. How they managed to get 17 wins in August with glaring holes in the lineup was an achievement in itself.

I don’t want this to seem like an insult to Austin Romine because he stepped up. The thing is, while Romine has been good this year, he hasn’t been good enough to help the Yankees catch Boston.  Here are his numbers for the year:

9 HR, 38 RBI, 28 R, .251 AVG, .732OPS

These are his last 67 at-bats as a starter:

3 HR, 9 RBI, 9R, .239 AVG., .670 OPS

When Sanchez had his bad moment in Tampa, there were cries for Austin Romine to step in and take over. The baseball gods decided to humble the fanbase and actually make it happen. What we’ve seen from Romine as a full-time catcher is, like an I said, a good season, but nothing special for a team expected to compete for a championship.

Sanchez may have been at his worst this year but he’s still been able to hit 14 home runs and drive in 43 in a season riddled with injuries. Some of the most memorable late-inning heroics have come from Sanchez too. Minnesota, Seattle and Houston all know what it’s like to take the Sanchize lightly. He was directly responsible for their downfalls when they thought they had a game won. You can even argue that his bat broke Ken Giles’ spirit.

Romine never really had any moments like these. It’s not an insult to him either. There just aren’t many catchers in this game who can produce those power moments Sanchez naturally can. His spot in the lineup is invaluable.

Kyle Higashioka is another catcher that filled in for Gary. Unfortunately, he got his production out of the way quick. His first three hits in the major leagues went for home runs. Since then, well, he hasn’t cooled off as much as he just froze over entirely.

Higashioka in 2018: 3 HR, 6 RBI, 5 R, .174 AVG., .583 OPS.

His last 30 at-bats as a backup to Romine saw a big regression:

0 HR, 2 RBI, 2 R, .200 AVG., .506 OPS.

The next of the fill-ins, Shane Robinson, caused more angst to this rabid Yankees fanbase in 2018 than anybody. Now here’s the thing about Higgy and Romine. There is an upside to having them on the roster. Romine is a decent hitter with pop and Higashioka has been pretty good defensively. We’ve seen that he has the ability to throw runners out. Robinson, on the other hand, isn’t a good hitter and, at times, has allowed balls that were routine for Aaron Judge just fall in front of him.

I’ll give Robinson this though. For all the pain he brought fans, there is no doubt he has guts. In an at-bat against Heath Hembree at Fenway Park, he wanted to get a bunt down so badly he was willing to take a ball to the head. Hembree, a lunatic, may or may not have tried to decapitate Robinson. Still, as much as Robinson looked like a 13-year-old during the battle he didn’t allow Hembree to rattle him and eventually he worked a walk.

Other than that one at-bat, Robinson hasn’t been very good. Here is how he filled in for Judge.

1 HR, 2 RBI, 8 R, .143 AVG., .432 OPS.

The last fill-in might be a favorite of Yankees fans but the love he garners hasn’t matched his recent production. That guy is Ronald Torreyes.

Torreyes in 2018: 0 HR, 7 RBI’s, 9 R, .289 AVG., .684 OPS

If you listened to the Michael Kay show on ESPN Radio while Torreyes was out earlier in the year you swore that he was like the second coming of Phil Rizzuto. You were convinced he was this little guy with a lot of heart who sported gold glove defensive prowess and an unappreciated bat.

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Since coming back he hasn’t done much though. In Torreyes’ most recent stint since Didihas gone down, we’ve seen a big drop off in his production  (.167 AVG).

Guys like Romine, Higashioka, Robinson, and Torreyes are not optimal members of a division winning lineup but somehow, the Yankees still managed to win. There’s never been a long stretch where they played below .500. Impressive when you consider who they lost.

As September rolls around it seem like the Yankees have a shot at finally coming into full form. They snagged Andrew McCutchen and Sanchez is finally back in the lineup. On top of this, Aaron Judge and Didi Gregorius will be back at some point.

With all the Yankees starters out on the field, the chances of winning a division are still slim but it’s not impossible. Don’t forget, when the Yankees originally fell back 7.5 games in April the lineup wasn’t yet complete. Andujar and Torres were still hot prospects. We had no idea what they’d be.

Some losses to Oakland and the Tigers are bad now but if the Yankees have another run in them, they’ll roll through everybody like the Juggernaut they were earlier in the season. They’ve done it before and they can do it again.

Just like John Sterling says: “It’s baseball Suzyn.” Anything is possible.