Yankees: 8 players unable to live up to the hype

Sometimes, the bright lights of New York are too much for some Major League players. Here’s a look at eight former Yankees who were unable to live up to the hype of putting on the pinstripes.

Pressure and hype are two factors every Major League Baseball player must cope with, but it’s a completely different animal when wearing the pinstripes of the New York Yankees.

Over the past 10 years, a number of former Yankees were simply unable to live up to the hype that was behind them. Whether they were homegrown or heading to town with a Brinks truck full of cash behind them, their time in New York would not be remembered well.

For some, injuries led to the demise. Think of once-promising first baseman Greg Bird who helped lift the Yankees to the postseason in 2015 and even performed some playoff heroics a few years later but was never able to live up to the expectations as the first baseman of the future.

High-priced free agents or highly-valued trade acquisitions have also flopped of late in the Bronx. As the Yankees were prepping for deep playoff runs, additions that looked like the final piece to championship teams were unable to hold up their end of the bargain.

Although the Yankees fan base can absolutely fall in love with a player (think Derek Jeter or Aaron Judge) it leads to great expectations which can be dangerous. For these players, those expectations ended up being too great to live up to.

1B Greg Bird (2015-2019)

Once thought of as the heir apparent to All-Star first baseman Mark Teixeira, a laundry list of injuries left Greg Bird out of what looks to be a team destined for greatness over the next decade.

Bird entered the fold at the end of the 2015 season and he shined for a stretch, posting a .261/.343/.529 line, mashing 11 homers and 31 RBI in 46 games. With Tex’s career winding down, Bird had the keys to the first base job, unfortunately, a torn labrum forced him to miss the 2016 season.

At the time, it seemed like a freak injury. Bird, who looked like a professional hitter in his rookie campaign would be back in 2017 ready to take over as the Yanks long-term answer at first base.

Unfortunately, 2017 would mean more injury problems and serious concerns about Bird’s durability began to surface. As the Yanks went through the majority of their 2017 season with Chris Carter, Ji-Man Choi, and Garrett Cooper at first base. Bird was able to suit up in 48 games and make the postseason roster.

Bird was a hero in Game 3 of the 2017 ALDS, hitting a moonshot off Andrew Miller to give the Yankes a 1-0 lead and their first of three straight wins to upset the defending pennant winners, the Cleveland Indians.

His strong postseason performance that year (he posted a .900-plus OPS in the Division Series and League Championship Series) gave him a great leash heading into the 2018 campaign, despite the injury concerns.

In terms of health, Bird was able to appear in 82 games (a career-high) in 2018 but his numbers were putrid. He hit under the Mendoza line and it opened the door for Luke Voit to step in and take over as the everyday option at first.

2018 would essentially mark the end of the road for Bird as foot and ankle injuries continued to impact him for the rest of his tenure in New York.

It’s tough to see a promising player’s career fall apart because of injuries. Bird was a professional during his struggles, working to rehab and answering the media during his slumps and had the fans were behind him as homegrown talent began to litter the roster but his lack of availability kept him off the organization’s radar.

What made his downfall with the team so disappointing was the spring training hype that surrounded him seemingly every season. Yankees fans well know the headlines that read something like, “Bird looking healthy and impressing at camp”. Before a week passed by and he ended up injured.

Even heading into the 2020 season, Texas Rangers fans are getting their taste of the Bird hype machine.

P Sonny Gray (2017-2018)

Odds are, Sonny Gray is at the top of the list when it comes to recent Yankees who were unable to live up to the hype.

Gray was traded to New York at the deadline for a trio of some of the organization’s top prospects at the time in James Kaprielian  Jorge Mateo, and Dustin Fowler. Gray was looked at to be the final piece of the Yanks rotation.

Gray was decent during the second half of 2017, posting a 3.72 ERA in 11 starts. He didn’t flare as a front end starter but looked like someone who could contribute in pinstripes. At worst he would eat innings and manage to keep the Yankees in the game, especially with the run support the lineup provides on a nightly basis. Even that was too much to ask for.

All hope for Gray came crashing down in 2018. He put up a number of crooked numbers and every start had Yankees fans just hoping he wouldn’t implode before the 3rd inning.

Gray’s career always takes me back to a June start against Boston in 2018. I decided to head out to a local restaurant to catch the game. Super excited to see the Yanks take on the division rival.

Well, the game was over before it could begin. Gray gave up a first-inning grand slam to Rafael Devers. That game defines his time in New York. The bright lights shined too bright and when the Yankees needed him most, he vanished.

Unfortunately, Gray’s comments after he was traded to Cincinnati made him even less popular among the demanding Yankees fanbase. He criticized the organization’s pitching philosophy and former pitching coach Larry Rothschild. Passing the blame to others for poor performance typically doesn’t fly in the Bronx.

However, I urge fans to listen to Gray on the R2C2 podcast. C.C. Sabathia and Ryan Ruocco chatted with Gray this offseason and he seems like a down to earth guy. Plus, Sabathia raves about Gray, showing that he was a great teammate and person. He wanted nothing more than to succeed on the game’s biggest stage.

Gray was able to bounce back with an All-Star season in Cincy, proving that the Bronx just wasn’t a fit for the Tennessee native.

P Ivan Nova (2010-2016)

Ivan Nova was tremendous in his rookie season. He went 16-4 with a 3.70 ERA, proving to be a stabilizing force to a Yankees team desperate for youth. At just 24, Nova’s otherworldly rookie season made many fans think the team struck gold.

Remember, at the start of the last decade, the Yankees constantly struggled to find suitable pitching. The flops of free agents like A.J. Burnett and homegrown talents unable to succeed in the rotation such as Phil Hughes made Nova’s success extremely exciting at the time.

Perhaps the expectations were too high for Nova but Yankees fans will mostly look back at his time in pinstripes as a disappointment.

Nova came back down to earth in 2012 with an ERA over five in 28 starts but his season didn’t start to turn bad until after he made comments about his place among the league’s best hurlers.

“If you ask me, ‘Who’s the best pitcher in the world?” Nova said, “I say, ‘Me.’ You know, you have to believe it. That’s why you win so many games.”

Now, can you blame Nova for thinking that? Not at all. After all, what is he supposed to say?

Fair or not, Nova’s comments were when his Yankees tenure started to take a bad turn. He did bounce back for a strong 2013 season but he underwent Tommy John surgery the next year.

Following the surgery, Nova was never able to reach the peak he had earlier in his career. In the great purge of talent at the 2016 trade deadline, he was shipped to Pittsburgh.

3B Kevin Youkilis (2013)

As the organization dealt with injuries to a number of its aging stars, the Yankees signed Kevin Youkilis to a pricey, one-year, $12 million contract as Alex Rodriguez was on the mend.

Youkilis was a dreaded “Yankee-killer” for almost a decade with the Boston Red Sox. His no-nonsense, professional approach at the plate earned him three All-Star appearances, with his last coming just two years before his Yankees tenure.

However, Youkilis’ numbers fell off a cliff in 2012. He hit for a career-worst .235 average and .336 on-base percentage with Boston and the Chicago White Sox.

Still, New York fans had high expectations for the veteran third baseman, especially with the hefty price-tag attached to him. And years of him slapping base hits against helpless Yankees pitching.

A back injury hampered Youkilis from the get-go in 2013. He tried to play through the injury but was ineffective and his season came to an end after he appeared in 28 games with a .219/.305/.343 line and that’s how his career would end.

Youkilis came into the fold with a reputation as a tremendous hitter and someone who can help keep the Yankees lineup competitive as some of the team’s best players were injured. Sadly, Youkilis’ best days were behind him and his Yankees career was over in the blink of an eye.

After breaking Yankees fans’ hearts for years in Boston, he gave Yankees fans one more unintentional punch in the proverbial gut.

C Jesus Montero (2011)

It seems like ages ago that Jesus Montero was one of the premiere Yankees prospects. He was hyped as the next in the line of great catchers to suit up in pinstripes.

It seemed he was groomed at the perfect time, right as Jorge Posada’s career was winding down, Montero was tearing up the minor leagues. Fans were hearing for years about Montero’s bat and potential as a middle of the lineup power threat.

Montero didn’t disappoint in his first Major League action as a 21-year-old. In 18 games, he hit .328, with four homers and 12 RBI, giving the fans a glimpse into what looked like a fantastic career.

Then, the Yankees stunned many fans, shipping Montero to Seattle for a talented young pitcher in Michael Pineda. At the time, many would have expected a proven front-end starter in return for Montero, not a 22-year-old pitcher coming off his first big league season.

As Pineda went through an endless number of highs and lows in New York, Montero crashed and burned after a solid 2012 campaign in the Pacific Northwest.

Montero played in 135 games in his first year with the Mariners, hitting .260/.298/.386 with 15 bombs. After that, he fell apart. He was connected to the Biogenesis steroid scandal, suspended, showed up to spring training 40 pounds overweight and later would nearly get into a physical altercation with a scout in the Seattle organization over an ice cream sandwich.

In the end, it looks like Seattle and New York shipped a problem for a problem and although the Yanks technically won the trade,  Pineda faced his fair share of scandals in pinstripes and was only able to provide glimpses of stardom in his four years in pinstripes (Wait for more on Big Mike).

Thankfully, Yankees fans would only have to wait a few more years before Gary Sanchez arrived, quickly making Montero a distant memory.

P Michael Pineda (2014-2017)

Now it’s Pineda’s turn.

An important note here. The Yankees traded their top prospect for Pineda, with hopes he would become a frontline starter as the team looked to capitalize on the final years of Jeter and company.

The expectations were high for the 6-foot-7-inch hurler. Coming off an impressive season at just 22, Pineda was the injection of youth a Yankees rotation led by C.C. Sabathia and Hiroki Kuroda needed.

As he went through his first spring training in Tampa with the club, Pineda didn’t look like himself. He began the season on the injured list and was forced to undergo surgery on a torn labrum which forced him to miss both the 2012 and 2013 seasons.

Over two years after he was traded to the Yankees, he was finally able to make his debut. He pitched well in April with a trio of quality starts to kick off the season.

Then, Pineda was spotted with pine tar slathered on his neck in a start against the Red Sox. He was suspended and during a bullpen session preparing for his return to the mound, he suffered an injury.

The injury kept Pineda sidelined until August where he would return to form for the remainder of the season. By the end of 2014, he held a 1.89 ERA, in 76.1 innings. It looked like the Montero trade was finally going to pay off for the Yankees at least (By this time, Montero was widely considered a bust in Seattle).

The magic continued for Pineda into the 2015 campaign with a legendary performance on Mother’s Day, striking out a career-high 16 batters.

It all came to an abrupt end as Pineda took a step back into what he would be for the next three seasons. He would pitch to an ERA in the mid-4s and show just flashes of front-end potential.

General manager Brian Cashman told Jim Bowden on MLB Network Radio that if Pineda didn’t develop into a number one starter, the trade would have been a mistake. Well, looks like we know how Cashman feels about the move today.

OF Jacoby Ellsbury (2014-2017)

For some Yankees fans, the Jacoby Ellsbury signing looked like a mistake from the start. After New York decided to let Robinson Cano walk, the team made a trio of moves to keep the team in contention.

Ellsbury, Brian McCann, and Carlos Beltran were the big-name additions before the 2014 season. While McCann and Beltran were able to play to their contracts and eventually get traded in the great rebuild of 2016, Ellsbury spent a large portion of his tenure on the injured list.

It didn’t take long to see that Ellsbury was going to be one of the biggest free-agent mistakes in franchise history.

Ellsbury was three years removed from his lone All-Star season in Boston. The injury concerns which followed him throughout his career continued in New York and he ended up not suiting up for a single game after the 2017 season.

Signing a one-time All-Star entering his age 30 season to a seven-year, $153 million deal usually won’t work out but the fact that Ellsbury was essentially M.I.A. for a pair of seasons makes his tenure one of the most disappointing.

In part, it’s hard to place all of the blame on Ellsbury. Aside from one season, he never showed that he was an elite centerfielder. He was certainly above average and his numbers show that (.264/.330/.386) but he was never able to become a cornerstone talent for New York, something fans would expect after dishing out a contract as the one Ellsbury received.

The Yankees officially cut ties this past offseason and sadly, the Ellsbury saga has gotten ugly of late as the organization is fighting not to pay him the remainder of his salary.