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Yankees: Triple-A offense is a bigger issue than Gerrit Cole

Adam Weinrib
Adam Weinrib

Yanks Go Yard

Gerrit Cole #45 of the New York Yankees pitches in the first inning during a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on September 5, 2020 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)

New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole is a “problem,” but far from the team’s largest one.

The Yankees are warp-speed headed to the eighth-seed in the 2020 MLB playoff field after Saturday night’s mismatch loss to the Baltimore Orioles — at best! If you’re not scoreboard watching the Tigers, you’re behind the times.

And Saturday’s glaring, five-alarm-blaring, season-defining glowing L came replete with poor optics for Gerrit Cole once again.

Cole buzz-sawed through the first five innings at an ace level before allowing a DJ Stewart home run in the sixth, then succumbing to poor defense and allowing several more which’ll never impact his ERA (but which we’ll never forget).

But it’s not possible for Gerrit Cole to win a 0-0 game, as you well know.

Would a Cole shutout without a single blemish have been enjoyable? Sure. But — and correct me if I’m wrong here — the Yankees should’ve scored more than zero runs against lefty Keegan Akin in his second MLB start. They should’ve threatened for runs at some point. They should’ve done absolutely anything at any point.

Yes, that’s Gary Sanchez, our catcher who has gotten “back on track” 35 different times throughout this season, but still can’t hit a lick. Remember the grand slam against the Mets? He doesn’t! It taught him nothing.

Even with the reintroduction of Gleyber Torres on Saturday night, Thairo Estrada, Tyler Wade, El Gary, and Miguel Andujar are still solidly on the interstate.

Estrada’s error on DJ LeMahieu’s off day led directly towards Cole’s implosion, too, for what it’s worth. Is that blunder to blame? No. Cole still has to shoulder the disaster.

But was there anything in Cole’s stumble on Saturday that made you think his scuffle was more long-term than the offense’s eternal siesta?

The Yankees, at 21-17, handed Cole the ball after three consecutive subpar starts to stop their losing streak. He made it through five innings, then tripped in a ditch once again when the defense betrayed him.

He looked much closer to peak on Saturday night. The offense? They couldn’t handle the Double-A Erie Seawolves. Seems like a much bigger problem, as a postseason berth hangs in the balance.

This average-to-bad team is doing what bad teams do with regularity. Far more worrisome than any of Cole’s behavior.

Adam Weinrib

Adam Weinrib

Adam Weinrib is a Content Director on the FanSided network, and has been the co-editor at Yanks Go Yard for 6 years. He also co-hosts The Baseball Insiders Podcast thrice weekly, alongside FanSided MLB insider Robert Murray, as well as the Yanks Go Yard Podcast. Previously, he was a Senior Editor at 12up.com, and has been covering MLB and NFL for 10 years. He was also a headline and features contributor at ClickHole and Onion Sports, as well as the Associate Producer of the ESPN 30 for 30 film "Believeland". An avowed fan of the New York sports teams -- specifically the Yankees -- as well as the North Carolina Tar Heels, you can find Adam complaining mid-game on Twitter, as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn if the game goes really poorly.