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Yankees: 3 obvious changes NYY must make after last-place start

By Adam Weinrib |
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 16: Nick Nelson #79 of the New York Yankees reacts in the first inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium on April 16, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 16: Nick Nelson #79 of the New York Yankees reacts in the first inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium on April 16, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
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We simply can’t be smarter than the New York Yankees’ management here.

We simply cannot be wiser than the New York Yankees’ analytics group. That’s just impossible.

But if those in charge of the Yankees — whose jobs depend on the Yankees not missing pitch after pitch middle-middle and allowing backbreaker after backbreaker in tight games — can’t see what we see, then it might be over.

Nearly every one of the Yankees’ 15 games so far this season has been a “Who blinks first?” showdown with another struggling AL East team (both the Rays and Blue Jays have been terr-i-ble) in each instance, the Yankees have blinked powerfully, again and again.

It’s almost hopeless, truly. But it doesn’t have to be.

The Baseball Gods have gifted the Yankees with an off day Monday. A day away from the scorn of the rest of the baseball world. A day away from everything that’s happened between the lines. From the team-wide slump. From the Rays game-winners. From the left-field tire fire. Everything.

The Bronx Bombers’ staff has one (final?) golden chance to maximize their current roster, which is somehow both completely healthy and still the league’s worst offense. If they fail to do so, their golden chance to capture a World Series with no other AL team in their path (we were told!) may be over by May 1.

The Yankees must make these three obvious changes immediately.

DUNEDIN, FLORIDA – APRIL 12: Aaron Hicks #31 of the New York Yankees walks to the dugout before a game against the Toronto Blue Jays at TD Ballpark on April 12, 2021 in Dunedin, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
DUNEDIN, FLORIDA – APRIL 12: Aaron Hicks #31 of the New York Yankees walks to the dugout before a game against the Toronto Blue Jays at TD Ballpark on April 12, 2021 in Dunedin, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) /

3. Move Aaron Hicks From the Three-Hole

We’ve asked nicely. Now we’re insisting.

Aaron Hicks, at his peak, is a power-hitting speed combo who roams center field spectacularly. Currently, he is not at his peak.

Plenty of real-world issues appear to be clouding his head, and we have all the sympathy in the world for what he’s made it fairly clear he’s dealing with. So why have the Yankees ratcheted up the pressure on him by repeatedly batting him third in the order, where he’s never prospered?

With the bases loaded, Hicks is a career .137 hitter in 51 at-bats. In the three-hole, he is a .227 hitter with a .343 OBP, and has ripped 15 homers in 451 PAs.

From the sixth spot? .282/.379/.475.

Sporting a supposedly “stacked” offense, how can the Yankees not figure out how to play to their own team’s strengths? Hicks is battling something both at the plate and in the field. He’s a high-OBP guy whose best skill is his discipline, but who’s somehow scuffled leading off over the course of his career.

Bat him sixth. Don’t look back. Why put him in a position to fail?

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – AUGUST 16: (NEW YORK DAILIES OUT) Mike Ford #72 and Gleyber Torres #25 of the New York Yankees in action against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium on August 16, 2020 in New York City. The Yankees defeated the Red Sox 4-2. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – AUGUST 16: (NEW YORK DAILIES OUT) Mike Ford #72 and Gleyber Torres #25 of the New York Yankees in action against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium on August 16, 2020 in New York City. The Yankees defeated the Red Sox 4-2. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /

2. Replace Jay Bruce With an Actual First Baseman

Veteran Jay Bruce did his very best to fit in with the Yankees and provide them a veteran spark at a position he doesn’t even play.

Bruce retired on Sunday, knowing he’d drained his tank. While his effort was valiant, it wasn’t a fit. Now that he’s gone, though, the Yankees would be served well by replacing him with an actual first baseman instead of DJ LeMahieu.

We’d all like Luke Voit back as soon as humanly possible, but until that day, shoving LeMahieu at a position he neither excels at nor wants to play appears to be sapping some of his offensive effectiveness. It also puts Rougned Odor in the lineup, who — electric moments aside — is one of the game’s very worst players.

Promote Mike Ford as soon as the COVID-19 IL rules allow you to. Don’t distract yourselves with a Tyler Wade promotion, which…seems to be something the Yankees are considering.

Is Ford the savior? Likely not. But he’ll play serviceable defense, hit for more power than Bruce, and will only need to keep the seat warm for Voit instead of freezing the seat and shattering it with a hammer as the Yanks’ other fill-ins have done.

NEW YORK, NY – September 26: Pitcher Deivi Garcia #83 of the New York Yankees pitches in an interleague MLB baseball game against the Miami Marlins on September 26, 2020 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City. Yankees won 11-4. (Photo by Paul Bereswill/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – September 26: Pitcher Deivi Garcia #83 of the New York Yankees pitches in an interleague MLB baseball game against the Miami Marlins on September 26, 2020 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City. Yankees won 11-4. (Photo by Paul Bereswill/Getty Images) /

1. Promote Deivi Garcia and Michael King

Despite a lights-out spring training, Domingo German has not kept the baseball in the park in two starts this season, continuing his remarkable streak of allowing opposing batters to drill the longball.

Since the start of 2019, German has allowed 34 homers in 150 innings, the fourth-worst per-nine-innings rate in the game. And 2019 was supposed to be the season that argued in his favor.

At the moment, Jameson Taillon and Corey Kluber are still finding their sea legs, and at best are five-and-fly arms (Taillon appears closer to being effective than Kluber). That’s left a razor-thin margin for error for Jordan Montgomery and Gerrit Cole, and the team’s third-best pitcher…has been jettisoned back and forth to the Alternate Site twice and hasn’t started a game.

Michael King has been electric, striking out seven in nine shutout innings across two relief appearances, pinpointing a 97 MPH fastball that’s run from the front hip consistently well. He’s been an amazing caddy and, unfortunately, far better than Nick Nelson. Everyone loves the stuff. No one loves his frustrating outings as an opener, something he admitted he had no interest in doing.

Deivi Garcia, meanwhile, proved himself good enough to start a playoff game in 2020 despite being just 21 years old. Now he’s not good enough to start for a 5-10 team?

Wasting a potential rookie star’s bullets in a glorified extended spring training makes no sense, but neither does anything this team does. Call him up, insert him into the rotation, line King up as his caddy, and flip-flop their roles if need be.

Demote Nelson and, unfortunately, remove Lucas Luetge from the roster for now. Whatever it takes, find a way to get these effective kids to soak up German’s innings.

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