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Yankees: 3 early-season takes that look really stupid right now

By Thomas Carannante |
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - JUNE 10: Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees celebrates with Giancarlo Stanton #27 against the Minnesota Twins on June 10, 2021 at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - JUNE 10: Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees celebrates with Giancarlo Stanton #27 against the Minnesota Twins on June 10, 2021 at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images)
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Tyler Wade #14 of the New York Yankees (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
Tyler Wade #14 of the New York Yankees (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /

Remember when the New York Yankees were … bad? They indeed were! On July 4, they were 41-41. They trailed the Boston Red Sox by 10 games in the AL East. Fans were calling for heads.

Fast forward to Aug. 25, and the Bombers are now more than 20 games over .500 and are firmly entrenched in the playoff discussion, though not exactly where they want to be. Leading the Wild Card is good and all, but capturing a division crown is the goal. Less stress, more luxury. You get it.

Anyway, we’re here to expose some bad takes! At least for the time being. Why not? After all, it’s fun to own up to your mistakes and those of others who also support your favorite team. All it took was a 32-11 run for everyone to forget about the insane topics we were discussing a very short six weeks ago.

Time flies, doesn’t it?

Were some of the opinions and stances right at the time? Sure! There’s no arguing with what was actually happening and how bad the previous iteration of the Yankees was.

After all, they needed a headline-grabbing trade deadline orchestrated by general manager Brian Cashman to get to this position! Do you really think the Yankees would be here without the jolts of energy from the minor leagues and the contributions from Anthony Rizzo, Joey Gallo, Joely Rodriguez and Clay Holmes?

But here, we present …

3 early-season Yankees takes that look extremely stupid right about now

3. “Tyler Wade has no place on this roster.”

Tyler! We take it back. We promise. We never wanted it to be that way.

Wade’s time with the Yankees has been filled with intrigue but (largely) no results. Until … now? The 26-year-old has found himself getting regular at-bats for a majority of this year (he’s already played in a career-high 79 games) and he’s made the most of it.

Whether it was filling in at third base or center/right field, Wade answered the call defensively for the most part and has now seen his bat come around. In a shocking turn of events, he’s hitting .278 with a .355 OBP, a 95 OPS+ and 12 stolen bases. And has contributed a positive dWAR.

Want to know how important he’s been over the course of the Yankees’ current run? On July 29, he was batting .191 with a .482 OPS. Six multi-hit games and nine runs scored later, and the Yankees are 16-2 in games Wade has appeared in over that stretch. Unbelievable.

The utility weapon many fans were expecting Wade to be might have finally arrived.

Giancarlo Stanton #27 of the New York Yankees (Photo by Adam Hunger/Getty Images)
Giancarlo Stanton #27 of the New York Yankees (Photo by Adam Hunger/Getty Images) /

2. “Cashman should be fired after trading for Giancarlo Stanton.”

Again. Sorry. But what else did you want us to say? Giancarlo Stanton, for as good as he’s been in certain stretches this year, has also looked really, really bad. Like, really bad. This is a guy who’s supposed to be leading the offensive charge, especially since he’s mostly been unable to contribute on defense until a few weeks ago!

Now, he’s finally fully healthy and hitting .251 with a .794 OPS in the beginning of August? No. Nope! We really cannot have that. It’s unacceptable for a player of his caliber, as well as someone with the size of his paycheck.

But the big man has turned it around, and it appears as if playing defense has really helped his approach at the plate. Stanton is now batting .267 with an .844 OPS and has the most hits on the team in the sixth inning or later that have given the Yankees the lead. Clutch! And powerful! We’d sure like to see a higher OPS, but we’re honestly just glad he’s healthy and finding a rhythm.

As for Cashman, for as much Yankees fans grow frustrated with him, he’s still among the best in the game, especially with the restrictions he has to work with. Hal Steinbrenner implemented unthinkable financial restrictions on the team this offseason and Cashman had to do some serious gymnastics before the year started and before the deadline.

He may not always make the move the fans want, but he generally makes the ones the Yankees need. Stanton was a luxury acquisition who still hasn’t fully panned out, but maybe that narrative is turning a corner. As for his deadline moves, if those don’t happen, we’re not sitting here making fun of our previous takes.

Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images)
Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images) /

1. “Trade Aaron Judge at maximum value and tear it all down.”

OK, I did NOT actively support this one, but I also didn’t rule out the idea — it was worth a conversation. However, some fans were serious about blowing the entire operation up. That’s how bad things were.

Judge was the Yankees’ best and most consistent player early on — he still is — and when fans felt the April through mid-July Bombers couldn’t get it done, the thought of running this all back in 2022 really made you feel sick. This team? AGAIN?! We simply cannot endure underachieving or coming up embarrassingly short yet again.

Though there’s plenty of time for that to still happen, trading Judge instead of extending him sounds ludicrous. Again, we knew it was, but the previous situation called for a much different discussion. Judge is hitting .283 with an .897 OPS, 27 home runs and 65 RBI. Could those numbers be better? Sure. But again, we can’t be nitpicking on every level imaginable. He’s now started to steal bases. He could be the regular starting center fielder down the stretch and in the playoffs. There’s no replacing this guy on either end of the ball. Really.

And even if the Yankees had no answers in late August and seemed to be headed toward a dead end, why would you trade Judge? Though his injuries have plagued a good portion of his career, this is one of two years in which he’s proving he can handle a full season’s worth of games … and be a top-10 player. Don’t you just keep him as the “face” of the franchise, get rid of the others even if they’re not worth much, and try to figure out another plan? Yeah, that seems more reasonable.

Trading Aaron Judge! Ha! You almost had us, Yankees Twitter. You really did.

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