4 Yankees regressions that will cost them 2022 World Series

Oh, player regressions ruining the New York Yankees? Heard that one before? Sadly, it’s been a trend for three straight years now. The 2017 roster seemed to be a springboard for the next dynasty … but instead it’s been a bridge to constant disappointment.

Injuries have played a role here, too, don’t get us wrong, but the inexplicable slides from previous contributors have left the team unable to deal with health issues. The 2020 season featured a near playoff-less campaign. The 2021 season was the most disappointing start-to-finish year for any contender in modern history. The 2022 season was supposed to be “special” and it’s now instead “regular” with a chance of “epic collapse”.

There’s plenty of blame to go around. The only people who perhaps can’t be tagged with any fault are Aaron Judge, Nestor Cortes and Anthony Rizzo, all of whom have been consistent this year. Everyone else has either been missing for a decent stretch, completely fell off after the first half, didn’t build off of a promising 2021, or have now been unable to get back on track for years.

The root cause of the problem? General manager Brian Cashman. He’s the common denominator. He’s either signed or traded for all of these guys and, on top of that, has given one or more of them far too many chances.

When the middle of October hits, it’ll become clearer that all of these decisions that led to these player contributions were the reasons the Yankees fell short.

4 Yankees regressions that will cost them the 2022 World Series

4. Aroldis Chapman

For the man who should’ve been gone after the 2019 season, Aroldis Chapman doesn’t deserve to be any higher on this list, solely because he hasn’t been important to the Yankees for three years now. His latest issue — a leg infection stemming from his 600th tattoo — has left the bullpen thin and landed him on the IL.

In looking at Chapman’s numbers, his obvious regression began last year, even though fans would argue 2020 was the true starting point. Nonetheless, we’ll give him a “pass” because the pandemic season was bad for everyone.

Nonetheless, in 97 game since the start of last year, the left-hander is 8-7 with a 3.83 ERA, 1.36 WHIP and >4.00 FIP. Last year was the beginning. This year has been the full blown experience. Chapman’s been losing his fastball, but has been unable to supplement it with serviceable secondary offerings. He’s far from a closer at this point — just a $16 million reliever who’s been the architect of far more heartache than success.

Now that he’s not even a viable bullpen contributor, he’ll provide his one final death knell for the Yankees.

3. Jonathan Loaisiga

The man who was supposed to take over for a struggling Chapman has disappeared as well. Jonathan Loaisiga, like Chapman, has at times tricked fans into thinking he’s “back” only to come crashing back down harder.

It may not be fair for us to call Loaisiga’s 2022 a regression because it’s more so in line with his production from 2018-2020, but his 2021 provided belief that he was “unlocked.” His stuff always screamed “potential,” and it was finally unleashed when he recorded a 2.17 ERA, 2.58 FIP, 1.02 WHIP and 69 strikeouts in 70.2 relief innings last year.

This year? A 5.52 ERA, 4.16 FIP, 1.45 WHIP and 26 strikeouts in 31 innings and some shoulder issues from earlier in the season. Every pair of clean outings from Loaisiga in 2022 is quickly followed by a different kind of unraveling, whether it’s allowing a homer, a string of hits, or walking batters as he struggles with location.

Maybe Johnny Lasagna was never for real. But 2021 was his first full season of action and he delivered in a way that had many forecasting the future. His 2022 showing has the Yankees down another reliever — an elite one, at that.

1. Gleyber Torres

Many fans lobbied for Gleyber Torres to be off the roster by the time 2022 arrived, but the Yankees instead granted him a third year after his dreadful 2020 and 2021 seasons and moved him back to second base. It appeared to work for a few months. That is, until the inevitable reared its ugly head.

Torres’ mental lapses have been spectacularly bad on the defensive end. His lack of hustle has also been made prevalent far too many times for a guy who’s already been questioned for such an undesirable trait. And finally, his offensive regression has been different kinds of disappointing for three years.

Want to give him a pass for 2020? Fair! But tell us where you see much of a difference with these numbers:

• 2021 (127 games) – .259/.331/.366 with 50 runs scored, 9 homers, 51 RBI, 104 strikeouts
• 2022 (115 games) – .242/.292/.423 with 56 runs scored, 18 homers, 50 RBI, 102 strikeouts

Slight power improvement, same average-to-below-average play. Following his first two All-Star campaigns in 2018 and 2019, Torres has failed to respond to adversity of all kinds: position switches, injuries to other impactful offensive players, and dealing with tough media criticism. His best play came during the Yankees’ sweat-free 52-18 start. Then the team started slipping, and he slipped even further.

Torres is No. 1 here because he was supposed to be a franchise cornerstone. Not only did he fail to live up to that billing (admittedly, it’s tough when you have that promising a start to a career), but he’s adversely responded with hustle/body language issues and an inability to deliver timely hits (especially over the last two-plus years as a whole).

Much like Gary Sánchez, Torres was supposed to give the Yankees a “unique” advantage at a position that’s generally weak across MLB. Instead, he’s now one of those middle-of-the-road stat guys that don’t stand out, and his inability to star in — or even lengthen — the Yankees lineup on a consistent basis will further drive this offense into the ground when the games start to matter even more.

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