3 Yankees arguments we’re already sick of before September collapse

Man, gagging a 15-game lead down to six? That’s a pretty brutal September collapse for the Yankees, but at least they survived and it’s all about who’s hot in October. Now, to take a big sip of hot coffee and check the calendar…WHAT?!

Yes, the Yankees did a September’s worth of collapsing in the month of August, with 31 more games on their schedule left to blow the remainder of their once-hefty lead. Improbably, the Rays now control their own destiny in an AL East race that has seemed done and dusted since early June, with six games left against the Yanks (three on each team’s home turf) out of the next 10.

The first half wasn’t a “mirage”; it was truly special. But a combination of injuries, regression to the mean, regression way beyond the mean, and self-inflicted wounds have left the Yankees gasping for air at the end of a season that was supposed to turn back the clock to 1998.

This unprecedented disaster (truly unprecedented — most teams don’t go from tippy-top to literal bottom) has left fans reeling, manning their battle stations to load the Take Cannon and get to arguing about how you can and cannot feel about what’s taking place.

Are you angry? Don’t be! Or do be, but be angry about something else! Are you complacent? You CAN’T be! Unless you’re being complacent about the player *I* like!

It’s getting nasty out there, and with a full month left in the disaster zone, we’re already so sick of reading these arguments on the timeline.

3 tiresome Yankees arguments people keep making before September collapse

3. “This is Just a Slump! Good Teams Slump!”

Kind of unbelievable this winning argument is stuck in the three-hole, but there are too many insufferable takes to choose from. This puppy got the bottom slot.

Yes, good teams do slump. The baseball season is long. Excellent point, MickMantle07@hotmail.com. But good teams don’t typically go 10-18 in the month of August, which would be the worst winning percentage for a World Series winner ever. Good teams don’t usually go 18-29 after reaching their win-percentage peak at 61-23. If you’ve watched as much baseball as you claim to have, 24-follower Twitter users born in 1958, then you should probably know this is atypical.

What’s happened to the 2022 Yankees is cosmic. It’s rarefied air. Collapses aren’t usually like this, no, but it’s occurring right in front of you! To blindly write this historic cratering off as typical struggles of a playoff-bound team over the course of a long season is denial at its strongest.

The Yankees shouldn’t have gone 18-29 after starting 61-23 without losing, say, their six most important offensive players and two aces. But that’s not what happened! Giancarlo Stanton went down for a month, Matt Carpenter fractured his foot, Luis Severino got (unnecessarily) placed on the 60-Day IL, their best-or-second-best reliever in Michael King was lost for the year, and Anthony Rizzo/DJ LeMahieu battled through nagging issues. Look at what the Rays have overcome! This is nothing. It’s an excuse for slowing down a bit and maybe keeping their head only slightly above water, but it’s no excuse for the free fall.

Or, you know, maybe it’ll all magically turn around tomorrow. It’s still a good team, after all.

1. “The Monty Trade Was Smart. It Was All About October.”

A really smart thing a team can do to show they understand the way sports work is begin to plan for the postseason (and only the postseason) with two months left in the regular season. That type of hubris is almost always rewarded. “Look at these guys! They think it’s over! And they’re … right!” the Sports Gods typically say. They’re always saying that.

The difference between what smart teams do and what the 2022 Yankees did is that, typically, planning for October doesn’t mean sacrificing August and most of September. If the Yankees believed trading Jordan Montgomery for Harrison Bader would benefit them in the long run, that’s one thing — and they might still be correct! Aaron Hicks is unplayable, and won’t be playing much longer.

But if that’s the direction they wanted to go in, they needed to supplement the rotation with an additional arm. Maybe Pablo Lopez, in exchange for Gleyber Torres and Oswald Peraza, the shortstop prospect they refuse to use? Nah. Can’t do that. Peraza is the future, which is the only thing the front office wants you to think matters.

Lopez struggled coming out of the trade deadline (who didn’t?), but has found his footing now. Might be nice, considering Torres is unplayable.

Or maybe Jose Quintana? A small trade? He’s prospered for the Cardinals. Wouldn’t have worked here, though. Never does.

Dealing Montgomery for an inactive Bader also neutered a locker room that was already stumbling as the month of August began. The July Yankees looked a little like the May-June Yankees, but things were starting to fracture on the field. This was a .500 team that month. Including their July 9 collapse in Boston, they were 8-11. Excluding a series with the lowly Royals, they were 5-10. They were already losing their grip on a position of power. Then, their homegrown No. 4 starter was traded away and replaced by nothing. A nebulous idea.

Add in Frankie Montas’ struggles, and you have a picture of a rotation torn apart by second-place finishes and one-step-too-cute maneuvers from a front office that operates like they have the Mandate of Heaven. And they do. Brian Cashman know’s he’s not going anywhere, and so he’s going to take full months off and implant a loser’s mentality where a winner’s mentality once sat.

Making a team intentionally worse with an eye on an unclinched playoff berth is an unforgivable baseball sin. That’s it. That’s all. Book closed.

3 DFAs Yankees need to make to salvage World Series hopes

There's no need for any of these players on the New York Yankees roster. If you think there is, please call us or mail us to explain why.