5 most disappointing Yankees since Aaron Judge suffered toe injury

Everyone knew life would be rough for the New York Yankees once Aaron Judge injured his toe, but with a bit of a lighter schedule and a six-game homestand on the horizon, it was at least assumed things wouldn't start to come crashing down just yet.

Yeah, those assumptions might've been from fans who don't eat, sleep and breathe the Yankees. New York fans know very well how this all works, and once a piece of Brian Cashman's wobbly Jenga tower gets removed, the entire thing collapses without anybody else even making their next move.

Though the Yankees have gotten good pitching performances over the last six games, the offense hasn't provided enough support (the lineup sans Judge has averaged three runs per game without him). And when you need a lights out start from Gerrit Cole, you know you're not getting that. You're going to get a home run from Rafael Devers and just enough of a "quality" start to lose when you need him to be perfect.

The point is, nothing really clicks when a player of Judge's significance exits the picture. Willie Calhoun, Jake Bauers and Billy McKinney will rake, and the core guys expected to pick Judge up in his absence disappear.

We really wish it weren't this way. We really wish we weren't giving this any more attention than it deserves. But this could be the beginning of a concerning spiral because it's not necessarily getting any easier from this point forward. And these guys really need to figure it out since the Yankees don't know how long Judge will be out.

5 most disappointing Yankees since Aaron Judge suffered toe injury

*Honorable mentions are Josh Donaldson and Giancarlo Stanton. But since Stanton just returned from a lengthy IL stint and nobody expects anything out of Donaldson, they've been omitted.*

Gleyber Torres

Congrats, Gleyber! You've now entered "polarizing" Yankee territory because some folks think you should be left alone for your offensive contributions to the team, while others think you should be crucified for your defensive sins.

Truth is, if you think Torres is untouchable because of his .760 OPS and 114 OPS+, then you're not watching closely enough! At least twice per week, Torres does something absolutely unforgivable on the defensive side of the ball to cost the Yankees dearly, essentially canceling out his offensive performance. And even so, since last Sunday night he's 4-for-24. His solo shot against the Sox in Saturday's win was negated by his error this past Sunday night.

Last week, his egregious error in the ninth inning with New York clinging to a 3-0 lead against the White Sox erased a double play and could've put Clay Holmes in danger facing the heart of Chicago's order. Thankfully he got out of it. Then, his failure to properly field a throw from the outfield on Sunday Night Baseball put the tying run in scoring position in the eighth inning. Spoiler alert! The run scored and the Yankees lost in extras.

This is Torres' sixth MLB season. His lack of awareness is unacceptable. Don't know how else to put it.

DJ LeMahieu

Once upon a time a beloved Yankee, DJ LeMahieu is toeing the line and pushing fans to the brink with his play in 2023. He got a pass in 2021 and 2022 because of injuries, but to our knowledge he's fully healthy this year and his output is well below average.

His strikeouts have skyrocketed (26.3% rate vs his 14.9% career rate). He's been good for a 0.4 WAR. He's hitting just .236 with a .679 OPS and 88 OPS+. Since Judge went down, he's gone 3-for-19 with zero runs scored and zero RBI. Zero extra-base hits. He got four at-bats during the White Sox series. We wish we knew what was going on, but his play has dramatically suffered since Judge's absence and that's something the Yankees can't afford.

Michael King

The Yankees' best and most consistent reliever has decided to fall apart over the last week, and if not for Judge it probably would've been much worse. King was the one who gave up the screaming line drive to JD Martinez in LA that forced Judge to make that unbelievable leaping catch at the wall that got him injured.

Had that ball dropped, a run would've scored, the game would've been 5-4 with a runner on second and no outs instead of 5-3 with a runner on second and one out. Since then, King has surrendered three earned runs on three hits and two walks in just 3.1 innings of work, losing the Yankees two games in the process. His meltdown against the White Sox came out of nowhere and his meltdown against the Red Sox was one of the most predictable occurrences in recent Yankees history, as he inexplicably hung a slider to Kiké Hernandez on a 1-2 count and then walked Reese McGuire to begin the eighth inning. How?

Like we said, the Yankees best players disappear whenever the margin for error gets thinner.

Anthony Rizzo

Turns out, the early-season criticisms of Anthony Rizzo were valid. He was accomplishing nothing in high-leverage situations and absolutely raking when it didn't matter. Cool for the folks looking at the Baseball-Reference page, but unenjoyable for the fans tuning in every night for the games.

Then Rizzo woke up and was a force in the month of May, with much of his offensive success translating into Yankees wins. Their 19-10 stretch was powered by him, Judge and Harrison Bader. Awesome.

But then Fernando Tatis Jr. collided with Rizzo at first base on May 28. Rizzo missed the next few games with a neck injury despite manager Aaron Boone telling us he was doing fine. He didn't come to bat despite "being available" in the series finale against the Mariners when the Yankees badly needed a hit to plate a run in extras.

Rizzo returned to action for the series against the Dodgers and ... has gone 1-for-30 since. He hasn't recorded a hit since Judge's injury. He logged just one run scored and three walks over his last six games. And he didn't play against the Red Sox on Saturday in the team's lone win of the series. His OPS has dropped 92 points since the Tatis incident -- he's back to under .800.

Whether it's the neck or the fact Judge protecting him in the lineup is more paramount than we might realize, it's disastrous for the Yankees if one of their most consistent and feared hitters in this drastic of a slump. And it's of course lining up with everyone else forgetting how to play baseball.

Please make it stop.