Aaron Judge's 300th HR milestone further captures Yankees fans' frustrations

New York Yankees v Chicago White Sox
New York Yankees v Chicago White Sox / Quinn Harris/GettyImages

Welcome to modern day New York Yankees baseball, where an inimitable accomplishment is sandwiched in between ineptitude like you've never seen before. And the fans are expected to remain sane with those types of highs and lows?

Last week, Aaron Judge became the fastest player to reach 300 home runs in MLB history. Imagine how much more he could've dominated the field had he not missed hundreds of games due to injury since 2018.

We are witnessing what could be an unmatchable pace, and yet the Yankees figured out a way to bury that storyline with futile performances. In that same series, the White Sox, who could end up being the worst team in MLB history, notched their biggest win of the season over the Yanks.

The next series? The Yankees dropped two of three against the Tigers, one coming on Sunday Night Baseball as the world watched Clay Holmes melt down for his 10th blown save of the season (most in MLB and all of which have come since mid-May).

And that's why Aaron Boone and Brian Cashman continue to catch the ire of fans. Boone continues to fail to press the right buttons. Cashman's offseason and in-season additions don't elevate the team enough. Just think about if he wasn't able to acquire Juan Soto. The Yankees legitimately might not be contending for a Wild Card spot right now.

Aaron Judge's 300th HR milestone further captures Yankees fans' frustrations

For some reason. Judge's historic 2017 didn't implore the front office to do more than just acquire Giancarlo Stanton. In fact, they cut payroll before both the 2018 and 2019 seasons! They paid Gerrit Cole only because they were forced to since they lacked a true ace for nearly a decade as they opted not to spend on plenty of other suitable options to fortify the rotation.

Instead of building off of Judge's greatness, the Yankees have barely supplemented it with suitable talent. They've let Luis Severino, Gleyber Torres, Domingo Germán, Aroldis Chapman and Aaron Hicks overstay their welcomes and kill team chemistry/performance. The acquisitions of aging players like Josh Donaldson and Anthony Rizzo only weighed down the team financially and made them less athletic. Imperfect fits such as Joey Gallo, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Harrison Bader further derailed their plans. Failures on the player development front have exacerbated the roster construction issues.

And the more we have to hear stuff like the clip above, the more we grow disillusioned with the process. That team "on paper" featured Kiner-Falefa, Donaldson, Hicks, Severino, Germán, Willie Calhoun and Franchy Cordero! That doesn't even include Torres, an interminably injured DJ LeMahieu, and a rookie in Anthony Volpe who had never stepped foot on an MLB diamond. That roster didn't get derailed! It was what it was: Aaron Judge, Gerrit Cole and a bunch of roster filler (we will say, though, that Carlos Rodón should've been more impactful as a big-ticket acquisition).

Nonetheless, the point still stands. Judge is cementing himself as one of the most prolific hitters in the history of the sport as he barrels toward building a Hall of Fame resume while the Yankees go 8-7 against the Blue Jays, Angels, Rangers, White Sox and Tigers. They were supposed to take advantage of the "easy" part of their schedule after enduring an 11-24 stretch that somehow didn't bury them.

It's just not good enough, and it's been further accentuated because Soto's presence has hardly made the team a clear cut World Series contender when, in reality, he should've put them so far over the top.

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