By Tomas McDermott
The last few years have been a disaster for the Yankees. They have dealt with wild card losses, being swept, and completely missing the playoffs. All their fans expect better from the historic franchise, so hopefully it goes well for them this year.
They had a busy offseason, making moves to bolster weak areas of the team. They started out by trading for corner outfielder Alex Verdugo from the hated Red Sox for a few prospects. Verdugo is a lefty, which makes it easier for him to hit homers over the Yankee Stadium’s right field short porch.
Their biggest move by far was trading for superstar, Juan Soto. Soto is another outfielder, known for his power and ability to get on base. They acquired utility outfielder Trent Grisham along with him. They had to give up a haul for him, losing pitchers Jhony Brito, Randy Vazquez, Michael King, Drew Thorpe, and catcher Kyle Higashioka. Most of these players were solid for the team, which made it tough to give them up. However, the Yankees needed a big offensive player alongside Aaron Judge, who carried the offense when he was healthy.
With a chunk of their pitching depth gone in the Soto trade, they needed to sign a starting pitcher. Analysts believed the Yankees would target either two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell or former Yankee Jordan Montgomery. Instead, they signed Marcus Stroman. Stroman is still a solid pitcher and has performed above expectations so far this season.
With all these moves, the Yankees have had a solid start to the season. As of April 30th, the Yankees are 19-12 and hold second place in the AL East. They have played well, but there are some gaping red flags. One of them is the offense’s inconsistency. They have been shut out five times this season, and it isn’t even May yet. The whole offense hasn’t been clicking. Gleyber Torres has a wRC+ (weighted runs created) of 72 while the league average is 100. Gleyber also has played terrible defense so far. Judge also has gotten off to a bad start. He has a .212 average and hasn’t been hitting the ball well at all.
These issues haven’t affected them that much so far. They are one of the best teams in the league and have had some bright spots. The pitching has been great, and some of the lineup has been hitting. Once the rough parts are fixed, this team can compete for the World Series. That’s at least what us fans can hope for.
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