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Sobering reality may hit Yankees

Baseball, New York Yankees, Professional

July 11, 2023

The Yankees decided to shake things up by firing Dillon Lawson as their hitting coach prior to their 7-4 loss to the Chicago Cubs Sunday afternoon. Someone had to be the scapegoat for the Yankees underachieving, and he served as a convenient target since the team struggled to hit this season.

They hired Sean Casey as the hitting coach on Monday. The poor guy will have the task of getting his underachieving hitters such as Giancarlo Stanton, Josh Donaldson, Anthony Rizzo and DJ LeMahieu back on track, never mind their best days may be behind them.

Casey can give them a spark for a few games or a few weeks, but the truth of the reality is the Yankees are an aging team that can’t keep up with the young teams, especially in the AL East. When their hitters are old, it’s tough for them to play at the level they used to be.

Firing Lawson is nothing more than a desperate move and a move that satisfies unhappy Yankees fans. But even Yankees fans are smart enough to know changes in hitting coaches can only do so much.

There’s a reason no one expected much from the Yankees this season. It’s the same team that has underachieved for years. There haven’t been many upgrades in that lineup. Is it any wonder they have underachieved again this year?

I did not pick the Yankees to make the playoffs for a reason. The Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles have better and younger talent. The Rays have been a machine for years now, and now that they added hitting to their arsenal to go with their great pitching, they can win the World Series. The Orioles took off last year when they called up Adley Rutschman in the middle of the season, and now they look like a team that is primed to make the playoffs. The Jays have the offense to be good.

The Yankees are 49-42 on merit. Their lineup strikes out a lot, and their pitching has been underwhelming. Even worse, no one is scared of the Yankees’ mystique and aura. When was the last time anyone can say a team is scared to play at Yankee Stadium? Even the Minnesota Twins won their season series against the Yankees this year. Think about that.

We can blame Yankees manager Aaron Boone for why the team is not playing great this season, but that’s a low-hanging fruit. If anything, this may be his best managerial job in his Yankees tenure. He has somehow kept this team together by having them compete and winning some games considering his best hitters are offering nothing.

This is more on Yankees general manager Brian Cashman for not finding younger talent and having the organization develop players. When has Gleyber Torres taken the next step to be an elite player? Why has Anthony Volpe struggled and not made an impact the way Elly De La Cruz (how he is not an All-Star?) has with the upstart Cincinnati Reds and Corbin Carroll has with the surprising Arizona Diamondbacks.

Here’s when you know the Yankees are not the Yankees: they struggle to beat bad teams like the Cubs over the weekend at the Stadium.

Go ahead and talk about there are plenty of games left. They are a game out of a wild-card spot. Both are fair points but what have the Yankees shown to make anyone think they are going to go on a crazy run after watching them for three months? Most MLB teams played 91 games, so we should have an inkling of what that team is. What we see from a team is what we get, and the Yankees are what they are, an old aging team that saw its best days.

They may go on a hot run like the Mets did by winning six in a row to start July before reality hit them by losing two in a row to the San Diego Padres to start the All-Star break. After all, every MLB team tends to do that in a long season. It’s just that the Yankees can’t sustain this for months and weeks because they don’t have the roster to do so. They are not built well to go on runs.

I am not even sure if Aaron Judge will make a difference when he eventually comes back from the injured list. They were a mediocre team with him.

This tells you all you need to know about the Bronx Bombers. There’s really nothing there. This is a team that is broken all around.

Your eyes should tell you they don’t have a look at a playoff team.

This weekend spoke of a sobering reality.

You can read Leslie's Jersey Sporting News columns on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays.