Inadequate Roster Construction Main Culprit of Yankees’ 2023 Failures
Heading into the 2023 season, the New York Yankees were expected to be among the six American League playoff clubs this fall. But as the stretch run nears, they’re considered a long shot to secure the final wild-card seed and only have themselves to blame for it.
Time is running out on the franchise’s post-season hopes, as the team sits 7 games outside the wild-card picture with only 40 games remaining. To secure a playoff spot, they’d have to leapfrog the Boston Red Sox, Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays over the next six-plus weeks.
That would be a tall task for any organization, but especially for the Yankees, who have lost six consecutive games and eight of their last 10. What’s worse is this has come during a stretch that should’ve allowed them to make up ground in the standings.
Instead, it’s pushed them even further away from a playoff position.
New York squandered two winnable road series against the Chicago White Sox and Miami Marlins, dropping two of three in both sets, before being outscored 18-3 as part of a three-game sweep at the hands of the NL-leading Atlanta Braves.
It was an embarrassing on-field result. But it also saw the Yankees’ record fall to 60-62, pushing them below .500 this late into the season for the first time since 1995 – when nine active Yankees hadn’t been born yet.
With the walls closing in on the Bronx Bombers, FanGraphs has diminished their playoff odds to a season-low 2 percent, which will likely decline even further if they fail to win this weekend’s showdown versus the Red Sox.
Barring a magical turnaround, it’s probably fair to assume the Yankees are trending toward a playoff-less October – their first since 2016, a season they also featured the second-highest payroll in baseball. Money, as it turns out, can’t always buy success.
Roster construction, or a lack thereof, has been the franchise’s most common issue this season. But this isn’t something that just suddenly flared up. It’s been a recurring theme for a while now. And yet, nothing has been done to correct it.
For decades, general manager Brian Cashman had a reputation for outspending his competition to land the most talented players in free agency. Over the last few years, though, the front office’s acquisitions have mostly been veterans that were superstars previously but are now in the back half of their careers and come with plenty of injury risk.
Take this year’s offense, for example. The Yankees inked captain Aaron Judge to a historic nine-year, $360-million extension last off-season. And who is No. 99 supported by? Giancarlo Stanton, DJ LeMahieu, Anthony Rizzo and Josh Donaldson – those last two are currently on the IL.
Outside of Gleyber Torres, who’s hit .267/.333/.433 with 18 home runs and a team-leading 49 RBIs, the club’s offensive production has run through Judge. Since a torn ligament in his right big toe cost him nearly two months, he hasn’t been able to carry them like he did last season.
One or two hitters can’t lead a lineup across 162 games – just ask Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout. At some point, others need to play their part, too. But that’s yet to occur in the Bronx thus far.
The Yankees have had 15 players earn at least 100 plate appearances this season, although only three have posted a wRC+ of league average (100) or better: Judge (178), Torres (111) and Billy McKinney (104).
Three other major-league teams also fall into this category, and they’re all from the AL Central: the Kansas City Royals, Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers – each of whom featured a bottom-third payroll on Opening Day.
Judge, the Yankees’ highest-paid player, has certainly delivered on his high expectations when healthy. As for the top three grossing position players behind him (Stanton, Donaldson, Rizzo), each has been in and out of the lineup while struggling to remain above replacement level.
Then there’s LeMahieu – New York’s fifth-highest-paid position player – who has struggled to a .245/.319/.373 clip and 92 wRC+ over 100 games because of a nagging foot injury that’s plagued him since 2022.
All these factors have spearheaded the franchise’s offensive woes, which place them tied for 20th in wRC+ (95), 23rd in runs per game (4.25), 26th in OBP (.306) and 29th in AVG (.231) across the majors. But they aren’t the only reason this club will likely miss the playoffs in 2023.
New York’s front office has also been a tad irresponsible with its starting pitching upgrades over the last 12-plus months. Rather than inserting another innings-eater behind ace Gerrit Cole, management swung big to land Carlos Rodón and Frankie Montas – two arms with recent health concerns.
Montas, a free agent this winter, battled a shoulder injury prior to last season’s trade deadline and probably won’t pitch at all in 2023 since it required surgery, possibly ending his Yankees tenure after just 39.2 innings.
Rodón was cut loose by the Chicago White Sox after a successful 2021 season because of his extended injury history. Though he cashed in on a healthy 2022 campaign, avoiding an extended IL stint throughout his six-year deal with the Yankees always seemed unlikely, based on his track record.
The 30-year-old lefty hasn’t been effective in the brief time he’s been healthy, either, pitching to a 7.33 ERA and 7.37 FIP over 27 innings across six starts. He also currently finds himself back on the 15-day IL with a hamstring strain.
It hasn’t helped that Luis Severino has missed significant time due to injury, and he has struggled miserably to a 7.68 ERA and 6.73 FIP across 14 starts. Plus, Nestor Cortes Jr. has only made 12 starts while spending most of the season on the IL after enjoying an All-Star 2022 performance.
So there have been a few unexpected occurrences to derail a Yankees rotation that’s been among the worst in baseball, ranking tied for 22nd in ERA (4.69), 23rd in innings pitched (609.2), 24th in FIP (4.77) and 26th HR/9 (1.58). But it’s not like any external reinforcements have arrived to help overcome them, either.
Cashman needed to select a path at the trade deadline: sell or buy, but instead chose neither. Rather than repeat his mistakes from last season – paying a premium on players that ultimately were injured – he steered clear of impact pieces this time, which was a wise decision.
Where the Yankees GM went wrong, however, was only making a single trade, acquiring reliever Keynan Middleton – a potential rental – from the White Sox. He could’ve attempted to cut his losses by selling a few of his own impending free agents but opted against that route.
As a result, Cashman has a roster with two franchise icons and plenty of underperforming veterans and youngsters that isn’t talented enough to claim one of the six playoff seeds. Since the cost of that group exceeds all four luxury tax thresholds, a hefty surcharge is also in their future.
For a franchise that continues to grow impatient for its first World Series title since 2009, it’s fair to wonder if significant changes could be on the horizon in the coming months – both on and off the field.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @ThomasHall85
Photo: Keith Allison. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.