Since Wednesday night’s game coverage flipped over to Keith McPherson, there has been discussion of some of the weak points of the Yankees’ roster, notably the catching and the bullpen.
Well, in opening an abbreviated show ahead of what ended up being a disastrous Yankees-Orioles finale Thursday, Shaun and Tiki took it full-circle: it’s time for the Yankees to evaluate quite a few issues.
“This series is a brick-by-brick look at the good, the bad, the ugly, and the look-ahead, and today is as important a game you can have on a Thursday afternoon,” Shaun said to open the show. “They’re now 1-6 in extra innings, and you saw a lot of the worry that anybody who doesn't believe in the Yankees as a World Series team has (Wednesday night), with Clay Holmes not being able to put away guys, and Trevino and that arm – what has happened there. And also, if Aaron Judge is out of a lineup, you see the significant loss there. So worries we had off the Boston series or the Dodgers series, or the two games they lost in a row to Seattle, that loss was another prime example of why you should feel, you know, like you're allowed to worry you.”
Tiki gets it, and it’s more of who they’re failing against than how they’re failing to him.
“I'm not worried about a mid-June game because this team has been phenomenal and has the best record in baseball, so I'm not worried about where the future of this team is this season is,” Tiki said. “The thing I worry about, if it's even a small worry, is can they beat good teams, and can they, in critical moments, do the things that matter to win tough, tight games? The reason it's important in June is because it's like practice; baseball is a long, grinding season, so it’s hard to feel urgent because there's still so many games left, but if you don’t get the practice in at winning close games, when are you gonna do it? You want to give yourself the ability to relax your way into being good, and I think the challenge with this Yankees team is that some of these tight series that they’ve played are against good teams or rivals, but they haven’t dominated. Everything else they dominate, and then you get into these important series, and they don't play their best.”
Both guys noted the Yankees could’ve won Wednesday night, so things aren’t necessarily ‘terminal’ as Tiki put it, but Shaun doesn’t see the bad changing, which is an issue – and it’s going to need to be addressed by taking a good, hard look at some of those weaknesses and actually doing something about them, status or contracts be damned.
“We’ve talked about how many less sellers there will be at the deadline, and the bullpen, make no mistake, is a worry. Losing some guys you trust at the beginning of the year has killed this team, too, but Clay Holmes, as good and effective as he can be, he doesn’t put guys away,” Shaun said. “I know it’s a little different in extra innings with the runner and Trevino, who can’t figure out how to throw anybody out, but I don't know how you could have any faith in that big postseason game.”
“I think the faith in Clay Holmes is if nobody's on base, you feel comfortable, but when someone's on base, and this is the extra-inning problem that you talk about, you're not gonna,” Tiki replied. “But I think it just tells you if the Yankees are going to do anything at the trade deadline, they're going to target one of these available closers. They have to, and maybe he usurps Clay Holmes, but they need someone who has an elite closing pitch or pitches, so you’re not worried about it. I need someone that's gonna come in and throw eight pitches max and get two guys out, and they don't have that right now.”
Shaun took it a step further, saying the Yankees need to be flat out ‘ruthless,’ singling out another underperforming fan favorite, too.
“That doesn't mean trade everybody and gain everybody, but we’ve seen little signs in big spots that if they target a swing-and-miss guy that they think is better suited to put teams away in the ninth, take his closer job away and be honest with him,” Shaun said. “There's no more fooling around time. The Yankees need to be ruthless at the deadline, even if it means turning to some of their guys in the clubhouse and being real with them – and I’ll go a step further: it’s time to start being real with DJ LeMahieu as well, who doesn’t look at all like the DJ of old. Oswaldo Cabrera is a better option at third base right now, and I’ll take my chances with a veteran like DJ coming off the bench than Jahmai Jones.”
Shaun’s words were ‘who cares if Oswaldo Cabrera is not George Brett,’ but yes, it’s time to go with the best options, no matter who or where it is.
“Tell DJ, you know what, you're our super-utility bench guy. It's time that he has stopped being counted on as virtually an everyday starter; that furthers the bad,” Shaun said.
“I think the hard thing with the Yankees is that they want to give the guys who they believe in the benefit of the doubt,” Tiki said. “They do, and it's too late to say it's early, even if it’s not the All-Star break yet, but ‘he’ll find it’ is no longer an excuse. I know it feels like that sometimes, because you do feel like DJ LeMahieu hasn't really been out here for a while because he was hurt for so long, but it’s not early, especially when you have critical series like this against the Orioles that you have to win.”
Listen to the entire conversation above!
Most Popular
Comments / 0