NEW YORK — Giancarlo Stanton was in a difficult spot. For years, he’s been one of the quiet leaders of the New York Yankees’ clubhouse, a player whose presence is often felt before he speaks, whose stern look matches his terse manner of speech. He wasn’t going to rip his team after he’d been asked how it could get better in the second half. He also wasn’t going to deep dive into the Yankees’ struggles with the All-Star break freshly underway.
“Like anything, you sit and make the adjustments for the second half and try to just improve and get better,” Stanton said after an uninspiring 4-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
How, specifically, could the Yankees get better?
“We could be crisper in all aspects,” he said. “I’m not going to break it down right now. Work better, work more.”
But the truth was likely clear to Stanton and anybody who had been watching the Yankees lately.
They need help. They need to get healthy. They also need more from their starting shortstop.
After Sunday, they are 53-43 — 2 1/2 games back of the first-place Toronto Blue Jays, a disappointment considering the Yankees held a seven-game lead on May 28.
Here are three takeaways from the first half, with an eye on what the Yankees need to do moving forward.
They need pitching, and lots of it
General manager Brian Cashman said last week he planned to shop for a starting pitcher before the July 31 trade deadline. That was before a blister popped up on Max Fried’s left index finger, putting his first start after the All-Star break in jeopardy. Simply put: The Yankees need rotation help.
Actually, they need more than that. They need to hunt for big game, aiming for a starting pitcher who could slot directly behind Fried and Carlos Rodón.
Last playoffs, they had Gerrit Cole and Clarke Schmidt starting games. They’re both out for the year. They should have a healthy Luis Gil come August, but Fried (122 innings) and Rodón (119 2/3 innings) have already amassed heavy workloads and have lengthy injury histories. The Yankees can’t be caught off guard if one of them needs to spend time on the injured list, and they can’t expect Will Warren, Marcus Stroman, Ryan Yarbrough or Cam Schlittler to start games 3 or 4 of the American League Division Series.
Then there’s the bullpen. Sunday, Boone had to go to Ian Hamilton with the score tied at 1-1 in the sixth inning. Hamilton gave up a homer to the first batter he faced. He had been used almost exclusively in non-pressure situations this year, and he hadn’t been great in those. The Yankees need two relievers — one for the late innings, another for the middle innings — at the trade deadline. Having Luke Weaver and Devin Williams won’t do the Yankees any good if they can’t get the ball to them. Of course, it’ll help when Fernando Cruz comes off the IL and when Jonathan Loáisiga figures out his home run problem. But this Yankees bullpen is a far cry from the formidable units the club has boasted in recent years.
The Yankees would likely have lots of competition for Eugenio Suárez of the Arizona Diamondbacks. (Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)
They need a third baseman
Oswald Peraza has a .456 OPS. He’s hitting .149, and that includes a 2-for-18 (.111) he’s put up since the Yankees cut DJ LeMahieu. He cannot be an everyday player for the Yankees past the trade deadline, no matter how good he is defensively.
The Yankees need a third baseman, and the team surely would prefer a right-handed hitter with thump. Eugenio Suárez of the Arizona Diamondbacks fits that bill, but there likely will be lots of competition for him, and the Yankees only have so many trade chips to go around. An Isiah Kiner-Falefa reunion seems possible, but he’s got just a .657 OPS, and the Yankees need someone who will have more of an impact.
The situation with Jazz Chisholm Jr. likely limits the Yankees’ flexibility. They were hoping that by moving Chisholm to third base, they would have an easier time acquiring a second baseman, and that Chisholm would be able to remain there all year. But it’s difficult to imagine the Yankees moving Chisholm back to third base after he tweaked his right shoulder on a throw there about two weeks ago and after he made the All-Star Game at second base.
They need more from Anthony Volpe
Volpe, 24, will go into the second half hitting .214 with a .287 on-base percentage and a .671 OPS. The Yankees might point to his 10 home runs and 49 RBIs, but there’s no way they would have thought that in Year 3, this is where we would be. A former top prospect praised for his bat, he hit eighth in the lineup in four out of seven games this week.
His defense has been troubling, too. Statcast says he’s been worth minus-2 Outs Above Average, which places him in just the 17th percentile of defenders. Last year, he was worth 14 OAA — putting him in the top 97th percentile. A small-sample defense doesn’t work here, either. He’s played in 95 of the team’s 96 games.
The Yankees have defended Volpe at every turn, and understandably. Their constant praise of his work ethic and how much he cares isn’t hollow. He cares, and nobody has questioned his commitment since the day the Yankees drafted him. Plus, it wouldn’t do them much good to doubt the player they’re going to have to put at shortstop every day. They don’t have other options.
Volpe has shown in spurts that he can be a productive and even exciting player. Those have been too few and far between this season. His impressive performance in last year’s World Series almost feels like a distant memory.
(Top photo: Gregory Fisher / Imagn Images)
