The good news for the Yankees is that as bad as they are playing for a month-plus, they’re not performing the worst in baseball. That dishonor goes, of course, to the South Side sad sacks (aka the White Sox) whose only real competition now is the 1962 Mets.
The bad news is that the Yankees are legitimately only a two-man offense, and while I pointed out to Mets trash talker/truth teller Luis Severino that his former team doesn’t just have two “good” hitters but rather two all-time great hitters, as he told them, everyone knows two guys can’t get it done. This isn’t tennis.
Even Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig needed a supporting cast, and so, too, do the great Aaron Judge and Juan Soto. That’s where I come in now.
To be fair, two of my four solutions are currently employees of the Yankees, so I’m not doing a ton of heavy lifting here. Anyway, here goes the Heyman Plan, four ways to augment their brutal offense.
1. Giancarlo Stanton is due back Monday, and should immediately be inserted as the cleanup hitter, which sad to say is currently an embarrassment for a team called the Bronx Bombers.
They are getting the worst production at the four hole all year but it’s been particularly gruesome since they started their shocking slide June 15. The cleanup slash line is .164/.219/.258 since they went from baseball’s best team to blech, much worse even than the .204/.269/.324 line for the season. The lack of a four-hole hitter might even be affecting Judge, who was walked four times in one game by Carlos Mendoza, the first manager in forever who employed the correct Judicial strategy.
2. The Martian could land in a week or maybe two. Jasson Dominguez may be an strange savior since he has a very limited track record and a bad recent injury history. But the potential is enormous, via everyone. Though he’s only batted 31 times in the majors, he’s hit four home runs. Dominguez was activated Friday by Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes-Barre and needs to join the Yankees as a full-time player as soon as possible.
Upon arrival Dominguez should be inserted into left field to replace Alex Verdugo, who goes to the bench in my plan. Sad as I am to propose this, there’s no choice now, as the noted quote machine Verdugo hasn’t been hitting for weeks. I realize he came highly recommended by Aaron Boone, and he was a lead Dawg early in the season, but reality is sinking in.
Let’s face it, this is the year of Alex Cora. The Boston manager just got his new, near-record $21.75 million, three-year contract, and his former irritant Verdugo remains a puzzle. He started out great but is hitting .149 since June 15 and is so lacking in confidence now that he chose to sacrifice bunt to set up Carlos Navaez, a defensive specialist and catcher with two previous career plate appearances. (Narvaez struck out.) Anyway, it’s time to see if the Martian lives up to huge expectations.
3. They can’t go on like this at third base. Between DJ LeMahieu, Oswaldo Cabrera and the currently recovering Jon Berti they have three very solid backups/utility players, and in JD Davis they have a rusty player having a rough year (six total RBI). There isn’t one obvious candidate out there but there are many, many possibilities, such as:
Ryan McMahon: He’s easily the best outside option but the Rockies tell him and everyone who asks he isn’t available.
Jonathan India: I love him, but unfortunately, with two more years of control to go the Reds love him even more and won’t trade him short of an enormous overpay.
Luis Rengifo: Versatile fellow who can switch to second assuming the Yankees let Gleyber Torres leave after the year.
Jazz Chisholm: He prefers to move back to the infield (sources), and the guess here is he may play to his true potential once out of the Marlins messiness. He’s best at second, but Torres can move to third. The Pirates and Mariners also are in the mix here.
Matt Chapman: The Giants are now looking like a seller but it’s believed they want to keep the defensive stalwart who has an opt out after the year.
Yandy Diaz: He’s back, the Rays are obviously selling — Zach Eflin became the fourth Ray to go, to the rival Orioles unfortunately — and he played third base from 2020-22.
Isaac Paredes: The Rays are listening on everyone not nailed down, but I’m concerned that all 69 of his homers for them were pulled, which makes Yankee Stadium less than the perfect fit. (Houston, with its close Crawford Boxes, works better.)
4. Try for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Maybe they can get by at first base with eager rookie Ben Rice, and no one thinks the Jays — who apparently even are reluctant to trade Chris Bassitt and Kevin Gausman — will trade Guerrero with a year of control to go, especially not to their divisional nemesis. But it’s worth asking. Major upgrades should be the goal.
