New York Yankees: It’s Time For Change
By Nick Ziegler
The New York Yankees have been hovering at .500, and the time has come to make some changes one way or another.
Much of the discussion about the New York Yankees has been about whether or not they should be sellers at the trade deadline. As the team continues to hover around .500, they aren’t making up any ground in the AL East. With a lot of ground to make up in the standings, time is of the essence.
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“We can’t stay stagnant,” general manager Brian Cashman told Ryan Hatch of NJ.com. “I’m certainly making phone calls … Time’s of the essence. We can’t keep treading water. I want to be a contender, not a pretender.”
Cashman has met with Joe Girardi about how to improve the team, as he hopes to know what position the Yankees will come to the deadline.
“I asked them specifically: ‘How can we be better?’ Because we’ve got a short sprint now until the trade deadline, and the team needs to declare itself as good enough and contenders, or not.”
One of the recent changes by Girardi has been keeping Alex Rodriguez out of the starting lineup. Rodriguez’s season stats are a bit poor, but he has been performing much better in June, which has helped his season totals rise. However, despite the improvements in June, Rodriguez has found himself out of the lineup with no reported injury.
"“Is this going to be something that lasts? I don’t know yet,” Cashman said about A-Rod’s diminished playing time to Hatch. “We’re searching for different ways, and these were some of the ideas that came out of that meeting, and we’re going to see where it takes us. Joe met with Alex the other day and told him, and that was it.”"
The current state of the Yankees is one that we haven’t been accustomed to in recent years, as the Yankees generally always either make the playoffs or have a good chance to heading into the fall.
“We are fighting for being a relevant team and it’s frustrating to not be playing to your potential when you feel there’s more gas in the tank and it’s not coming,” Cashman said to Hatch. “Then all of a sudden you have to start tinkering. And nobody wants to tinker. Nobody wants to start playing with—what about this, what if we try that?
“You’re going to tinker, and some things might work and some things may not work. Some things may be the right thing to do, some things might work against you. But I know staying stationary in this middle ground stuff, I don’t like.”
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This season, the Yankees don’t have the feel like they are a contender for a playoff spot, as they are some glaring holes in both the starting rotation and in the lineup. It will be interesting to see how Cashman approaches the trade deadline, as it will likely be golden opportunity to build for the future.
One way or another, the Yankees need to make some changes.