New York Yankees: Expectations flip-flopped

To date, the great expectations for the New York Yankees have flip-flopped.

The addition of Giancarlo Stanton had expectations soaring for the New York Yankees coming into the season. The idea of adding the reigning NL MVP to a team that was one game away from making a World Series appearance the prior season was incomprehensible.

Well, fast forward a few months after the trade and you would be blown away. The Yankees are currently 5-5, sitting at third place in the AL East and Stanton and Judge have combined for four home runs. Not only that but there have been two instances where Giancarlo Stanton struck out five times in a single game and failed to get a hit in that game.

More from Empire Writes Back

One instance was when he went 0-5 with five strikeouts against the Rays during his first game in Pinstripes at Yankee Stadium. The other instance was against the Orioles on Sunday, April 8th when he went 0-7 with five strikeouts. Needless to say Stanton has yet to live up to the expectations set upon him at the beginning of the season.

It is not only Giancarlo Stanton who isn’t living up to his expectations but the bullpen isn’t either. On Sunday against the Orioles the Yankees were up 5-0 after the first inning. Before being taken out in the fifth inning Montgomery let up a two-run home run which left the Yankees up only one run.

When Montgomery turned over the ball to the bullpen the Yankees were up 5-4. They ended up losing this game 8-7 in 12 innings. The bullpen gave up that one run lead and ended up losing the game for the Yankees after giving up four runs. This isn’t the only instance though, there was the grand slam in the fourteenth inning against the Orioles, there was the grand slam given up in the eighth inning against the Blue Jays, and many many more.

The bullpen is a big reason the Yankees have started the season 5-5 rather than 9-1. The lone loss the bullpen is not responsible for was the game against Baltimore which Masahiro Tanaka let up three earned runs in 6.1 innings pitched, on six hits. The boys in Pinstripes scored only two runs and ended up losing 5-2.

Strengths:

Obviously with all weaknesses there are strengths. With that being said there have been strengths for the Yankees. One big strength has been Didi Gregorious who has proven time and time again that he is legit. Ever since the postseason last year Gregorious has stepped up in a major way.

So far this season Gregorious is batting .375 with three home runs and ten RBIs. On April 3rd he became the latest Yankees to hit two home runs and at least eight RBIs. Both of Gregorious’ home runs happened to be three-run home runs which helped lift the Yankees to an 11-4 victory over the Rays.

Another big strength has been the starting pitching (for the most part). This has been a big surprise because coming into the season we expected this to be the exact opposite. We expected the bullpen to be strong with stars like Dellin Betances, Aroldis Chapman and David Robertson at the helm. Well ten games in the bullpen and the starters appear to have flip-flopped and it has been the exact opposite.

Next: Don't freak out on Stanton yet

The starters have combined for a record of 4-1, with two of the wins courtesy of Luis Severino who has been spectacular. In Severino’s two games he has gone for 13.0 innings, two wins, fourteen strikeouts, and an ERA of 1.38. To go with that he has let up only six hits, zero home runs, four walks and two runs.

Severino has proven himself to be one of the best pitchers in the league as he finished third place in AL Cy Young voting last year. This year he appears to be off to a great start as he tries to best that third place slot in an attempt to win it. If he continues to do what he’s doing there is a great chance he does just that.

Home/New York Yankees