3 Yankees Already On Thin Ice in 2024

The New York Yankees are off to a great start after last season’s disappointment of missing the postseason. Brian Cashman’s offseason is looking like a success, with fans enjoying watching a team with one of the best records in baseball. Juan Soto appears to be the American League MVP favorite after a blockbuster offseason trade.

Gerrit Cole’s injury isn’t even hurting them as much as anticipated, with all five starting pitchers off to positive starts to the season. The bullpen is arguably the strongest aspect of the team’s greatness so far. However, that doesn’t mean everything is perfect or fans are accepting every player’s current production. The following Yankees are already on thin ice for the rest of the 2024 season.  

1. Gleyber Torres

The Yankees hoped that Gleyber Torres would be a strong spot in the lineup as the starting second baseman. Last season saw Torres as the Yankees’ most reliable hitter all season and the best overall hitter behind Aaron Judge. Unfortunately, things have gone the opposite route for Torres in 2024 as the most disappointing Yankees hitter in the entire lineup.

Torres is deep into May, with abysmal averages of a .228 batting average (down from .273 last season) and a .301 on-base percentage (down from .347 last season) to show his decline. New York has benefited from having most hitters at least hitting an ideal floor. Judge and Soto are carrying the power numbers, but they are getting help from most other starters.

The lackluster run of Torres has him with just 4 home runs and 16 RBIs this deep into the season. Yankees fans will likely start booing Torres as we get closer to the mid-point of the season if this continues. Torres is also in a contract year to add further complications to his lackluster work. New York will not shy away from letting him walk after a bad season, despite Torres talking about wanting to spend his entire career with the franchise.

2. Austin Wells

The season started with most Yankees fans expecting Austin Wells to become the consistent starting catcher over Jose Trevino. Wells' struggling in the early weeks of the season coincided with Trevino having a strong start to see the tide turn. Trevino made it an easy choice to have him as the primary starting catcher, especially after delivering some timely hits.

Wells will likely have more chances to prove his worth as the backup catcher, still getting a start or two each week. A terrible .198 batting average and .295 on-base percentage makes it hard to trust Wells to be a strong contributor this season. Wells is unfortunately delivering lower power numbers of 1 home run and 4 RBIs in his 90 at-bats.

Trevino’s 5 home runs and 17 RBIs in just nine more at-bats at 99 shows how much he’s been up for the job this season. The former All-Star has delivered too many clutch hits to not give full trust in him for the rest of the year. Wells will have to improve immensely to win his way back into a more frequent starting job.

3. Oswaldo Cabrera

New York Yankees fans have seen a rise and fall for Oswaldo Cabrera as the hopeful starting third baseman. Cabrera had a tremendous start to the season, with both great averages and clutch hits to help the team’s impressive hot start. It appeared like a safe bet that Cabrera would seize the starting third baseman job and hold it for the rest of the season.

The hitting of Cabrera went cold to slow down his stats to a .247 batting average and .286 on-base percentage. Cabrera is still the primary third baseman, but he has seen backup Jon Berti getting more spot starts to switch things up. Yankees management expect DJ LeMahieu to return soon and replace Cabrera at third base.

The biggest disappointment for Cabrera is that he had everything working in his favor to start the season and won over many fans, only to lose it all. 2024 is becoming a “World Series or bust” season for the Yankees, and an automatic out is not acceptable come playoff time. Cabrera must fight his way into more starts to prove his worth on the team moving forward.

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