BT believes it is ludicrous to blame the Yankees struggles on Aaron Judge not performing on the field, as he set an American League home run record last season, and was on pace to have a similar year before hurting his toe on an all-out hustle play in Los Angeles.
But, when it comes to his leadership, BT believes some criticism is warranted when it comes to the new Yankee captain.
“I don’t think he’s been as effective as I hoped and certainly thought he would be,” BT said.
“The captaincy, even before he was officially designated captain, there was too much lethargic play that was accepted by the manager and I thought needed to be policed inwardly by somebody. That somebody was supposed to be, and still is with the captaincy, Judge.”
Judge hasn’t had much time to be an active leader given his months on the IL in his first year as captain, but by all accounts, his teammates and coaches publicly rave about Judge’s leadership and ability to lead by example. Much like Derek Jeter before him, Judge’s role as captain seems to be more on letting his play and effort show the others in the clubhouse how to approach the game, not to mention there could be discussions happening behind the scenes that nobody but the players and coaches can see.
Still, BT believes the current product the Yankees have shown on the field has to at least be some level of reflection on the captain of the team.
“It could be Gleyber Torres and his loafing and his penchant for playing with sporadic focus, and I just feel like this stuff goes unchecked,” BT said. “That’s kind of the role of the captain…when someone is not doing their job or acting like a pro, if you have to speak with him loudly to get the message across, that’s what you do. If he’s done that, and I don’t know that he has, it’s not working…there just seems to be an acceptance of lethargic play.
“How many times last year did Josh Donaldson pimp a ball that he thought was going out, it hits the fence or shorter, and wound up out at second not at second? It happened too many times and never stopped. Now we see it with Torres and some baserunning gaffes.”
BT still believes that the Yankees have failed Judge in terms of constructing a winning roster around him, but he would still like to see the face of the franchise show more outward leadership, or see his teammates show more fire and focus.
“Aaron Judge is the most talented player in baseball, along with Ohtani,” BT said. “But he has not been the most effective captain so far.”
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