Aaron Judge is the reigning AL MVP and his value to the Yankees has shown over the past few weeks. The New York slugger has been out since June 3rd due to a sprained toe, and his teammates haven’t picked up the slack.
The Yankees beat the Dodgers on Sunday, June 4th in the first game of Judge’s current absence to move to 36-25 on the season. Since then, however, they have won just three games in 11 tries, including a three-game sweep at Fenway Park over the weekend.
Chris McMonigle of the Audacy Original Podcast “BXB” explained why he isn’t buying the fact that the Yankees are just a bad team without Judge.
“We can talk about the blanket statement that ‘this team is awful without Judge, he’s their only good player, Cashman built a horrible team.’ I don’t agree,” McMonigle said (3:37 in player above). “This is the same team that we expected to compete for the division. This is the same team that we all loved when Rizzo came back. We all expected this team to be a good team on some level.
“You don’t do that with just one player and it’s a cop out. It’s a cop out for Anthony Rizzo. It’s a cop out for Giancarlo Stanton. It’s a cop out for D.J. LeMahieu,” McMonigle continued. “Right now it’s a cop out for Michael King, who cost them a game on Saturday and cost them a game against Chicago as well. We’d feel a lot differently even if they just got those two wins, the Michael King games that they had an opportunity to win.”
Over the past 15 days, Stanton and Rizzo each have just three hits for a combined 6-for-71 with one home run. They’ve struck out 19 times in that span. LeMahieu’s bat has cooled off as well with a 5-for-27 (.185) stretch.
“It is a cop out to just talk about how Judge is the only reason why they win. Because it’s not true. As great as he is, Rizzo had a good year last year,” McMonigle said. “He’s a good player and he’s absolutely lost out there… He is in a funk. He is killing them.
“Stanton is going through his normal not only the month he’s gone but the month it takes to get back into his groove. There are guys on this team.
“I’m sorry. I refuse to just believe the blanket statement that they’re just a 4-8 team. They’re one of the worst offenses in baseball. They’re one of the worst teams in baseball without Aaron Judge. I refuse to believe it. They’re playing as such, at the moment, because their guys who need to step up haven’t just not stepped up, they’ve been in absolute fogs and it’s hard to explain.”
Despite the Yankees’ recent struggles, they are still six games over .500 at 39-33, putting them 10.5 games back in the division and tied with the Astros for the final AL wild card.
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