The Yankees are in a period of transition after firing hitting coach Dillon Lawson on Sunday, as Brian Cashman is now tasked with finding a replacement that could help life the Yankee offense out of its prolonged funk.
But C-Mac wanted to focus on the bigger reason why the Yankees are in this current predicament heading into the All-Star break, now out of a playoff spot after dropping a home series against the Cubs. The Yankees are dealing with struggling veteran bats that are showing their age because their youthful core all flamed out, save for one notable exception.
“It’s the No. 1 reason why the Yankees are where they are,” C-Mac said.
“Brian Cashman tried to put this team in a position where it was anchored by young players…how many years in a row did the Yankees bring up players that took baseball by storm? Gary Sanchez came up in ’16 and hit 20 home runs in the second half of the year…and almost won the Rookie of the Year in half a season.
The next season, Judge comes up and hits 50 home runs. The next year, Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar…they have this young core. They have a starting third baseman in Andujar, a starting second baseman in Torres, a starting right fielder in Judge, a starting catcher in Sanchez, a hoping to have a starting left fielder in Clint Frazier. They tried, and he failed…all those guys came up and were good at the major league level, and besides Judge, they all got worse.
“That’s why they didn’t go out and get Manny Machado, because they thought they had young answers at third base. They were wrong, and it has cost them dearly. That’s on Brian Cashman…but don’t tell me he doesn’t understand that you have to be youthful. He’s trying to get through this era where the Baby Bombers failed.”
Judge has been the lone success story of the Baby Bomber era, as Luis Severino has also failed to replicate the success he had early in his career, now pitching to an ERA north of 7.00 in the final year of his contract. C-Mac puts those failures on Cashman, but that doesn’t mean those once prized prospects would have flourished had they come up in another organization, considering how all of those disappointing youngsters never found their early-career success elsewhere.
“It’s not like the Yankees just don’t know how to deal with young talent, and once they were gone, they were all good,” C-Mac said. “Greg Bird is out of baseball. Andujar got sent down by the Pirates. Sanchez has hit some home runs for San Diego, but he’s slumping again, and he’s on his third different team.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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