The Yankees have made mostly good decisions so far, it would make sense to leave them alone and let the best team in the American League thrive, but they've also made some of the most puzzling decisions this season, or any season, that have raised serious questions and left room for criticism (and even ridicule).
As always, I'm here to help.
It's still unclear exactly who should be blamed for the early, thoughtless intentional walk to Red Sox star Rafael Devers, but it certainly wasn't the behavior of three very smart guys — Aaron Boone (USC), Gerrit Cole (UCLA) and Matt Blake (Holy Cross) — who all offered some sort of explanation, but all we can say for sure is that they outdid themselves.
So today, I’m going to ignore the fact that the Yankees made arguably the best trade of the winter (Juan Soto) and a deadline trade (Jazz Chisholm) and offer a suggestion for them to get back to the World Series, something they should do every year, but haven’t been able to do since long before the Core Four retired.
1. Swap Chisholm and Gleyber Torres into the lineup.
This doesn't happen for three reasons.
Torres is doing well. After five miserable months, he's hit in 15 of 16 games (.328 batting average). And Boone clearly loves Torres. Having spent seven years telling Torres to go hard (or at least to make him do it), Boone is a true believer in Torres. How do we know? Of all the praise the manager gives to all his players, his praise of Torres is the furthest from reality.
Plus, the Yankees would probably prefer Chisholm, a lefty hitter who could split righties in the middle of the lineup (if that's the main reason, Boone could solve it by swapping Soto for Aaron Judge, as he once threatened to do).
Either way, I'd argue that Chisholm is faster and a better baserunner, making him the better leadoff hitter. Giancarlo Stanton is a pure power player who has to run at three-quarter speed to avoid injury, but Chisholm certainly shouldn't bat behind him.
More importantly, Chisholm should see more at-bats. His .889 OPS with the Yankees is nearly 200 points higher than Torres' 2024 OPS (.697).
2. Give Judge a rest (at least a little) or use him more as a DH.
The league's best hitter and AL MVP candidate seems to be on a roll after hitting two home runs to win a bizarre series against the Red Sox, but he's played almost every game in center field since June 20 and is a tiresome presence for anyone.
Judge's early September slump (16 straight games without a home run) can only be explained by fatigue, and his occasional October struggles likely stem from fatigue as well (his postseason OPS is a very human .772, well below his career 1.007, and he hasn't been particularly good in his past six series).
The Yankees' best chance to win is if their best player performs at his best, and while I understand the interest in winning the AL East to avoid the Wild Card Round, they are now three games behind and have other options.
The Yankees have three other good center fielders, so any dip in defense from Judge playing as the DH would be negligible, and there would obviously be a hole in the lineup if Stanton had to sit on the bench, but keeping Judge well rested and in tip-top condition in October will be a top priority.
3. Use Luke Weaver as the primary closer.
Clay Holmes is a solid closer who's had some bad luck, but bringing him back full time and reminding everyone he missed out on 11 saves just isn't worth the distraction, and Weaver is better this year anyway (0.95 WHIP, 3.64 strikeout-to-walk ratio), so it's not worth revisiting the issue.
“Their bullpen is still awful,” one MLB scout said skeptically. “Even if Weaver is the closer, who's going to use him?” [Tommy] Kahnle? [Jake] “Cousin? Holmes? I don't trust anybody.”
Well, they have no choice now, and if that's their biggest weakness, they're still in good shape.
4. Cole, Luis Gil, Carlos Rodon and Clark Schmidt should be part of the playoff rotation.
The Yankees made the smart move to field six starters in October, but these are the four most likely to be successful: Cole, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, is the obvious choice, especially with Devers sitting out October, and Gill has been great at times.
Schmidt just returned, but I wouldn't complain if he pitched in Game 3. Marcus Stroman (“tired,” says a Yankees source) and Nestor Cortes have been generally solid, but Rodon, Gil and Schmidt (whose performance is roughly equal to his confidence) are likely to dominate. (But if they're weak against lefties, I'd start Cortes instead of Schmidt.)
They enter October with a playoff-caliber rotation and surprisingly good overall roster health (especially compared to the Orioles and other teams), and if they make the right decisions, they could have their best chance since 2009.
