While its true the 2018 New York Yankees, who sit at 6-6 in the AL East, have started out the season somewhat overwhelmingly. In the end the New York Yankees will be just fine. Here are three reasons why Yankee fans should not worry about where the Yankees stand in the standings as of April 13th. First off, there are 149 games remaining, secondly, the Yankees offense, and third the Yankees bullpen.
With the Yankees sitting at 6-6 there seems to be quite a few fans on social media asking if Aaron Boone is the right man for the job or it this will end up a disaster hiring akin to the Giants hiring a head coach in Ben McAdoo with no experience. This sounds oddly familiar to what Yankees fans said in 2008 when they hired Joe Girardi after only one season managing with the Miami Marlins. In the end, the New York Yankees won the World Series a year later in 2009 with Joe Girardi at the helm, he also did not have a losing season during the Yankees rebuild while attempting to compete mantra. Aaron Boone may be a first time manager but its pretty clear that Brian Cashman and the Yankees were blown away by his interview with them and his baseball acumen otherwise they would have never hired Boone coming off a season where they came one win shy of the World Series. Aaron Boone is still learning what its like to be a manager, but he has 149 games to go so there’s really no reason to panic about the Yankees record.
The second reason Yankee fans should not worry about the Yankees is their offensive firepower, through 12 games into the season, the Yankees are not getting much production at all from last years MVP Giancarlo Stanton or 2016 runner up Rookie of the year Gary Sanchez, they are missing 1st baseman Greg Bird whom the Yankees believe will be back in May, they have missed Aaron Hicks, as a matter of fact, I believe the Yankees have only had their expected 2018 lineup only 2 games so far in this early season. If you have followed the career of Giancarlo Stanton, you would know that as the weather warms up so does Stanton, the same can be said about Gary Sanchez as both of them seem to be coming out of their slumps to start the season with their last 2 performances in Fenway Park against the Red Sox. While its true the Yankees have been and probably will continue to be hit with injuries, the Yankees have a valued farm system that includes the likes of Gleyber Torres, Clint Frazier and others who in the near future will probably both be seeing time. The good news for the Yankees offense, is so far a sophomore slump for Aaron Judge couldn’t be further from the truth. The Yankees sit 6-6 and a lot of that is due to their offense that hasn’t even been fully healthy this season.
The final reason is the bullpen, last year the Yankees bullpen did blow 21 games from May through July, from Adam Warren all the way to Aroldis Chapman. The 2018 Yankees bullpen has already blown 5 games this season and have been hammered at times by opposing players, but again this is April, slumps will happen, a bullpen that consists of Chapman, Robertson, Green, Betances, Warren among others is simply too good to continue to be this bad for much longer. One bright spot in the pen so far has been Yankee farmhand Domingo German who has excelled through ST and even in his appearances in the Bronx, he might be the next to join the pen full time, tho I believe the Yankees and Brian Cashman would rather allow German to develop more into a starting pitcher. The 2018 Yankees bullpen was expected to be possibly one of the best bullpens ever assembled and so far through 12 games that has not been the case, but the careers of these guys tell you that a 12 game sample size is far too short to believe that this will not turn around.
The Yankees might not go further than they did last year when they made Game 7 of the ALCS, and truthfully the only way to do that would be to make the World Series, but their imposing lineup will warm up as the weather does, the bullpen will right itself, and General manager Brian Cashman has all kinds of assets and money should he need to make more moves to help out first year manager Aaron Boone.