The New York Yankees are one of the best teams in the major leagues against teams over .500. So why then are they in second place in their division? It has to do with their play against teams under .500 as well as the lack of urgency on the part of the organization.
The Yankees own the best record in baseball against teams over .500 but are 16th in the majors against teams below that mark. You can say “its baseball Suzyn” but the real problem is they play down to their opponents. They are often times unprepared and take teams for granted.
The Yankees had a chance coming off their All Star break to reconfigure their starting rotation and make sure they threw their three best pitchers at the Mets who are using their two best despite being in last place and lucky to win 75 games. Instead of the Yankees pitching Luis Severino, CC Sabathia and Masahiro Tanaka they chose to start their two worst starting pitchers by far this season in Domingo German and Sonny Gray. That’s a lack of urgency despite being 4.5 games out already in the division because they’re playing a bad Mets team.
While the starting pitching market is thin, there are still upgrades out there available as mid rotation arms over German. Meanwhile they were engaged in third baseman Manny Machado and CL Brad Hand neither who fill the Yankees biggest need which is SP. In one aspect you can understand the leash that Sonny Gray has been given, he at least is a proven starting pitcher but what exactly has German done to earn such a long leash?
If the Yankees are content with the Wild Card then by all means keep sending German out there to try to develop him more. After all, Luis Severino was destined to be a reliever after his awful performances as a starter in 2016. However, if the Yankees goal is to win the division, which it should be, they better show more of an urgency before the division completely gets away from them.