The 2024 New York Yankees Are Proving That The "Evil Empire" Is Back
The words Yankees and dominance go hand-in-hand like milk and cookies. The 2024 New York Yankees are currently the best team in the MLB and there’s no question why that is. Before we get to the 2024 team, let’s reflect on 2023.
The 2023 New York Yankees season was heralded as the worst Yankees season in the last 30 years. It was the first time since 2016 that the Yankees missed the postseason and the 2023 Yankees held an 82-80 record, finishing fourth in the AL East. The last time the Yankees were this bad was during the 1992 season when that Yankees team had a 76-86 record and also finished fourth in the AL East. So....what went wrong?
2023 Was Worrisome From The Get-Go
Well, the Yankees were coming off the previous season where they were embarrassed by the Houston Astros in the ALCS in a 4-0 sweep. The offense was the clear issue in that series and the second half of the 2022 season. The Yankees had no players who could get many hits off the Astros’ lineup. That offseason was an important season for the Yankees organization as Aaron Judge was heading into free agency and the Yankees needed to go all-in on keeping Judge.
Without Judge, the Yankees would not have an identity, and the fans would have been astoundingly outraged they could not keep their AL MVP and 62 home run hitter. Fortunately (after the Arson Judge scare), the Yankees kept Judge for the remainder of his career with a 9-year, $360 million deal. This was expected from Yankees fans, so they were anxiously waiting on their next move.
Resigning Anthony Rizzo on a 2-year, $40 million was also expected, but the Yankees decided to focus primarily on the bullpen. The biggest sign for the Yankees was former starting pitcher for the San Francisco Giants, Carlos Rodon. Rodon was an elite-level pitcher, posting a 2.88 ERA in 2022 but was coming off a shoulder injury. However, it did not stop the Yankees from giving him a 6-year, $162 million deal to help be a good backup to the Yankees’ own Gerrit Cole.
The Yankees also signed Tommy Kahnle to add to their bullpen and.....that was about it. The offense looked worrisome but fans were eager to see upcoming rookie sensation Anthony Volpe come up for the Yankees. The shortstop prospect has been proclaimed as the second coming of Derek Jeter and fans were expecting great things from him. The Yankees had no trade deals with aging players like Josh Donaldson and Aaron Hicks, but hey, at least the Yankees got Aaron Judge back as the newest Yankees captain!
2023 Was A Nightmare For The Yankees
The 2023 season didn’t start so terribly, until Aaron Judge got injured in early April with a hip issue. However, it was a short-lived injury and Judge would return on May 9th. Fast forward to June 4th and the infamous broken gate play at Dodger Stadium where Aaron Judge would leap for a ball out in right field for an out, causing the gate to break. The play was successful and fans were excited over the catch but it resulted in a torn ligament in Judge's big toe. Judge was out for months and the absence of Judge exposed the lack of offense that the Yankees had, as nobody could hit at any level near Aaron Judge.
Anthony Rizzo suffered a concussion in late May after a collision, which was misdiagnosed up until late in the season, so the Yankees had a player with a full-blown concussion playing consistent games throughout the season. Josh Donaldson and Aaron Hicks were.....not good. Oh, and newly acquired Carlos Rodon returned from his injury in mid-June and posted a second-career worst of 6.85 ERA and a 3-8 record for the season.
Anthony Volpe had a decent season for a rookie, but fans expected too much from him after he posted an OPS of .666, an OBP of .283, and a batting average of .209. Not the best numbers for a rookie that was expected to be phenomenal. But on the bright side, Domingo German also pitched a perfect game for some reason, Isaiah Kiner-Falefa had a bounce-back season playing in 3rd base and the outfield after playing horribly at shortstop in 2022, Volpe got the Gold Glove Award and Gerrit Cole got his first career Cy Young as well so....go Yanks?
The Yankees had a ray of hope in early September when another highly touted prospect, Jasson Dominguez was called up and hit his first home run on his first at-bat against Justin Verlander at Minute Maid Park. Things were looking up for the Yankees....until Dominguez was out with a UCL tear a few days later that had him out until the middle of 2024. The Dominguez injury solidified the bad luck and abysmal 2023 season that the Yankees had.
Statistically, the Yankees were awful. Only four players had an OPS+ of 100 or better, had a GIDP percentage of 11.25%, a 45.7% rate on scoring with runners on 2nd base and no outs, the 5th-lowest stolen base success rate at 76.9%, the second worst batting average, fourth-worst on-base percentage, and ninth worst in slugging percentage. This team just had no offense outside of Aaron Judge
The Yankees were obviously out of the postseason and were the laughingstock of the league, becoming the worst Yankees team in over 30 years. The Yankees could not hit to save their lives, and the blame was put on the players and manager Aaron Boone for managing such an awful team. The hot seat, however, belonged to general manager Brian Cashman who had a big hand in constructing the 2023 roster.
Fans were calling for Cashman to be fired and let go, seeing that his construction of the roster and failing to make any big-time moves during the trade deadline led to the demise of the Yankees in 2023. Yankees' owner Hal Steinbrenner was being called out for only wanting to bring in money to the team and for not wanting to bring a championship for New York.
Building The Pieces For 2024
The 2023 season was one the Yankees had to forget quickly and the best way to forget it was to bring in an absolute superstar. Talks of acquiring San Diego Padres' superstar Juan Soto were rumbling but sounded too good to be true. Then, on a cool December evening, on Wednesday, December 7th, Hal Steinbrenner made it happen. A blockbuster trade landed the Yankees with Juan Soto and Trent Grisham, trading away their pitching arms with Michael King, Jhony Brito, Drew Thorpe, Randy Vasquez, and catcher Kyle Higashioka.
This trade wasn’t the only move the Yankees made, as they also signed former Red Sox left fielder Alex Verdugo and former starting pitcher for the Chicago Cubs Marcus Stroman. The Yankees made small moves in pitching by acquiring Luke Weaver, and Cody Poteet, and moving Luis Gil to the starting lineup after Gerrit Cole suffered nerve inflammation during spring training.
The 2024 season had plenty of hype behind it, especially since the season opener for the Yankees was facing off against the Houston Astros. The team that has haunted the Yankees organization for the past seven years was their first series matchup with this new Yankees squad. The Yankees wiped the floor with the Astros, sweeping them 4-0 in the series and showing the league that the Yankees aren’t messing around this season.
The 2024 Yankees Are Playing With A Chip On Their Shoulder
The Yankees started the season on a 7-0 winning streak. Even though Judge had a rough start to the season, ending the month of April with a batting average of .207 and only hitting six home runs, the rest of the Yankees’ lineup has been able to pick him up and still grab wins. Into his sophomore year, Anthony Volpe had an OPS of .757, an OBP of .358, and a batting average of .271, a massive improvement from his rookie season. Giancarlo Stanton also had a bit of a resurgence with his slugging at .465 and hitting a much higher batting average of .235 in April compared to .191 in 2023.
The past month of May was when things started to pick up for the Yankees and Aaron Judge. The month of May had the Yankees winning every series (outside of tying the series with the Mariners), and Aaron Judge hitting 14 home runs on an OBP of .491 and an OPS of .924. It’s safe to say that the toe injury hasn’t affected the captain.
The New Boys On The Block Turn It Up
Of course, you can’t talk about the 2024 New York Yankees without talking about Juan Soto. Juan Soto has had a dominant season, hitting 15 home runs on a batting average of .322, slugging at .614, and an OPS of 1.031. The man knows how to play baseball and Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner needs to keep this man in the Bronx. Juan Soto has been nothing short of amazing and his athleticism, elite level of play, and youthfulness has been a much-needed boost in the Yankees clubhouse.
New additions Alex Verdugo and Marcus Stroman have been great on and off the field. Verdugo has hit 8 home runs on an OPS of .764, and Marcus Stroman has been unbelievable on the mound. Stroman has posted an ERA of 2.73, an H/9 of 7.3, and a BB/9 of 3.8. Comparing that to Blake Snell who the Yankees fans wanted in the 2023 offseason, Snell has had an ERA of 9.51, an H/9 of 12.2, and a BB/9 of 5.3. The Yankees chose right in choosing their starting pitchers.
Luis Gil Is A Diamond In The Rough
Luis Gil has been a hidden gem for the Yankees and a great temporary replacement for Gerrit Cole. There wasn’t much hype around Luis Gil coming into 2024 and a little worry about how the starting pitching will be without the reigning Cy Young winner. It’s safe to say that Luis Gil has been above and beyond all expectations. Gil has been dominant in his starts, posting an ERA of 1.99, 11.2 SO/9, and a WHIP of 0.947.
Gil has pitched at an elite level that nobody expected and has continued to be a force to deal with when it comes to the Yankees starting rotation. The pitching staff had set a record with 15 straight games of having five-plus innings and allowing two or fewer runs a game. The Yankees clearly cannot be stopped and they’re true contenders to win the World Series and take the trophy back to the Bronx.
While the bullpen has been decent so far, it does need some improvement. Guys like Dennis Santana and Caleb Ferguson haven’t had many great outings in the late innings, having an ERA of 5.01 and 5.30 respectively. What the Yankees plan to do with them remains to be seen, but Clay Holmes has had an outstanding season thus far.
Despite a few hiccups, Holmes has 17 saves and an ERA of 1.37 in 27 games. Holmes has been able to get out of most of his bad situations and get the win for the Yankees. It’s thanks to him and the rest of the Yankees roster the New York Yankees currently hold the best record in baseball and it looks like there’s no slowing them down.
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