Aaron Judge Can't Save The Last-Place New York Yankees By Himself
The New York Yankees are realizing the hard truth that one player cannot suddenly make everything better.
After being out with a toe injury for nearly two months, Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge returned to the lineup on Friday night. And despite getting on base three times (via walks) it still wasn't enough as the Yankees would end up losing in the the end to the first place Baltimore Orioles 1-0.
And therein lies the problem.
AARON JUDGE NEEDS SUPPORT FROM HIS TEAM MATES
For months now I have had to hear other Yankees fans, as well as the Yankees front office, use Judge's absence as the reason why they have fallen to LAST PLACE in the American League East. Shockingly, I am the one that is the most level-headed. This isn't the NBA. It's not like Judge can be LeBron James and just single-handedly dominate and push the team to be World Series contenders. For as good as Judge is, it goes beyond him and true Yankees fans can only hope that General Manager Brian Cashman and owner Hal Steinbrenner realize just how bad things are.
There's no doubt that Aaron Judge is great. Just a year ago he set the all-time American League single season home run record at 62. That doesn't "just happen," out of nowhere. But to think that he is the end-all, be-all for the team is just foolish. It's setting yourself up for disappointment. It's almost insulting.
However, when you squander Judge getting on base three times in a game by not even being able to score ONE single run... that's not great everybody. Oh, and let's not forget that you blew an absolute brilliant pitching performance by Gerrit Cole who pitched 7 innings of shutout ball. Should the Yankees lose a Wild Card spot by one game in the end? You can absolutely be sure they will point to this must-win game as a blown opportunity when every single win matters.
AARON JUDGE INJURED HIS TOE IN EARLY JUNE
Much like the Mets, the Yankees find themselves in an embarrassing situation. It was not supposed to be like this for the Bronx Bombers and their $260+ million contract. Unfortunately for Cashman and the rest of the Yankees decision makers, they are going to have to actually make decisions on what's next for the organization, cause as the kids say "This aint it."
I don't care if Aaron Judge was a reincarnated Babe Ruth, he can't do it all by himself, especially not when he's surrounded with players that have stats like these. . Giancarlo Stanton is hitting .196. Anthony Rizzo re-signed with the team this past offseason only to not have a home run for months while hitting a dismal .246. And don't even get me started with DJ LeMahieu and his .234 average or Josh Donaldson's .142 batting average. It's simply unacceptable.
To make matters worst, with Judge as the only consistently solid player on the roster right now, opposing managers aren't fools. They could simply (intentionally or unintentional) walk him, something I've argued that Shohei Ohtani is eventually going to see.
With last night's 1-0 loss to the AL East leading Baltimore Orioles, the Yankees now find themselves 9 games behind them for first place as well as 3.5 games out of the Wild Card. If the team plans on turning things around, at the very least they need to bring in some players that can help support Judge in some fashion. Otherwise, they may soon find themselves heading the direction of the Mets.