The Yankees are hitting their stride at a crucial point of the season, cutting the deficit in the AL East race to just three games after sweeping Baltimore and taking two of three from Toronto. The offense that was so stagnant for much of the summer has been rejuvenated of late, thanks to a combo of players who have struggled all year starting to wake up and recent callups earning their place in the lineup. Austin Wells may have been a black hole through the first half, but since July he’s managed
to find himself at the plate and it’s made a huge difference once coupled with George Lombard Jr.‘s arrival and Spencer Jones’ latest stint on the team. Throw in Jazz Chisholm Jr. running into a few home runs and Ben Rice starting to come out of a lengthy slump, and the team finally doesn’t feel like the pitching staff giving up multiple runs dooms them. Add in Cody Bellinger returning, and they just might even be able to slug their way into some wins instead of making due with a handful of offense.
On the other hand, their dominant staff has hit a couple of road bumps in the health department. Both Max Fried and Ryan Weathers hit the IL this week, and though the former is expected to be back as soon as his 15-day stint is up while the latter is still expected to be back before the end of the year that’s still a significant blow to the rotation depth all of a sudden. What do the Yankees do in the interim with their open rotation slot, and can the Triple-A depth step up when they need them most? Is the faith in the offense about to be rewarded with a hot streak to close out the year? If you have questions like these, or anything else on your mind, send ‘em in for a chance to be featured in our Yankees mailbag.
Answers will run on Friday afternoon. All questions received by the night of August 27th will be considered. You can leave your submissions in the comment section below or by e-mail to pinstripealleyblog [at] gmail [dot] com.
