The upswing of the past few weeks has turned to a harsh downswing. The Yankees went on a terrible road trip last week, getting swept by the Brewers before losing two of three to both the Orioles and Mets — the first was an understandable blip on the radar, but the latter two are teams the Yankees are probably kicking themselves for not beating. The team also saw Anthony Volpe return from his brief descent into the minors after José Caballero got hurt, and Max Fried went to the IL with an elbow issue
that will leave him on the shelf for an indefinite amount of time. Altogether, it was certainly a contender for the worst week of the season thus far.
On top of all of this, the Yankees have a clear bullpen issue starting to cascade. David Bednar’s habit of getting himself in trouble before converting the save has turned into getting in trouble and blowing the save, as his ERA spiked over five after giving up a game-tying three run shot to the Mets on Sunday. The pieces meant to bridge the gap to him have also been faulty, and at this rate the retooling of the ‘pen that Brian Cashman did at last season’s deadline is going to have to be dwarfed in scale this year. Can the Yankees get a jumpstart on the market, or will the muddied field of contenders prove to make things too difficult? Will the rotation settle down without Fried and with a shaky Carlos Rodón still finding his footing? 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 May 21st will be considered. You can leave your submissions in the comment section below or by e-mail to pinstripealleyblog [at] gmail [dot] com.
