The thing about chasing an object is that if it matches your speed, there is really nothing you can do. The New York Yankees learned this hard lesson down the stretch when any goals they had of running down the Rays to at least make it a competitive fight down the stretch fell flat — not because the Yankees underwhelmed in the final month of the season. In fact, one could hardly ask for more out of this team given the obstacles it had to face as the Rays left nothing to chance. Despite winning 15
of 23 games in September, the Yankees couldn’t gain a game on the Rays, who won 16 of 24 to wrap up their season.
What looked like the likeliest scenario for quite some time now, given the state of the other two divisions in the American League, has come to pass. The Yankees, who are the second-best team in the AL, will have to go through the most difficult of schedules to make it out of their league for the second time in the past three seasons. A three-game Wild Card round against the feisty Boston Red Sox and all the potential pitfalls a short series can bring await—one with a feeling of déjà vu, happening for the second straight season. Then, if they make it out, it’s a date with the Rays while the AL Central and AL West clubs battle it out on the inferior side of the bracket.
It hasn’t been the smoothest ride to get to this point, and based on how Brian Cashman has polled all year long, it’s safe to say expectations were not met — even if there are obvious caveats beyond his control as to why the Yankees are exactly where they are. Early in the season, when Cashman polled at 41 percent, the Yankees were battling with the Rays for the AL East title — but if you polled most fans, you would’ve been hard-pressed to find many who bought the Rays as a 99-win team. Frankly, there are probably those who, even now, don’t buy them at that level even now, but that’s an entirely separate conversation to have in the analysis of the gap between these two clubs, particularly at full strength. Cashman’s approval rating nosedived as did the Yankees’ chances of winning this division, partially due to questionable moves but overwhelmingly due to absences that all the money in the world couldn’t plan for.
For three months between June and August, the Yankees put up a wRC+ below league average, clearly struggling in the absence of the best hitter in the sport. The deadline acquisition of Luis Garcia Jr. in particular gave the offense a boost as he delivered an .842 OPS in August — even that wasn’t enough to take the team’s line over 100, coming in with a 96 wRC+ for the month.
In September, though, the offense came through with a 104 wRC+ that may not seem like much, but with this team’s rotation, it’s how you go about winning 15 of 23 games. All of this after starting off the month with the bad news of yet another Trent Grisham hamstring injury, this one keeping him out for the rest of the regular season. Spencer Jones continues to defy the laws of what can be described as sensible production coming with obscene strikeout rates, with a 110 wRC+ on the month despite a strikeout rate above 38 percent.
While Aaron Judge’s brief return before getting injured again helps, this September improvement boils down primarily to the work of Ben Rice, who, after a disappointing summer — given the high bar he set for himself — came alive in a big way. Still, if you’re wondering about the changes in impact from Rice with and without a fully stocked lineup, the Yankees first baseman delivered 21 RBI with seven homers in 24 games in May. The same Rice then hit six homers in 22 games this past month and only drove in 11. Those 11 RBI did not lead the team, with the distinction left to George Lombard Jr., who drove in 16 with five homers, providing more power than he had in the previous month. Back to the deadline acquisitions, though, as Garcia cooled off, Heliot Ramos finally showed up, proving a worthy presence in the lineup, specifically against left-handed pitchers.
It was business as usual for this ultra-talented staff, with Cam Schlittler wrapping up a likely Cy Young campaign with yet another sub-2.00 ERA month. Carlos Rodón was nearly as dominant as Schlittler, with both kind of showing up Max Fried, who had a solid September, and, lastly, Will Warren impressing; the only one who had more than his fair share of issues was Gerrit Cole. But looking forward to the Wild Card round in which he’ll start the third game, if needed, Cole impressed in his final regular-season start against the Rays.
About the Wild Card round, the Yankees already announced their starters versus Boston, with Schlittler going in game 1, followed by Fried and lastly Cole. While Boston hasn’t officially announced their starters, expectations are that Sonny Gray, the AL leader in wins this season with 18, will take the ball for Game 1 and likely be followed by left-hander Payton Tolle.
When it comes to transactions, not a lot stood out. With a plethora of utility options, the Yankees chose to designate Oswaldo Cabrera for assignment when they had to open up a 40-man spot for Clarke Schmidt. Cabrera was picked up by the Reds and was one of two players to leave the Yankees this month, alongside righty Chase Hampton — picked up by the Nats (and recently discarded) after being DFA’d early in the month. Hampton didn’t appear in the bigs for the Yankees.
It’s a simple yet loaded question whether you approve of Cashman’s job in September, depending on how much emphasis you want to give to certain merits and demerits in how the Yankees have been managed this season. In many ways, the déjà vu doesn’t come strictly from a playoff series against the Red Sox. It’s more so from yet another second-place finish in the AL East against a team widely regarded as inferior to the Yankees before the start of the season.
So with the regular season officially over and the playoffs immediately ahead, do you approve of Brian Cashman? As always, there’s a lot to factor into a “yes” or a “no,” and you might feel like your answer is more of a soft “yes” or “no” than a stamp of approval or a sharp rebuke. However, the binary question is the best way to get a direct read on fans’ thoughts.
Vote in the poll below and let us know! We’ll revisit the results at the end of October.
Note: This is the same poll that is currently appearing on the Feed, so if you’ve voted there, that should already be counted.
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