{"id":136413,"date":"2025-08-11T07:52:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T07:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/136413\/"},"modified":"2025-08-11T07:52:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T07:52:13","slug":"the-yankees-wholeheartedly-believe-they-can-turn-their-season-around-do-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/136413\/","title":{"rendered":"The Yankees \u2018wholeheartedly believe\u2019 they can turn their season around. Do you?"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2014 The few fans who remained until the very last out in Sunday\u2019s lifeless 7-1 loss booed the New York Yankees. A few fans wore brown paper bags<\/a> over their heads, not wanting to be associated with the product the Yankees are putting out daily.<\/p>\n

The Yankees haven\u2019t sunk to New York Jets-level futility just yet, but they continue to ignore the harsh reality that\u2019s been staring them in the face for more than two months. They have been a bad and confounding baseball team.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s bizarre. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said last week that this might be the best club he\u2019s had since taking over for Joe Girardi in 2018. The talent is obvious, but for some reason, the puzzle pieces are a bit too big and don\u2019t fit seamlessly.<\/p>\n

The Yankees are 44-43 since May 1, 27-34 since June 1, 14-20 since July 1 and 2-7 since Aug. 1. Despite their mediocrity, they currently hold the third wild-card spot in the American League, just a half game ahead of the Cleveland Guardians.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wholeheartedly believe that we are going to get rolling and turn this thing around,\u201d Boone said. \u201cAnd when it does, then you really start to build that next layer of confidence where guys are kind of feeding off each other. But it\u2019s all just talk right now. But that\u2019s how I feel about it. We got to go do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Relying on vibes hasn\u2019t worked for the Yankees this season. Maybe it\u2019ll change in the next eight games against the Minnesota Twins, St. Louis Cardinals and the Tampa Bay Rays, three non-contending teams. But the Yankees have provided plenty of reasons for their fan base to believe they\u2019ll drop winnable games.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe game is littered with dead and buried teams,\u201d Boone said. \u201cWe\u2019re in playoff position right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t been good enough the last two months. This is different than \u201923 where I didn\u2019t think we were necessarily capable of that run that we needed to really get hot. We were out of it at that point. This is different. We\u2019re in a position right now where we\u2019re in control of things. We\u2019re in a playoff spot technically. I believe we have the people to get it done. We got to play consistent baseball, period.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Yankees manager Aaron Boone was ejected in the third inning Sunday for arguing balls and strikes. (Wendell Cruz \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

The Yankees still have an 80.7 percent chance of making the playoffs, according to FanGraphs\u2019 projections. But with their current state of the franchise, it\u2019s fair to wonder if it even matters. They\u2019ve been drawing dead for months, and there\u2019s not much inspiring play to assume this team can go on a deep October run.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not doing the little things that put ourselves in a good position to win baseball games,\u201d Aaron Judge said after Sunday\u2019s deflating defeat to the Houston Astros. \u201cIt\u2019s going to take everybody in this room, from every reliever, infielder and outfielder. We just got to step up. I wouldn\u2019t say the confidence has changed. We got a lot of confident guys. We got to focus on what we can control and go out there and do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here are two more key takeaways on the Yankees:<\/p>\n

The Yankees need more from Max Fried\"\"<\/p>\n

Max Fried has a 6.00 ERA over his past seven starts. (Al Bello \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

If this is what the Yankees can expect out of Max Fried for the rest of the season, October vacation plans can be booked soon.<\/p>\n

Fried was brilliant in his first 17 starts after signing an eight-year, $218 million contract in the offseason, posting a 1.92 ERA. But in his past seven starts, Fried has allowed 24 runs and has a 6.00 ERA. That stretch includes four starts since returning from a healed blister, a minor injury that Fried and Boone say isn\u2019t affecting him.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou go through spells sometimes, but to be honest, I just have to be better,\u201d Fried said. \u201cI just got to be better at locating, being able to get more groundballs, and I haven\u2019t been able to do that. It\u2019s something I need to dive into and see what adjustments I can make.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the Yankees make the playoffs, they will be in a precarious position if their ace can\u2019t return to his early season form. The rest of the rotation has too many question marks; Fried cannot be one, too.<\/p>\n

One issue that is always going to\u00a0exist with Fried is that his profile invites variance. He is a pitch-to-contact starter who isn\u2019t elite at missing bats. When his walk rate is elevated, which it has been over the past seven starts, opposing teams may cash in if they\u2019re putting the ball in play. That\u2019s what\u2019s happened.<\/p>\n

Once Fried finds his command again, he should get back to being a front-line starter. Until then, there will likely be more outings like Sunday, when he got through only five innings after allowing eight hits, hitting two batters and walking one.<\/p>\n

Bad luck for trade deadline additions\"\"<\/p>\n

Amed Rosario, pictured making a catch Friday, was placed on the injured list. He is expected to miss 10 days. (Vincent Carchietta \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

The Yankees brought in seven new players ahead of the trade deadline, and three of them are not on the active roster.<\/p>\n

Jake Bird was optioned to Triple A after a couple of poor outings in Miami and Texas. Austin Slater was placed on the injured list with a strained left hamstring, and he\u2019s expected to miss four to six weeks. And now Amed Rosario (left SC joint sprain) is also on the IL with a shoulder injury after crashing into the right-field wall during Friday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

Rosario told reporters before Sunday\u2019s game that he\u2019s expecting to miss the minimum 10 days before returning. In his place, the Yankees recalled catcher J.C. Escarra to give them a left-handed bat option off the bench.<\/p>\n

The Yankees dramatically improved their depth over the past few weeks, but these injuries have dented it. They could not call up an outfielder to replace Rosario because they don\u2019t have any on the 40-man roster who are not already on the 26-man roster.<\/p>\n

The Yankees used Giancarlo Stanton as a pinch hitter for Jasson Dom\u00ednguez in Sunday\u2019s game, but Boone didn\u2019t call for a pinch runner after Stanton reached first base. Instead, he played right field for the final three innings. That\u2019s because Jos\u00e9 Caballero, who would have been the pinch runner for Stanton, is currently the backup infielder. He can play right field, but then the Yankees would be in a predicament if a middle infielder got hurt.<\/p>\n

Rosario\u2019s injury isn\u2019t the biggest deal, especially if he does in fact miss just 10 days, but their depth is being tested.<\/p>\n

(Top photo of Aaron Judge: Wendell Cruz \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 The few fans who remained until the very last out in Sunday\u2019s lifeless 7-1 loss…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":136414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[1266,2228,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-136413","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-mlb","9":"tag-new-york-yankees","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115009050920152556","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}