New York Yankees Making Statement Without Jeter
A surging Yankees offense makes up for organizational imperfections many viewed to be “stoppers” this year. However, instead of sitting behind the A.L East pack, the Yankees have learned to reinvent their offense without former captain Derek Jeter — or much pitching to speak of. This season has definitely been interesting, but if these middle aged hitters continue to torment opposing pitchers, an October date with an NL team is realistic.
Putting up 90 runs over 10 games, the Yankees of old have returned. With several key series remaining between divisional foes and playoff contenders with more athletic lineups, manager Joe Girardi knows the offensive outbursts will subside soon enough. Facing the Red Sox on Tuesday was like taking batting practice against t-ball players, putting up 13 runs against hapless rookie starter Henry Owens and relievers. This is the same Yankees team who, despite showing interest in Craig Kimbrel and several bats during the trade deadline, stood pat. Call it faith in their core lineup, or simply too expensive for their tastes, the Yanks decided to stand pat with no ill effects thus far.
Derek Jeter was their leader for years. He provided leadership to rooks like Mark Teixeira, played alongside Bernie Williams and Mariano Rivera, and will arguably go down as the MLB’s “gentleman player.” Taking over the leadership role, depending on what angle you see it, would be Teixeira or Carlos Beltran. Or both. Whoever it is, they’ve contributed to a rejuvenated Yankees team that’s 11-5 since the All-Star break, and 6-3 against the once perennial powerhouse, the Red Sox.
Should the Yankees — a team in desperate need of starting pitching with Pineda down — have stood pat when July 31 rolled around? Many contend they should’ve been aggressive, but with them balking on huge blockbuster deals, it doesn’t appear to have hurt them — yet. Players like Luis Severino, Greg Bird, and Aaron Judge wait in the shadows to contribute to what should be a complete Yankees reboot in the not-too-distant future, the reason Brian Cashman wasn’t eager to strike deals with teams eyeballing these three prospects.
Didi Gregorius, who took over for Captain Jeter, doesn’t have the expectations of infamy that Jeter harbored throughout his career. His averages aren’t too shabby, his fielding is stellar and that’s just fine for the first place Yankees. In fact, Cashman even compared Gregorius’ arm to “a howitzer.”
On Wednesday, Severino will begin his MLB journey on the mound for New York. The prized Yankees pitcher went 7-0 with an unbelievable 1.92 ERA in Triple-A ball, and shouldn’t find containing the Red Sox too difficult. Tough to tell when the rest of New York’s prized young talent will find their way to the bigs, or if the Yankees will make any more moves, but one thing is certain: life beyond Jeter isn’t all too bad.
[Photo by Jim McIsaac / Getty Images Sport]
