The Yankees have lost their bite.
Famous rival Pedro Martinez said the 2023 Yankees have gone from top dog to a bunch of yappers.
“It’s unbelievable. It’s hard to watch the Yankees go that way,” Martinez said on TBS after the Yankees’ 5-0 loss to the Braves. “I remember watching the Yankees early in the season and when they were going well, they looked so confident. It was like watching a bulldog beat up on a chihuahua when they were playing those teams. Now, they look like the chihuahuas to any other team, especially a good team like the Atlanta Braves. It looks like no match.”
While it may be insulting for chihuahuas to be compared to this lifeless Yankees team, Martinez certainly has a point.
The Yankees are now a .500 team (60-60) with a three percent chance of making the playoffs, according to Fangraphs. The same playoffs that 40 percent of each league makes each season.
They are just 24-35 since reaching their season-high mark of 11 games above .500 on June 4, which coincides with when Aaron Judge suffered a toe injury that sidelined him for almost two months.
With Tuesday’s defeat clinching another series loss, the Yankees are now 1-9-3 in series dating back to the start of July.
The lone series win coming against a Royals team is a 39-82 rebuilding disaster.
“I don’t know what it is, if it’s a confidence matter they have in that clubhouse, is it a character matter they have,” Martinez said. “Man, they shouldn’t look this vulnerable.”
These last two nights have shown just how far the Yankees have fallen behind baseball’s elite class. The Braves have simply outclassed them, outsourcing the Yankees by a 16-3 margin in their two wins.
The Yankees actually mustered more errors (two) than hits (one) in Tuesday’s loss.
The lineup packs all the bite of a toothless canine, and the rotation is essentially a one-man show in Gerrit Cole. Tuesday’s starter, Luis Severino, is now 2-8 with a 7.98 ERA after suffering the loss.
The bullpen can be good but also can implode at inopportune times, like Sunday’s 8-7 loss to the Marlins.
Add in sloppy play in the field, especially on the bases, and it’s not hard to see why these Yankees will be spending their offseason in the dog pound.
“(Tuesday), they didn’t play the cleanest game,” Martinez said. “They didn’t pitch the way they should have even though Severino looked like he was sharp, he just used his pitches the wrong way.”
Read more
