What If the New York Yankees’ Offense Doesn’t Revert to Form?
May 30, 2012 · Harold Friend · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
With 15 home runs, Curtis Granderson is the only New York Yankees player in double figures after 49 games. Nick Swisher, of all people, leads the team with 31 RBIs.
The Yankees’ offense is not what it used to be. If it doesn’t revert to form, there will not be much October baseball in the Bronx. What is upsetting is that this might be the new offense.
Before he joined the Yankees in 2009, Mark Teixeira batted .290/.378/.541, averaging 37 home runs over a 162-game season. Projecting his 2012 season and acknowledging that he has improved the last few games, Teixeira is on pace to bat .263/.328/.486 with about 30 home runs.
Robinson Cano was hot for a short period of time recently. He is now hitting .287/.343/.487 and is on a pace for about 25 home runs. Cano has walked 17 times.
Over his career, Cano has averaged 35 walks a season, which means he already has one-half his career average of walks in one-third of a season.
The reason is not that Cano is more selective or less aggressive. Opposing pitchers are not giving him too much to hit because the other hitters are not producing as they have in the past.
Alex Rodriguez may be an insoluble problem as time passes.
He is batting .287/.372/.431 and is on a pace to hit about 25 home runs. It is disturbing that A-Rod has only four more walks than Cano and the same number of home runs.
Rodriguez has driven in only 19 runs. The Yankees cannot win if Alex Rodriguez finishes with 65 RBIs. What is more disturbing is his .431 slugging percentage. Only Russell Martin’s, among the regulars, is worse.
When A-Rod was with the Texas Rangers, he averaged 53 home runs over a 162-game season. He slugged .615. Compare those numbers to A-Rod’s 2012.
Russell Martin is the worst offender. He is batting .190/.333/.339 with four home runs and 12 RBIs. Even Jake Gibbs used to provide more offense behind the plate.
In his last season with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Martin was injured and had a poor season. He batted .248/.347/.332 with five home runs in 387 plate appearances. He is on pace to replicate that terrible season.
The point of all this is that this season the Yankees must rely more on offense than in past years. They are scoring 4.61 runs a game, which is fifth best in the league. In 2011, they scored 5.35 runs a game. That is a tremendous decrease that puts more pressure on the pitching staff.
And that’s the rub.
In 2011, the Yankees led the league with a 118 ERA+. This season, the Yankees have a 105 ERA+, which is sixth best and too close to average for comfort.
Cano should pick up his production a little bit, which is all he must to do reach his usual levels.
Are Teixeira, A-Rod and Martin simply having off-seasons together or are they reaching a decline that will reflect the rest of their careers?
No matter what the answers are about Teixeira, Rodriguez and Martin, their poor seasons cannot continue or else October will be a poor month for the Yankees.
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