thebenchblogger

[thebenchblogger]

Bad News Bombers

           Warning to all Yankee fans, these next couple of mediocre paragraphs from a slightly overweight, amateur Yankee’s writer are going to sting. So, here… we… go…This team STINKS! Plain, old, and simple. Nothing more, nothing less then the adjective STINK. I cannot take it. Watching a Yankee game is less entertaining then watching that shit show of a boxing match between Jake Paul and Ben Askren. I would rather see my grandmother knit a fucking sweater in slow motion then watch these guys play baseball right now. In all seriousness let me break down what I have been seeing starting and ending with hitting. I could dive into other areas that the Yankees are struggling in, but we would be here for a decade.

           Yankees have been known for there bats over the past couple of years. The Bronx Bombers have lived up to their names, as they hit more Home Runs per game (1.66) last year then any other team in the league besides the Dodgers (1.90). The Yankees also broke the record for most home runs in a season in 2018 with 267, which they then broke again in 2019 with 306 (Twins in that same season hit 307, hey Twins… get outta here!). A crazier stat is that the Yankees have been top 3 in Runs, RBI’s and Home Runs every year since 2017! The men in pinstripes are known for their bats, but where have they gone? The Home Runs GONE, the Runs GONE, the RBIs GONE. We are only 18 games in the marathon that is the MLB season, however, the Yankees (before they beat the Indians yesterday) are sitting 25th in Runs per game, 15th in Home Runs per game, 25th in RBIs per game, our Slugging percentage is tied for the worst in baseball at .346, we rank 26th in AVG at .210…. 2 fucking 10!! I was watching the Yankees this past Wednesday on ESPN, and Buster Olney said something that had me really concerned for the bombers, he said “Last time the Yankees had an average this low was in 1968 when they hit .188”. These all-time lows are concerning. This team has been nothing short of a disaster at the plate.

           With all this terrible shit going on, I do see potential long term. Within the next two weeks we gain back the Home Run champ from last year in Luke Voit, a huge piece of this lineup. We now know for sure that the 1,000-year-old Jay Bruce is retired and leaving the sport of baseball, no disrespect Jay you had a great career, but you could’ve done us a solid and ended it last year. Mike Ford: a solid lefty pull hitter with some serious power, has been the man called up to replace him until Voit gets back. At the end of the day, none of our guys are hitting. Judge, Stanton, Torres, Hicks are all hitting for low averages and not even getting on base as well. The only guy that seems to have a pulse is DJ, but he seems to not look like himself as well. With this big come from behind win against Cleveland will see if the Yankees can use that momentum to turn it around. We shall see where the next months take us, but one thing is for sure the bats must wake up for this team to succeed.

[thebenchblogger]

The Yankees are DECENT

The Yankees are DECENT.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

             You heard it here people, THE GREAT ALMIGHTY YANKEES ARE SIMPLY DECENT. Now, rest assured this team can hit with any damn team in the show, but, and this is a big but; no pun intended, the Yankees pitching is below average at best. After Gerrit Cole the Yankees look like a washed up set of high schoolers who now play beer ball every Sunday morning, right after they smoke a fatty in the woods with their neighborhood homeless guy. This is coming from a lifelong Yankee fan who’s dream it is to see the Yankees back on top. Unfortunately, I don’t think that comes this season, unless we make a massive trade and Severino comes back in the summer and deals like he once did.  

           It is the beginning of the season, but the team seems way too inconsistent for my liking. It seems like either half of this lineup is hot, and the other half is cold. Oh ya, don’t even get me started on the fielding issues. Nah I’m fucking with you, lets talk about the misery. GLEYBER wake the hell up. The fielding is not all on Gleyber, great example is our 1,000 year old first baseman Jay Bruce, who looks like he needs to hang up the cleats, grab a beer and grill up some dogs for the fam. I mean c’mon where the hell is Mike Ford. Any who, back to my guy Gleyber. This man looks lost at sea sometimes. Listen, Gleyber is my age, handsome young fella and can shoot the ball to all fields, but he; just like most Yankees on this roster, is inconsistent. His fielding is below average and needs serious repair, he needs to shorten his swing especially on 2 strike counts and he needs to RELAX! Gleyber is high key stressed, as the young kids would say. You can see with his swings and in the field, a part of me feels for him, another part is very frustrated as a Yankee fan. Frustrated because he has so much potential and is such a good overall player and yet he can’t seem to stay consistent. His numbers have fallen drastically since his first two seasons in the league. I remember watching this kid in 2018 and thinking wow this fucking guy is 20 years old and hitting homers in Yankee stadium, I’m the same age and pounding a sixer of natty lights and smoking my Juul in my dorm room, thinking about how I am going to write six papers in 7 days to graduate, shoutout SUNY Oswego you were great to me. Anyway, we are 12 games in, which again is nothing in the 162-game marathon that is a baseball season, but Gleyber is batting .220 and has struck out 12 out of his 41 at bats, which is a little under 30 percent of the time. That’s way too much. Gleyber will be okay, but is okay enough? The Yankees have invested a lot into him and a .250 average wont due. I for one believe in Gleyber, I know that is hard to believe after I just trashed him, but I really do. This kid is a good ball player, he has a high IQ, he has got great power for a second basemen now turned shortstop, he can move nicely to both sides in the field, and he is young. Let me know what you guys think in the comments will Gleyber be a solid player for the Yankees long term, or will he be a bust?