3 Reasons Not to Panic About Yankees After Subway Series Sweep

The New York Yankees were the hottest team in baseball, becoming the first MLB team to reach 50 wins in mid-June. Then they stalled and have struggled to put up wins ever since.

A lot has gone wrong for the Yankees in the past two weeks. Anthony Rizzo and Giancarlo Stanton hit the injured list. Jasson Dominguez landed back on the IL, preventing him from getting called up in Stanton’s absence.

The lineup, aside from the top three, hasn’t been producing. The bullpen has struggled. The starting pitching has faltered in recent starts.

These struggles were on full display in the Subway Series sweep the New York Mets just completed over the Yankees. While the Yankees pulled within two runs on Tuesday night thanks to an Aaron Judge grand slam, Wednesday night was brutal.

The Mets crushed the Yankees 12-2 in the second game of the series. It was a series full of strikeouts and grounding into double plays. No one besides Anthony Volpe, Juan Soto, and Judge is getting the job done.

Despite the struggles in their past ten games, the Yankees are still in first place in the A.L. East, largely due to the Baltimore Orioles cooling off recently, too.

The Yankees have some areas to address, but they can pull out of this rut and get back to playing exciting baseball. Here are three reasons not to panic about the Yankees.

3. Good Teams Go Through Bad Stretches

Good teams go through tough times and it doesn’t mean they won’t pull through. A couple of players in the lineup can get hot again, the pitching rotation can put up some solid starts, and all of a sudden, the Yankees will look like a playoff-caliber team again. Several players in the lineup are underperforming right now, and that can change.

The Yankees need players hitting 4-9 in the lineup to contribute. Judge is still hitting home runs, but the truth is, the Yankees' lineup without Stanton isn’t giving teams a reason to pitch to Soto and Judge. If players down the lineup start hitting, Soto and Judge will see more pitches and have more opportunities to do their thing.

Alex Verdugo is due to come out of his slump. DJ LeMahieu won't return to batting champion form at his age, but he can’t be this bad forever, right? Aaron Boone is giving Gleyber Torres a few days to reset.

Ben Rice should see more playing time to show what he can do. Oswaldo Cabrera has struggled at the plate, but he can be streaky, and perhaps another hot steak is coming. The hope is that these players can start contributing more and help the team pull out of this funk.

2. Quality Starts Are Ahead

The Yankees' pitching rotation was electric early in the 2024 season. Lately, though, there have been several blips. Following dominance in May and part of June, Luis Gil’s past few starts have been worrisome.

His ERA for May was .70. His ERA for June is 6.45. Gil has potential, and there’s optimism that he can settle down.

Gerrit Cole had one decent start and one awful one since returning from the IL. His velocity was down in the start against the Mets, but that’s not cause for panic. Physically, he is still in spring training mode. Don’t worry about Cole. He will get stronger with a few more starts.

Marcus Stroman was phenomenal in May and has struggled in June. Carlos Rodon has had a rough June. Nestor Cortes has had some good starts lately. Clarke Schmidt was having an excellent season until he went on the injured list.

What’s happened to the Yankees rotation is that, unfortunately, most of them are struggling at the same time. In turn, that places more weight on the thin bullpen. These starting pitchers are all capable of pulling out of tough times. Better days should be ahead in July.

1. A Month Until Trade Deadline

Brian Cashman knew that Stanton would get injured. He even said so. Now that it’s happened, there’s a hole in the lineup. Frankly, the lineup doesn’t look as scary without Stanton, with Rizzo (who has had a bad season) injured, Torres having an awful season, and LeMahieu sharply declining.

The Yankees need to make trades if they’re going to contend in the playoffs. Areas of concern include catcher, first base, second base, third base, and the bullpen. Considering the majority of the infield is a concern, there’s a lot to address. The hope is that some of those positions will be worked out with what the Yankees already have.

With the trade deadline a month away, there’s still time for Cashman to make moves. He knows what needs to be done. Will he be able to address every single concern? Probably not. But a big move could make all the difference.

Moves need to be made if this team is going to have a chance to go all the way, and there's still time for that to happen.

With everything that’s gone wrong lately, there’s reason for concern about the Yankees. But don’t go into full-on panic mode. Things might look bleak now, but it’s only a matter of time before the tides turn.

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This article was originally published on empirewritesback.com as 3 Reasons Not to Panic About Yankees After Subway Series Sweep.