So the Yankees went out to Flushing, for 2 games against The Other Team. On Tuesday night, they got back-to-back home runs from Aaron Judge and Anthony Rizzo in the 1st inning. Last night, they got a home run from Gleyber Torres in the 8th inning. Between that, they had 69 men come to the plate, and scored exactly one run.
You can't do that, and expect to win.
Look, I don't care if Max Scherzer, a future Hall-of-Famer, is on the mound. And I don't care if Giancarlo Stanton is on the Injured List. Even with injuries, the New York Yankees should have enough offense on their active roster to beat Walter Johnson or Randy Johnson. Bob Feller or Bob Gibson. Sandy Koufax or Jacob deGrom. They should have enough offense to beat any pitcher, in any ballpark, at any time.
But they don't. And that is on general manager Brian Cashman.
Domingo Germán didn't have a good start, not getting out of the 5th inning. But after Torres' homer, it was Wandy Peralta who blew it in the 9th, allowing a double by Eduardo Escobar, a sacrifice bunt by Tom
Mets 3, Yankees 2. WP: Seth Lugo (2-2). No save. LP: Peralta (2-3). Over 2 games, the Yankees 0-for-15 with runners in scoring position over the two games in Queens. That is a disgrace, even before you consider it was against the Mets.
However, Cashman did his job today -- or, at least, made the effort. He sent 3 pitching prospects to the Kansas City Royals in exchange for Andrew Benintendi. You don't need to know their names: They were never going to do anything for the Yankees, anyway. Whether they do anything for any other team doesn't matter: Cashman and his flunkies would have found a way to screw them up.
Benintendi just turned 28. He's a native of Cincinnati, and grew up in its suburbs. In 2015, at the University of Arkansas, he won the Dick Howser Trophy, baseball's Heisman, as national player of the year. He helped the Boston Red Sox win * the 2018 World Series. Last year, with the Royals, he won his 1st Gold Glove. He just played in his 1st All-Star Game.
He's a career .280 hitter, but, this season, he's batting .320 with a 123 OPS+. Kauffman Stadium and the Royals' difficulties with getting men on base in front of him has kept his power numbers down: He's only got 3 home runs and 39 RBIs. But he's hit 13 or more homers, and 68 or more RBIs, 4 times each, peaking at at 20 homers and 90 RBIs with Boston in 2017. With the Yankees' lineup and the short porch in right field, he should have much better RBI chances than he had as a Royal.
Certainly, there will be no more excuse to put Joey Gallo in left field, and Benintendi would be a much better choice for the 2nd spot in the batting order, allowing Judge to finally be put in the 4th spot, where he belongs -- or, at least, in the 3rd spot when Stanton comes back, and he would then be in the 4th spot.
Whether Benentendi turns out to be part of the solution or not, this is exactly the style I want to see from the Yankees: As the 1970s Washington Redskins football coach George Allen, a friend of then-Yankee owner George Steinbrenner, would put it, "The future is now." Or, to quote his contemporary, Hank Stram, "Yesterday is a cancelled check, today is cash on hand, tomorrow is a promissory note." In other words, win now, and worry about the future later. It's worked for the Yankees so many times before.
The Yankees come home, and the Royals are the Yankees' next opponent, so Benintendi is already here. Tonight, Jameson Taillon starts against Brady Singer.
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