Listening to A-Rod last night during the Yankee – Red Sox game, you would have thought he was lobbying for the Yankees’ managerial job (and who knows? Maybe he was). While he, of course, talks way too much, he was spot on with his comments and one would have thought he was a regular reader of SU. His major points (all of which were repeated 17 times over the course of nearly 4 hours):

1. The Yankees line-up is right-handed dominant. Check.
2. They really, really, really miss Didi Gregorius. Yup.
3. They lead MLB in grounding into double plays. A-Rod made the additional point that right-handed hitters take longer to run to 1st base which only contributes to that total.
4. They don’t do the fundamentals – which he constantly contrasted with the Red Sox who do. No thought given to moving the runners over. Case in point in the 10th inning. The Red Sox sacrificed with 1st and 2nd, no one out. The Yankees also had 1st and 2nd, no one out. Andujar swings away. Doubleplay.
5. The Yankees are last in baseball with 17 stolen bases.
6. Gary Sanchez’s catching position with one knee on the ground makes it hard to block pitches in the dirt which in the late innings and men on 3rd base, is not good.
7. When the opposition scores 5 or more runs against the Yankees this year, they are now 0 – 18. Yikes.

If you watch Aaron Boone’s post-game press conferences, he is about to explode with frustration. SU says he has never been a great in-game manager. No creativity, risk-taking, bold moves. But he wasn’t hired to do that. He is the great communicator. A player’s manager. I mean, he is only playing Stanton 2 games in a row as the DH now. They have an off day today. Did Stanton need to rest 2 days in a row? He rarely reaches 1st anyway – what is going on there? Is he that brittle? He did put him up to pinch hit and ESPN revealed that lifetime, he is 2 for 23 as a pinch hitter with about 13 strikeouts. Of course, he struck out.

Luckily for Boone, there is no likely successor to plug in there. And SU says it’s not his fault. The roster is so flawed. Jeff Passan of ESPN said on the pre-game show that the Yankees are “unathletic.” Ouch. 4th best team in the AL East and now 6.5 games out of 1st place. You can also make the case that they have overachieved this year given that their runs for/against are now in the red numbers (-4). Their pitching has been outstanding. If that falters, man, look out.

The Yankees are never sellers come the trade deadline but this roster is not built to win – either in the regular season or in the playoffs. The AL East and the NL West are the best divisions in baseball. Maybe time to blow it up? Cashman will need to get lucky with the hitters he trades for in July.

SU knows that everyone has their reasons for getting or not getting the vaccine for COVID. I am sure that Jon Rahm does as well. He tested positive on Saturday and had to withdraw from the Memorial Tournament that he was leading by 6 strokes. The PGA TOUR does not publicly state these things but it seems like he wasn’t vaccinated. It does make you wonder. Guess COVID is not real.

The Mets quietly hang on in 1st place in the NL East. Their owner has deep pockets and they can easily add a player or two at the trade deadline. Fun times ahead.