SU knows attendance in MLB is way up this year. Hey, the Yankees continued to draw more than 3 million fans this year for a team that was unwatchable for most of the season. My take is that those tickets were purchased in April, and fans were stuck with them.

The games are faster: good. More steals: good. No more shifts: good. SU is not a major stats guy – I go by feel. I look at batting average, on base percentage and batting average with runners in scoring position (RISP) – which of course YES Network never shows as the numbers are so dismal. For fun this morning, I decided to look up the Yankees’ averages with RISP this year. I can tell that I am truly a dinosaur because it was impossible to find the stats. Apparently, hitting with RISP is no longer a valued stat for the analytics crowd. I am not sure batting average is anymore either.

Here is what SU believes:

1. From when I was a kid, .260 was the threshold for a good batting average. Guy hits .250? .240? That sucks. And the “Mendoza Line” named after Mario Mendoza was .200 and below that was truly an embarrassment.
2. I can remember when Yankee hitters in the modern era hit .300. Derek Jeter did it almost every year. Where did the .300 hitters go?
3. Michael Kay said the other night what a great year Gleyber Torres had for the Yankees. He hit .273 with 25 homeruns and 68 rbis. I suppose among 2nd basemen that is very good but I don’t know. Are they going to pay him $25 million a year now for a new long-term deal? He came to play every day but man, do you ever watch him run out ground balls? You could time him with a sun dial. But that’s OK because it’s a long season and you can’t expect a better to run hard 4 times a game? Sorry, does not cut it for SU. Gleyber is a good guy but SU feels like he is their best trade chip and time to exercise that this off season.
4. 100 rbis is a big year. Not 70 and not 80 – at least not for a full-time player. I don’t blame all the Yankee hitters this year for their feeble RBI totals as they had no hitters after the #4 spot in the line up. No one on base most of the time.
5. No-one who hits .200 or .210 had a “good” year. Anthony Volpe was brought up a year too soon but he competed and this year will help him over the long term in his career. He hit .209. He is a good fielder, he’s fast and has big upside. SU has no complaints but let’s not go crazy just yet.

Bottom line: does SU need to recalibrate? Clearly, I am looking at the wrong things when it comes to statistics.

Aaron Judge has been quietly speaking out of late about his feelings re Boone, Cashman, the whole team approach going down to the minor leagues. Will Hal Steinbrenner pay attention? Should he? Judge is under contract until he is in his early 40s. SU likes that he cares but fans should not think that Hal will be making decisions based on his input. No doubt Hal feels he overpaid for Judge and while he is the face of the franchise, he relies on others’ advice.

SU predicts no change at the manager or GM/President of Baseball Operations for the Yankees. But he will insist that the Analytics guys start to preach hitting for average and stop the launch angle stuff where hitters can’t touch 95 mph+ fastballs. And stop with the all right-handed lineups. Gone forever. And stop with the Josh Donaldson trades. For those keeping score at home, his average with RISP in 2023 was .074. And stop anticipating the “bounce back” years. Will Stanton be better in 2024? Of course he will but he won’t stay healthy – no way do you count on that.

The Yankees made me not care in 2023. I never thought that could ever happen. Diehard fan forever. But the players played like they didn’t care so why should I? It was painful watching the youngsters hit .150 or .200 in September but I can live with that in the hope of better times ahead. This will be a multi-year fix – could be no playoffs for a couple of years but at least be entertaining and show that you care. Happy to start there.