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Stop freaking out about the Yankees in April

I understand it more than anyone — being 5-7 and having lost to the Rays and in a combined three separate series matchups is infuriating. Losing sucks, especially winnable games where the offense falls flat. That being said, it’s way too early to freak out about the Yankees. It’s April 15, 12 games into a 162 game season. Is this winning baseball? No, there are things they have to change. Have there been worse starts to a season for a great team? Yes. Stop making conclusions, judgments, or overreactions 12 games in. It’s a year where we HAVE to win the American League, but don’t forget that the Yankees don’t stop playing in April

Corey Kluber and Jameson Taillon Need Time

Speaking of starters the fanbase wanted that either stayed put or went elsewhere, how have they done? Joe Musgrove and Lance Lynn have done great, but what about the others?

Blake Snell: 4.81 ERA/4.03 SIERA
Luis Castillo: 7.01 ERA/4.03 SIERA
Carlos Carrasco: (Injured)
Charlie Morton: 4.76 ERA/3.16 SIERA
Masahiro Tanaka: (Injured)
James Paxton: (Injured; Out until Summer of 2022)
Kyle Freeland: (Injured)

See where we are getting at here? High-level starters we wanted like Castillo or other traded pieces have struggled out of the gate. So far here are what Taillon and Kluber have done:

Kluber: 6.10 ERA/4.62 SIERA
Taillon: 7.56 ERA/3.51 SIERA

The point of this was to show that in two or three starts, a lot of good pitchers can get roughed up. It’s time to have a little bit of patience with the statistics of players, and not act like everyone’s gotten off to a fast start except for our acquisitions.

Do the Yankees Even Care? Yes.

Whenever someone tells you the problem with a Major League Baseball team 12 games in is that “the team doesn’t care”, it’s most likely nonsense. The best record the Yankees have had since 2017 through 12 games was 9-3, a start they got off to in 2020, the worst Yankee team in winning percentage from 2017-2020.Twelve games into 2020, the Rays were 5-7, and they beat the daylights out of the Yankees all season. Another point is, how do you know whether a team cares or not? Do you work in the organization? Do you see how often they work out or watch film? Don’t judge people you know nothing about, especially in April for a Yankees team that has notoriously had slow starts.

Firing Anyone On the Yankees in April is Stupid

The number of tweets you will see (and will be under this post most likely) about how Brian Cashman should be fired for his bad buys are ridiculous. The “bad buys” that we have a grand total of two weeks to have evaluated. How about the job of skipper Aaron Boone? A job that again, is being called into question because of two weeks of evaluation in 2021. Who replaces Cashman if he’s fired? He’s a top 10 General Manager in the sport, and if you don’t think so, then show me the 10 GMs in baseball who have a ring, and a playoff team year after year? It’s not 1996 anymore. Now everyone’s analytical and can build teams without as much money. The league has WAY more parity, which explains why dynasties are rare and few now.

Will This Team Ever Get It Going?

I don’t have a crystal ball, but most numbers suggest this team is much better than their record so far shows. They have a good offense and they’ve hit the ball at the 7th hardest rate in exit velocity, they just don’t lift the ball enough. It’s a slump, and it seems like this team needs to hit its stride, which is something I think they’ll do soon. We’ve seen Aaron Judge, Gio Urshela, Gary Sanchez, DJ LeMahieu, and even Aaron Hicks heat up over the last few games and I think the others will follow suit. The pitching can follow suit as well, but that’s a bit more of a question mark.

I’m not saying lower your expectations from World Series or bust. All I’m saying is that we’ve played 12 games, and I think it’s fair to give any team more than 12 games in a full season before you give up on the organization. It’s April, give the Yankees some time.

(The only exception to this is Jay Bruce, he sucks and I only needed 12 games to know this.)