The Yankees have been an average team for about a month, going 14-15 since June 24.
With the trade deadline less than a week away, Aaron Boone said he’s not worried about the state of his team.
“We’re good,” Boone said before the Yankees lost to the Mets again Wednesday night at Citi Field. “We’re good. I feel like I know the character in that room and know how we’re reacting. Our guys want to win every game, but also understand that you’re gonna have an inevitable rough patch.”
A month is a sizable patch.
Last season, the Yankees got a much-needed boost at the trade deadline with the arrival of Anthony Rizzo and — at least initially — Joey Gallo, as well as Clay Holmes.
At the time, that team was in danger of missing the playoffs. That’s not the case this year, but the Yankees aren’t the same team that rampaged to the best record in the sport for the first three months of the season.
Aaron Boone Corey Sipkin Asked if he believed this team was also in need of a jolt by Tuesday’s trade deadline, Boone said, “The way I look at it, and we talked about it today in the coaches meeting, we have everything here capable of competing with anyone in the league [and] in the world and that’s our focus. If that changes as the days unfold, which inevitably may happen that aids us, great. But our job is to try to get the most out of this group right now. If that’s the case, we’ve shown so far we can win big with this group and that’ll be our expectations moving forward.”
Even with the month of mediocrity, the Yankees have a double-digit lead in the AL East, since no one in the division is making a run at them. The Yankees held an 11 ½-game lead on the Blue Jays.
The same can’t be said for their hold on the best record in the American League, since Houston is right on their tails.
“We’re good,” Boone said. “We know it. But we also know we’re obviously very beatable. We’ve got to play our best to be the last ones standing. That’s what we’re working on, to try not to let anything get in the way of that.”
And while trades can help, they can also hurt.
“We felt that last year when [Rizzo] and Joey showed up in Miami, that was a big deal,” Boone said. “Definitely, there are those jolts that do occur, but they’re just that. They’ve got to play out. Sometimes moves are moves that put teams absolutely over the top and are game-changers and sometimes it goes the other way, too.”
Adding to the intrigue of this year’s deadline is the loss of Michael King for the season following Wednesday’s surgery.
Chad Green is also done for the season and Giancarlo Stanton and Luis Severino also on the IL, putting the first-half’s good health in the rearview mirror.
“We know we’re in a very good position,’’ Boone said. “We think we’re a very good team and we’re equipped to handle it. Obviously, we’ve had some attrition here lately with a couple key guys going down [with injuries]. That’s part of it, too.”
