After their worst two-week stretch to open a season in over two decades, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman acknowledged the Yankees have had “15 games I’d like to forget,” but added no major changes were in store.
In particular, Cashman pointed to the team’s poor showing offensively as a cause for the 5-10 record that’s left it in last place in the AL East with the Yankees set to open a series against the Braves beginning Tuesday in The Bronx.
“It will be a strength of ours, but it’s not currently a strength of ours,’’ Cashman said of the offense. “That’s magnifying those deficiencies when we’re not scoring like we’re capable of. Those individual, below-average performances, we believe will get corrected over time. We trust our players, we trust our process. The record is something that we’re better than. We just have to correct that.’’
With typically lofty expectations heading into the season, the Yankees have looked shaky at the plate and in their rotation, as well as defensively and on the bases.
They have dropped five in a row — including the last three at home in a sweep to the Rays, closing out a 2-8 stretch.
It’s led to managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner being “disappointed, clearly. He got a lot invested in this situation,’’ according to Cashman.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman Corey SipkinThere is roughly $201 million in this year’s payroll, second to the defending champion Dodgers — who are at $247 million and the only team above the $210 luxury-tax threshold.
“Right now, we’d be a team an opponent would want to play,’’ Cashman said. “Because we’re not firing on all cylinders. Our strengths are not showing themselves right now. If you had a chance to catch us right now, you’re catching us at the right time. … We look forward to that changing.”
There have been minor alterations to the roster, from Rougned Odor replacing Tyler Wade and the recent retirement of Jay Bruce, who will be replaced on the roster on Tuesday, possibly by Mike Ford, currently at the alternate site in Scranton.
But the margins are not the biggest issues the Yankees have.
Instead, it’s the likes of Aaron Hicks, whose spot in the three-hole in the lineup is no longer set, or Gleyber Torres, who has not been good on either side of the ball.
Cashman noted you could point to just about anyone on the roster and the questions would be the same.
Still, the GM insisted he remains optimistic the players will revert to form.
“Our message to our players and therefore to our fans is we’re going to fight our way out of that start,’’ Cashman said. “And hopefully by the end of the month, you’ll see a more reflective record that gets us back online and gets people’s confidence back to where it should be.”
In the meantime, there’s been plenty of ugly baseball, which is why the Yankees are off to as rocky a start through mid-April as any they’ve had since 1997.
And the lineup hasn’t been the only problem.
“We understand why there are some doubts,’’ Cashman said. “There’s a lot of head-scratching on how the roster has performed thus far.”
Outside of Gerrit Cole, the rotation has reminded people why there were plenty of questions surrounding it going into the season.
Cashman said despite the early results, which have seen an abundance of early exits, he remains “very comfortable with the decision-making process.”
Corey Kluber and Jameson Taillon, notable imports who start the next pair of games, have looked like they haven’t pitched much in two seasons.
“We have guys that have gotten out of the gate slowly,’’ Cashman said. “I think our starters will get online and we’ll get distance consistently and performance every five days. It hasn’t happened at the outset. We look forward to better days ahead.”







