The Yankees Are Rolling

The Yankees yesterday secured a series win against the Minnesota Twins, their fourth consecutive series win. They moved back into first place in the AL East over the rival Baltimore Orioles. The Yankees have a 29-15 record, good for the second best in baseball behind the Phillies, and i’d argue this team isn’t even close to their ceiling yet.

The Yankees are without their ace and reigning Cy Young award winner Gerrit Cole, and most believed that the starting rotation would be the Yankees biggest Achilles heel in the first half or until Cole returns. It has been the opposite. The Yankees rotation has been very strong in his absence. Carlos Rodon, and Nestor Cortes are seemingly back to their pre-2023 forms, Clarke Schmidt continues to progress and show why he is a valuable piece of the rotation, Marcus Stroman has been as advertised, his walk numbers have elevated a little bit but he’s done the normal contact managing he always has. The real breakout in this rotation has been Luis Gil, who returned from Tommy John surgery and got right back to what he was. He has very good stuff, he just loses control of it sometimes, but you can probably make the argument that he’s been the Yankees best starter so far this year. When Cole does return, it will make for an interesting argument of who should be booted from the rotation.

Jasson Domínguez begun his rehab assignment two days ago in Tampa, and we probably won’t see him in the majors for around 2-3 weeks. Dominguez may not have to be called up to the majors upon his return, as the Yankees have gotten fantastic production from their current group of outfielders. With Soto and Judge leading the charge, Stanton and Verdugo are both putting together some solid numbers so far. If he does return to the big leagues upon his return, I would guess he would take some time away from Verdugo and/or Stanton’s ABs. Dominguez in this lineup would only lengthen it farther, as he gets on base at a high clip and also has some very good power and speed. The Yankees have stated that when he returns he could play a decent amount of outfield which would be huge for lineup configuration.

The Yankees are going to look to go get a bat when the trade deadline comes around, particularly at third base. Though Oswaldo Cabrera has been solid so far this year, he is much better suited for a utility role long term. The main target I think the Yankees will pursuit is Astros 3B Alex Bregman. Now wait a minute, the Yankees trading with Houston? You really cannot rule any of these types of things out. We won’t firmly know weather or not the Astros will decide to sell until July, but it isn’t looking good for them, as they sit 7 games under .500, and in 4th place in the AL West. If the Yankees were to acquire Bregman, they may be the best team in the American League, and one that will likely be formidable come October.