What is your takeaway from the Yankees series?

[Sports Guy]

It’s just one series and that obviously doesn’t mean that much but for me, I came away completely unimpressed with that team.

Soto may be the best hitter in baseball and Judge is likely to get it going (although the injury issues could be a problem as the season goes on) but the rest of the lineup is meh.

They have an excellent bullpen but the starting pitching, without Cole and Rodon being meh, isn’t overly impressive.

End of the day, my biggest takeaway is that I’ll be surprised if the Os don’t win the division.  I’m still weary of our pitching, as it stands (assuming GRod is fine), for October but this team is going to do nothing but get more talented as the season goes on.

Barring a rash of injuries, if the Os aren’t fighting for the 1 seed, I think it will be a disappointing regular season.

Edited May 3 by Sports Guy

[glenn__davis]

I wasn't real impressed with their lineup before the series and I'm not real impressed afterwards.

Soto and Judge are very good (I'm pretty confident Judge will get it going).  The rest are either washed up or middling young guys.

The pitching staff and BP in particular are very good.

Their defense was a mess this series but could just be a fluke.

I think the O's are better top to bottom but the Yankees pitching is very good and they'll make a good run at it just because of that.

[Bemorewins]

My take away is the Yankees are who I thought they were. They are a team with an excellent pitching staff, but a very inconsistent (feast or famine) offense. 

Their lineup lacks depth and is very top heavy - first five good, last four not so much. 

I will say that another couple of things that stood out to me are:

1) How bad Judge looks now. I don’t ever remember him having a prolonged month-long slump like this before. That is easily probably the worse series that he has had against us.

2) Another thing that stood out to me is how unafraid/unimpressed that our guys seemed to be going up against them. I think the Orioles to a man know they have the superior team.

Overall, the Yankees have a good playoff caliber team that should win in the low to mid 90’s and qualify for a wildcard birth. I just think the Orioles are a 100+ win team. The big differences between the two teams are - defense, depth, and athleticism.

[oriole]

Judge is gonna turn it around. Cole is coming back. They’ll undoubtedly make a big move by the deadline. The Yankees won’t be going anywhere. It was good to get 3 out of 4 while they're not firing on all cylinders. 
 

Orioles bullpen is very shaky. I can’t predict a division title unless some changes happen.

[dystopia]

Yankees overrated? I’m shocked. 
 

I was also not impressed and I’ve been pretty confident their April was a mirage. 

[ChipTait]

I don't like hearing "Yankees suck" chants at OPACY.  Let the Red Sox fans stoop to that level.

Let us win with grace, and allow the MFY fans to lose with dignity as they make the long trek back to Penn Station for the long, sad train ride home.

Let's Go O's!

[yark14]

If I posted my true thoughts on the Yankees, I'd be banned for life from this board.

[Moose Milligan]

My thoughts echo a lot of the other ones here.  Middling offense outside of Soto and that Judge will most likely get it going.  Stanton is a shell of his former self but still imposing, he can still get a hold of one every so often I'd imagine but outside of that he's a liability, a completely one dimensional player right now and it's a question of how good that one dimension really is.  Rizzo is kind of whatever, still effective but not a big threat.  Verdugo is pesky and pretty good, I was happy that he wasn't in their lineup for the first three games of the series.

Unimpressed with Volpe, both from a defensive perspective and at the plate.  But there's value in a 20/20 guy, I expect he'll do that again this year but the best SS in the AL East plays in Baltimore and it's not particularly close.

I am impressed by their bullpen and I wonder how far they'll be able to ride it.  Their starting pitching is whatever but it'll look better once Cole comes back...but still, 3/4 of a season of Cole isn't enough to really make up for where the rest of the team lacks.

They're a solid team but I wouldn't call them a great team.  I don't want to get too cocky and say we should win the East but it's certainly tempting to think that way.  There's still a lot of baseball left.

 

[Moose Milligan]

5 minutes ago, ChipTait said:

I don't like hearing "Yankees suck" chants at OPACY.  Let the Red Sox fans stoop to that level.

Let us win with grace, and allow the MFY fans to lose with dignity as they make the long trek back to Penn Station for the long, sad train ride home.

 

What 

[Moose Milligan]

Just now, yark14 said:

If I posted my true thoughts on the Yankees, I'd be banned for life from this board.

I think @Tony-OHmight find some leniency.  

[interloper]

We're the better team, is my take away. 

[Jim'sKid26]

My thoughts:

Judge looks like he's not aging well. He just looks un-athletic. I anticipate regression with him becoming a one-dimensional player soon.

Soto is a good hitter. I'm not sure why anyone would pitch to him. He's the one guy in the lineup you don't let beat you.

Stanton is now what Judge looks like he will become. He's a shadow of his former self.

Their closer is very good. 

Rodon looks like his best days are behind him. Completely hittable.

To use an old Chick Hearn phrase, "the mustard has come off the hotdog," with regard to Cortez. He's not fooling guys anymore.

The franchise in general is very un-Yankeelike. They used to be the organization that was light-years ahead of everyone else. Not anymore. They just don't play fundementally sound baseball anymore. Their defense was exposed in the series. Their situational hitting was poor. Boone seems a bit lost at times. They just don't look like the Yankees. 

[Rbiggs2525]

I think April is as good as the Yankees will be this season. Cole will be back but Rondon will regress or get hurt. Judge and Torres will begin to hit but Soto will regress some. It’s a shame for baseball that Anthony Volpe won the gold glove last year. He is a wonderful fielder to watch but can’t make the throw to the back hand. His hardest throw this year is 81 MPH. Makes me think back to the play when Gunnar hosed down Corbin Carroll in short left field with no momentum. 
 

I advocated for Soto being the Moo bat all offseason. He would have been here on a Burnes type deal. Dean Kremer is a similar pitcher to Michael King and could have headlined the deal with a Beavers or Norby.

[interloper]

Infield defense looks like a problem for them. 

They don't take the extra base because they physically can't. 

Rizzo looks like he needs a change of scenery. 

[Sanfran327]

I saw a lot of comments in the game threads about how the Yankees can't hit, but they have playoff caliber pitching (in some spots). Yes, their closer throws a whiffle ball. Their starters can be feast or famine (depending on which side of the fence you're on). Prob 2 or 3 other very nice bullpen arms, including the most Bronx baseball name of all time, Ron Marinaccio. Ronnie Uncle Jimmy probably grew up breaking windows playing stick ball on Wilson Avenue. Anyway...

Playoff caliber pitching with a somewhat toothless lineup could be great experience for us throughout the season. They'll continue to win games against bad teams and hang around in the division race all year, so each matchup we have with them will have some mild playoff intensity to it. In short, the Yankees could be a fun simulator for us this year. Finally, they're good for something.