Despite allowing a total of six runs in the first two games of their ALDS matchup against the Tampa Bay Rays, the New York Yankees are a loss on Wednesday away from getting swept. Their offense has been non-existent outside of Ben Rice, and their defense was somehow even more embarrassing in Game 2.
It's clear that for the Yankees to avoid getting swept by their AL East rivals, Aaron Boone is going to have to make some serious adjustments. Here're some ideas of moves Boone can make to try to inject some life into his team.
The Yankees must balance their lineup
In each of the first two games of this series, the Yankees have started with a lineup filled with eight left-handed hitters and George Lombard Jr. against a pair of right-handed Rays starters. In those two games, New York has combined to score two runs on five hits. That'd be a lackluster effort in even one game, yet that's all the offense the Yankees have mustered in two.
Would balancing their lineup more help change that? I don't know. But sticking with the status quo makes absolutely no sense, as it's proven to not work in this series. The case for adding some more right-handed balance is only amplified by the fact that Tampa Bay's Game 3 starter, Nick Martinez, has reverse splits, with right-handed hitters hitting .267 with a .704 OPS against him in the regular season compared to lefties, who hit just .236 with a .660 OPS.
In terms of what these changes should look like, removing Ryan McMahon for one of Jose Caballero or Anthony Volpe feels like a no-brainer. Swapping out Trent Grisham for Heliot Ramos would make sense. Heck, the Yankees can even consider giving Jazz Chisholm Jr. a breather after his particularly rough Game 2. Running out the same lineup once again would be really hard to defend. Changes to this unit must be made.
Aaron Boone must be aggressive when it comes to deploying his bench
What stands out about the Yankees' roster for this series is that they have a six-man bench. Only the San Diego Padres have a bench that large; the other six remaining postseason teams have five-man or four-man units. Having a six-man bench would, in theory, give Aaron Boone tons of flexibility to pick his spots with certain guys and make changes.
He has not done so. The only move he made in Game 1 was hitting Giancarlo Stanton in the ninth inning against Bryan Baker, right after Drew Rasmussen nearly no-hit them through eight frames. In Game 2, Boone didn't make a single move until he hit Paul Goldschmidt for McMahon against left-hander Ian Seymour in the eighth inning — which only came after Seymour had already mowed through an entire lineup full of lefties one time, despite the Yankees have a six-man bench full of right-handed bats.
Might the Yankees have started a rally had Boone given his bench mob a shot to get into the action? I don't know — I'd even say probably not! With that being said, we know that the formula the Yankees have gone with has not worked in this series. We have an 18-inning sample of that. Letting the likes of Stanton, Goldschmidt, Heliot Ramos, Caballero and Volpe impact the game might provide a needed spark.
Ryan McMahon, specifically, needs to be benched
While I believe Aaron Boone should be willing to make a slew of lineup changes to try and get something going offensively, if there's one player he must be willing to take out of the starting nine, it's McMahon, and it honestly should've happened earlier.
McMahon is a player known for two things: playing an excellent third base defensively and hitting for power. Well, McMahon committed an error on the very first Yankees defensive play of Game 2, and he's gone just 1-for-7 at the plate this postseason. Given that his defense isn't where it once was and that he only hit 11 home runs with a .635 OPS in the regular season, what value does he provide at this point?
I'm not here to say guys like Caballero and Volpe are perfect by any means, but at this point, the McMahon experiment is nothing more than a failure.
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