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New York Daily News | Matthew Roberson Outfielder Joey Gallo came from the Texas Rangers with incredible power credentials, but with notorious issues with making consistent contact. With the Yankees, the latter were more evident, as he hit .160/.303/.404 with 13 homers, but 88 strikeouts in a couple of months.
Roberson makes a deep dive into his statistical profile and concludes that, while bad luck had a say in his final numbers (he had a .193 BABIP), he was annihilated by breaking balls. Something to work on for 2022.
New York Post | Phil Mushnick: A few days have passed, but Mushnick offered his thoughts about Aaron Boone’s bullpen management in the AL Wild Card game. He suggests that the manager’s ability to adjust his pregame plan to in-game situations has cost the Yankees in more than one occasion, including the game against Boston. He was particularly critical of the decision to remove Clay Holmes from the contest, because he could have some gas left in the tank after throwing 16 pitches.
He pointed out the fact that after Holmes, the best and most consistent reliever on the Yankees in the second half together with Jonathan Loáisiga, left the game, the Red Sox scored three runs and walked five times in four innings.
New York Daily News | Bill Madden: The Yankees have won one World Series in the last 20 years. People are getting impatient. While it’s definitely not as easy as it seems, expectations are traditionally, and understandably, high.
Madden suggests that managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner needs to give general manager Brian Cashman an ultimatum and ask for explanations about the Yankees’ failure to advance beyond the AL Wild Card game. The writer also thinks Steinbrenner, whose father was notoriously impatient when dealing with losing, needs to ask Cashman why Tampa Bay is so much better than the Yankees in spotting and developing talent.
New York Post | Joel Sherman: The players who signed the 10 largest contracts during the offseason had mixed results this year. There is only one Yankee in the list, DJ LeMahieu (who inked a six-year, $90 million deal), and his season was disappointing, with a .711 OPS. An ex-Yankee made the list, Didi Gregorius, and he, like DJ, didn’t perform well either. See how the year went for the rest of the group.