June is here, and with it a summer filled with baseball is about to start. The Yankees are in the thick of a division race that promises to go down to the wire as always, sitting 1.5 games behind the Rays but a comfortable 7.5 games ahead of the rest of Toronto, Boston, and Baltimore. Their record against the AL East hasn’t looked too promising, losing a series and splitting another with Tampa while splitting their lone meeting with the Jays, though they’ve swept Boston in their singular matchup and gone 5-2 against Baltimore thus far.
Sitting 13 games above .500 entering the month is a solid start, but if you’ve been following them day-to-day you’d know that the Yankees have ridden some high highs and some low lows already. It’s a microcosm of the roster that’s delivered their record, with a couple of elite bats trying to pull up a few deadweights in the lineup and a rotation that’s been otherworldly doing their best to keep the ball out of the hands of their shaky bullpen. Consistency is the key to getting back on top for this team, but they’ll likely need to make some tweaks to find it. Luckily, we’re now approaching that time of year where the trade deadline starts weighing on everyone’s minds — and we might even see a couple of moves pop up on the radar.
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The question is just how long can the Yankees wait for the market to develop itself. They’re in desperate need of a bullpen remodeling, something that will likely require several trades to address, and they also are looking for a right-handed catching option with the potential for further additions to the lineup should the right opportunity line itself up. We’ve started to see some separation from the pack with a few truly bad AL teams claiming the bottom of the standings, so there are potential sellers now in view, but holding out for the best package is going to incentivize teams to wait it out and let the pressure of the deadline force other teams’ hands. The first offer is rarely going to be good enough to pry a solid reliever away, even if in the grand scheme of things he isn’t going to bring back a king’s ransom.
There’s no doubt that the stove will be lit and pots will be getting stirred in July, but will we see any rumors start to swirl in June? And if we do, could we see any closer to the start or middle of the month? It’d be unconventional, but not totally unheard of — just last year we saw a wildly early trade for the season involving an at-the-time superstar in Rafael Devers (this season may have shifted the narrative on him, but there’s still time for his contract to not be totally underwater). I’m willing to go out on a limb and predict that we’ll see Brian Cashman swing something before the calendar turns again, but I don’t think there’s anything cooking now to warrant an imminent deal.
We’ve got a loaded schedule in store for you today to get through the off-day on the field. Peter leads off with the next poll on Brian Cashman’s approval rating after the team’s performance in May, and then Kevin covers the Rivalry Roundup with the Rays keeping pace slightly ahead of New York. Jonathan has a double-feature, first giving Bud Metheny his flowers on his birthday before starting off our division check-ins with the AL Central, followed by John looking at the AL West and Sam the NL West. Finally, I’ll be back late in the day to open up the mailbag for the next round of questions.
Today’s Matchup
Off-day
