The New York Yankees have gotten off to a slow and frustrating start to begin their 2016 season. They finished off April with a four-game series against their bitter rivals, the Boston Red Sox, in which they were swept. Now they find themselves in the midst of a five-game losing streak, as well as sitting at the bottom of the A.L. East with a 8-15 record. Their winning percentage for the month of April was the third lowest for a Yankees team in over a hundred years and they are currently on pace to go 56-106 for the season.
The Yankees poor play isn’t expected to last the entire season, and as the weather begins to warm up, so will some of their veteran bats. The one area of concern for the Bronx Bombers going forward is on defense and not their lineup. As of Sunday, the Yankees ranked last in the American League in defensive efficiency (balls in play that are turned into outs), second worst in batting average allowed on fly balls (.236 versus the league average of .172), and third worst in batting average allowed on ground balls (.270 versus .241).
On Monday, the Yankees general manager, Brian Cashman, let his frustrations to an awful start in April be known.
“I’m frustrated as hell,” Cashman said. “It was a horrific month of April where we underperformed in almost every category, it feels like.”
Despite the Bombers 8-15 start, Cashman won’t be supplying any support when the Yankees begin their series against the Baltimore Orioles Tuesday night. Cashman, however, will be in attendance when the series opens, but explained that his trip to Baltimore was planned well before the Yankees current losing streak.
“There are no changes in store; ultimately, I’ll be forced to make changes if it continues,” Cashman said. “What needs to change is the players that are capable of so much more on this roster that I’ve put together starting to perform to those levels.
“Over time, if it continues, we will be forced to do things that weren’t part of the game plan. That’s just what has to happen at some point.”
One of the major reasons for the Yankees’ team-wide slump has been the hitting of several key players who are playing far below than their career averages, which Cashman eluded to yesterday. When Cashman was asked if manager Joe Girardi or any of his coaches were on the hot seat, he quickly answered, “No.”
