Suddenly, the powerhouse Yankees appear mortal.
Aaron Boone’s men are amidst their poorest stretch of the season. After getting lit up for 21 runs by the Mets while getting swept out of the Subway Series at Citi Field, the Bronx Bombers are 3-9 in their last 12 games.
Gerrit Cole has struggled in his first two starts after returning from an elbow injury suffered in spring training. Luis Gil, who looked like he would take the torch from Cole as an AL Cy Young Award winner, has sagged.
The offense has been inconsistent even by averaging four runs per game during this swoon — proving that while Aaron Judge and Juan Soto might be the most dynamic duo in all of baseball, the Yankees need more.
One of the glaring holes of the lineup — and others include second and third base — is coming from the lack of production from first. Anthony Rizzo was trudging through the worst season of his career, batting .224 with a .630 OPS in 70 games which included a benching before he landed on the IL with a fractured arm.
Oswaldo Cabrera, DJ LeMahieu, Ben Rice, and JD Davis have not done much either in their abbreviated stints at the position, making the Yankees’ .628 OPS from first basemen this season nearly 100 points below the MLB average of .721.
Despite these issues, the Yankees still have the best record in the American League — the junior circuit still very much for the taking — and one more big bat could do catapult New York from a really good team to a scary team.
Enter Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. The same Vladimir Guerrero Jr. who implored in the past that he would never, ever play for the Yankees.
The slugging son of a Hall of Famer, though, is stuck on one of the more disappointing teams in the league this season. The Blue Jays are coming to terms with the reality that their once young, brash core will not hit the heights originally expected of them.
Guerrero suddenly becomes a name to consider on the trade market. He is still only 25 years old, has had an .840 OPS over the last four years with 162-game averages of 34 home runs and 100 RBI, and has one year of team control remaining on his contract (via arbitration) next season.
With the Blue Jays already 14.5 games out of the American League East lead and in last place, dealing Guerrero with term left on his deal boosts a potential return, which should be handsome.
As for him once saying he would never play for the Yankees — adding “not even dead,” in 2022 — it appears that tune has changed.
“Sometimes one says things. It is not that I am trying to take back what I said about the Yankees,” Guerrero told Virus Deportivo earlier this week. “But this is a business. I sat down and spoke with my dad [Vladimir Guerrero Sr.] and my family, and this is a business. And I said I would never again talk about this topic and lots of people have asked me about it.”
