The Unbearable Weight of Massive Yankees Overreactions

The Yankees have had their fair share of injuries this Spring. Fortunately, they built in the depth to deal with that. But to listen to the scribes and talking heads, their losses are so devastating that they might as well not even play this season. Well, now hear this.

Mar 23, 2025; Tampa, Florida, USA; New York Yankees catcher Austin Wells (28) is congratulated after he hit a two-run home run during the fifth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

The Yankees are the biggest name in baseball. More than that, they’re a global brand and one of the biggest names in sports. 

That brings with it both positives and negatives. One that cuts both ways is that they are more closely scrutinized than any other baseball team. For instance, when Hideki Matsui won the MVP of the 2009 World Series, it generated global headlines. It was the biggest star in Japan, proving himself with the biggest team on the biggest stage in baseball. It’s hard to believe it would have been as big a story had he won it playing for the Mariners. The point is that when things are great in Yankees Universe, the sports world overreacts. The same is true when things are not going so well. 

Which brings us to this Spring. 

The Yankees have had their share of injuries, to be sure. Some of them have indeed been significant. Gerrit Cole is gone for the season, and that’s a huge loss. But most of their injuries and issues are all part of the season. They’re the type of things every team has to deal with, and the best of them overcome their issues. The Yankees seem primed to do just that. But to hear the commentators–which include some Yankees fans–the Yankees have undergone a devastating Spring Training and are a shell of the team they want to be. Well, then, let’s just take a look at those “devastating" losses.

First up is DJ Lemahieu. Some have described this as a nightmare. Many have said this is a killer for the Yankees, and without him, the season is in disarray. Really? The Yankees were counting on the guy who slashed .204/.269/.259 last season? The same guy who played in 67 games last year? The Yankees might have hoped he could rebound, but the writers and talking heads make it seem like they were hanging the season’s hopes on his play. 

They weren’t. 

Lemahieu is under contract, so of course, the Yankees want to get the most out of him. But that’s different than saying he’s the key to the season. Look, I’m not down on DJ. He came over and played like an MVP for his first two seasons. If the rest of the team had played as well, the Yankees would have already won another World Series. And we all knew he’d regress as he got older, due to his long swing. So I don’t have a problem with DJ or his string of injuries. 

Take It From Anton Ego

What I do have a problem with is people blowing his loss way out of proportion. How many articles were there declaring the Yankees now needed to trade for an All-Star like Alex Bregman to make up for the loss? Why? Oswaldo Cabrera will take most of the reps at third for now, and that’s fine. He’s a good defender and, more importantly, he’s going to bat ninth; ninth! If he can do what he did last year and hit .247/.296/.365 while playing excellent defense, the Yankees will be just fine. 

Because, once again, he’s batting ninth. 

Then there’s the consternation about the loss of Yankees pitching prospect Chase Hampton. The guy is unproven and sat eighth or ninth on the depth chart when he went down. I doubt a similar loss would even be newsworthy for any other team. Yet here’s the headline from FanSided, my old home:

Yankees suffer another devastating blow with possible season-ending injury to top prospect

Devastating?! The loss of a minor-league pitcher who is in no way being counted on is “devastating”? I’m not mad at you, Jacob Mountz (who wrote the article), but, seriously, man, you gotta calm down. Get off the Red Bull at a minimum.

There have been injuries to more significant players, though. But even there, the coverage and commentary have been way too extreme. Let’s go back to the loss of Gerrit Cole. Okay, that hurts. But the Yankees dealt with that before Spring Training by signing another Ace, Max Fried. He’s probably going to be the best pitcher in the AL East. Plus, a little perspective goes a long way. The Red Sox, for example, have lost three-fifths of their rotation. So they’re going to start the season with Sean Newcomb, former Yankees prospect Richard Fitts, and some guy named Quinn Priester. They’re also stretching out Cooper Criswell as a depth piece.

None of those are the equal of Max Fried.

Then there’s the Orioles. They lost both their best pitcher from last season–Corbin Burnes–and their biggest power hitter in Anthony Santander, and replaced them with nobody. Yet, they’re in a better position to win than the Yankees. Okay, sure. 

If depth is being tested early on, and we're grading on an AL East curve, then the Yankees are getting an A. 

The Worst of Yankees Times, The Best of Yankees Times

The Bombers also lost Rookie of the Year Luis Gil. That is also a big deal, but he’s projected to come back in 8-10 weeks. Big-time players go down every year and miss significant time. It’s not ideal, but it’s not a doomsday scenario, either. What I find really funny is that the same people who are rending their clothes today will be writing about how the Yankees are adding an All-Star player in the middle of the season when he returns. So, when he misses the first two months, the season is unwinnable. But when he returns, he’ll carry them to the playoffs. Oy vey.

All I’m saying is to include that kind of nuance from jump street. 

And I don’t even know what to say about the coverage of Clarke Schmidt. The guy isn’t even injured! He had a minor setback that he immediately overcame and will very likely miss just one start; one!!! 

To add a bit more perspective, Gerrit Cole missed more than two months last year. Schmidt missed two months. Gil wasn’t as good in the second half, and neither was Marcus Stroman. Yet the rotation carried them to tops in the AL East and a World Series berth. It’s a long season, and injuries happen, a fact that seems to elude most baseball writers. The good

teams build depth into their organizations to overcome that. And the Yankees have done a great job with that. They’ve still got Marcus Stroman to go with Carlos Carrasco, Rookie Will Warren, and newly signed World Series champ Ryan Yarbrough. That’s a whole hell of a lot better than Quinn Priester and Cooper Criswell. And it’s a world better than the nobody the Orioles are going with. 

Of course, I have to mention the loss of Giancarlo Stanton. He might only be out until June. If that’s true, then that’s par for the course. The guy only played in 114 games last year, so coming back around June 1st would be normal for him. 

Mar 3, 2025; Tampa, Florida, USA; New York Yankees pitcher Carlos Carrasco (59) Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

But let’s say he misses the whole season. While Stanton’s an intimidating player, his slash of .233/.298/.475 isn’t exactly irreplaceable. He also belted out 27 homers, which is fine. But it seems likely that the internal options, such as Ben Rice or Rafael Flores, can equal that. If not, the Yankees will very likely add a big bat at the trade deadline. Either way, his loss is significant but not something the Yankees cannot overcome. That’s not how it’s being talked about, though. 

Juan Long Gone

Finally, there's the departure of Juan Soto. There's no question he's a top-five player, and the Yanks would be much better with him. I sure would have loved to see him come back. But he chose the Mets and more power to him. He seems like a good dude and I wish good things for him and his family. Once again, however, a little perspective can go a long way. The Yankees have won 27 World Titles; Juan Soto wasn't on any of them. And in the seven years he's been in the league, only one team he played for has won the World Series. The Rangers didn't have him when they won it all two years ago, and neither did the Braves back in 2021. So, yes, his departure sucks, but the Yankees built a better team with the money they didn't spend on Soto.

Yet the biased folks at SNY (I'm looking at you, Sal Licata) and far too many others have decried this as, once again, devastating. It's been treated like something that will cripple the Yankees. C'mon guys. This is the Yankees we're talking about.

I suspect it’s a combination of Yankees haters and nervous fans. To the latter, I would say, chill. This ain’t the Mets. The Yankees have built a great roster, and while they’re being tested, they’ve got the pieces to overcome it. 

It reminds me of last year when Aaron Judge got off to a horrible start. He’d missed the middle of Spring Training with an injury and wasn’t ready to start the season. But he’s Aaron Judge, the best and most feared hitter in baseball. Yet to hear it told, he was already past his prime and the Yankees would from then on regret his contract. He was toast, and so were the Yankees. Then he went out and had a better year than when he broke the all-time AL home run record while the Yankees made the World Series.

Well, they have a better team this year and an even better chance to win it all. If so, we'll read entirely different articles by these same writers who will have magically forgotten their earlier predictions of doom and gloom.

So let's see what happens. To paraphrase Monsieur Ego, we'll let the Yankees provide the wins, and we'll provide the perspective. I wonder how well that will go with a 1947 Château Cheval Blanc?

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