Cole is 34. The window is closing fast. Rizzo is as washed up as I’ve ever seen a hitter. The last time a Yankee playing first base hit a homer was 7/31 vs the Phillies when DJ hit a grand slam. Judge for Vladimir Guerrero is the trade to fix first base.
This all hinges on them re-signing Soto of course. Judge for Guerrero, swing a trade for Brent Rooker since we know the A’s don’t even pretend to care about winning. Now your outfield is solved with the Martian in centerfield. I liked Chisholm at third (definitely liked his willingness to take on said challenge too) and I think Wells can be the guy at catcher. If you get Torres back on a 3 year deal you only need to get rid of Volpe. Find a guy to trade for or leave him hitting 9th until another good shortstop hits free agency. Now you have a young core of batters all in their 20’s to build around (aside from Stanton) and can almost wipe the slate from the failure that was the baby bomber era. Then you just gotta replace Boone and Cashman to fully change the culture, which is as needed as anything.
Volpe, like remote said, is awful. No consistent approach at the plate, his swing is all over the place. He chases out of the zone, strikes out on pitches deep in the zone, doesn’t hit the ball hard, and doesn’t put the ball in the air. He had a pair of 5+ week stretches without hitting a homer this year and in one of them he went 4-5 weeks without even pulling a fly ball to left field. Mechanically he’s all over the place too. A total lost cause. There’s nothing encouraging whatsoever about him as a hitter. They should move on from him as soon as a viable option becomes available. Passing on 3 all star shortstops in favor of this guy was a firing worthy offense. The stopgap they picked over said 3 all stars was better for Toronto this year than Volpe was by a mile. Do we need to say much more?
.
