"The Yankees Have Been Great!" Really?

The Yankees have won three straight, had won four straight as of a week ago, and threw in another win for good measure. So in their last 10 games that makes them 8-2. And for those of you that think records are not a good gauge of how good a team is, their run differential over their past ten games is +18.

Oh, you poor fools.

Sounds good, doesn't it? Unless, of course, you're on Team Sell and are afraid this winning streak means the Yankees won't do anything else before the trade deadline.

But I have a few more stats for you...

Over the past ten games the Yankees have scored a grand total of 35 runs (3.5 runs/game), which means the offense is still as bad as ever. Actually, seeing as how they've scored 4.11 runs per game throughout the season, the offense is actually worse.

But the defense/pitching has been great, right? Why, yes it has! Over the past ten games the Yankees have only given up 17 runs, or just 1.7 per game. That's awesome! Unfortunately, it's also totally unrealistic that that pace will continue. Especially for a team that's given up 4.32 runs per game all season.

You see, winning is great. I don't think that's a secret. But what may be a secret to some is that this team is still very much flawed. There are still changes that need to be made in order for this team to even get a whiff of the postseason.

And when it comes to building a team for next season, and even seasons after that, change has to come sooner than later.

Daniel's already pointed out that this coming offseason's free agent list is hardly "great". Hell, this upcoming class is closer to "bad" than anything else. So if you think Brian and Hal can just buy some more talent, you're sadly mistaken.

Yes, Cashman can make trades in the offseason. He can wait and trade Michael Pineda and/or Nathan Eovaldi then. But he's not going to get as good a return for those guys, because teams will have other options for middle to bottom of the rotation pitchers to add to their squads (see the aforementioned free agent list).

And you know what else? Brian Cashman can not trade Carlos Beltran and Ivan Nova in the offseason, because they won't be Yankees any more!

Sure, I understand not liking the idea of selling. It basically means giving up. And the Yankees never say "no".

Seriously? A reference to The Game Plan? Ugh!

Well, besides trying the "buy and sell" thing. But to be honest, I'm not sure Cashman could pull that off (mainly because other teams are more desperate to win this year, and therefore willing to give up larger packages of players/prospects). Besides, he'd have to get rid of some top prospects for that type of thing, and that seems counter-productive to me. Yeah, you can trade guys like Gary Sanchez and Gleyber Torres, due to guys like Luis Torrens and Jorge Mateo, and get nice returns. But when it comes to prospects depth is pretty darn important, as few of them will pan out.

Like Bernie Sanders at the DNC last night, it's time to face facts. It's time to accept that a run at the 2016 postseason is but a dream. It's time to accept that we can make sure 2017 is better, to accept that we can make a deep run in 2018, and to accept that we can make 2019 a championship season.

The New York Yankees through May in 2013, 2014 & 2015

I meant to get to this post yesterday since it was the first of the month but the schedule was too full to fit in the post. I guess having too much content and not enough time is never a bad thing but I do apologize anyway. Today we take a look at the Yankees record through the month of May the last three seasons. We pick the last three seasons for obvious reasons as the Yankees missed the playoffs in their 2013 and 2014 campaigns and look to avoid that same fate for a third year in a row.

The Yankees record through May 2013: 31-23 (2nd place)

The Yankees record through May 2014: 29-25 (2nd place)

The Yankees record through May 2015: 26-25 (1^st place)

2013 Run Differential: +18

2014 Run Differential: -10

2015 Run Differential: +10

As you can see this team actually has the worst record of any of the three teams but thankfully for New York the team is also playing in the worst division of any of the three years. The Baltimore Orioles are not bashing people’s skulls in like they were in 2014 and the Boston Red Sox are no longer the juggernaut that they were in 2013 leaving at least some hope for New York. The bottom line is if the team wants to make the postseason it’s going to likely be as a division winner and not a Wild Card so they better at least win more than the Tampa Bay Rays or heads may begin to roll in the Bronx.