The most recent days have been a real ordeal for the New York Yankees, who have lost eight of their last 12 games and have fallen to third place in the American League East behind Toronto and Boston. Aaron Boone’s team cannot find the formula to stay afloat and recover stability, weighed down mainly by the poor performance of their relievers, precisely the area where they focused most on strengthening during the trade deadline.
General manager Brian Cashman brought in David Bednar, Jake Bird and Camilo Doval, three closers with different profiles who, in theory, would give more depth to a bullpen with multiple problems between underperformance and injuries. However, these three new players have allowed 12 runs in just six innings of work, generating too many doubts.
Such a shipwreck has had immediate consequences. Just five days after arriving at the Yankees, the team decided to send Jake Bird to Triple-A, the worst of the relievers acquired at the trade deadline.
The right-hander made his debut in a Yankees uniform last Friday in Miami and was hit hard for four runs and three hits, including a grand slam by Kyle Stowers. That was the beginning of the end for the Yankees in that game, as they were leading 9-4 and ended up losing 13-12.
The next day, the reliever from Colorado had a scoreless inning with a pair of strikeouts, but on Monday he again left bad news in Texas, where the Rangers left the Yankees on the field. In the 10th inning, with a runner on board, two outs and the game tied 5-5, Aaron Boone decided to intentionally walk Wyatt Langford to work Josh Jung, who punished Bird mercilessly.
The Rangers’ third baseman took the ball over the left field fence and certified the Bombers’ fourth straight loss, with Bird as the victim. After this outcome, the Yankees decided to send him to the Minor Leagues with no guaranteed return ticket, which can be interpreted as a significant failure, considering that to acquire Bird, the New Yorkers gave up two high-caliber prospects.
Second baseman Roc Riggio (the Yankees’ tenth-best prospect) and left-handed pitcher Ben Shields (the 28th prospect) went to Colorado in exchange for a reliever who during the last month had given clear signs of being far from major league level.
In eight outings since July 2, Bird allowed 14 earned runs in 5.1 innings of work, for a disastrous 23.63 ERA. In that span with the Rockies, he allowed six extra-base hits, including three home runs against the 37 batters he faced, 22 of whom reached base.
It’s still hard to understand what motivated Brian Cashman to gamble on this trade, which looked very bad even before it was finalized. Now Bird will have to rebuild his path from the Minors and the Yankees will have to continue to look for ways to get back on the winning track and aim for the postseason, which is getting further and further away from them.
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