The New York Yankees are experiencing a surprising offensive drought as they struggle to find at-bats for all of their best players.
After emerging as one of the best offensive teams in all of baseball this season, even after the departure of Juan Soto, the Yankees have now gone 20 innings without scoring a run and have suffered two straight shutout losses. The return of designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton was cause for celebration on Monday, but now the Yankees will have to platoon some of their most accomplished hitters to make room for him.
“Giancarlo Stanton is back, and that means a Yankee or two with splendid offensive credentials will be starting on the bench,” Pete Caldera wrote for NorthJersey.com. “And right now, the desperate-for-a-spark Yankees are suddenly starving for runs.”
Surprising as it was considering his former Most Valuable Player Award winning credentials, Paul Goldschmidt was benched for Monday’s game. Manager Aaron Boone defended that decision by clarifying that the Yankees roster is on board with this new reality as at-bats get harder to find.
“I’ve talked to the guys about it,” Boone said, per Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News. “We’re gonna have a couple good players sitting over there every single day that you can make the case should be in the lineup. We’re all on the same page with it and ready to roll.”
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Having more accomplished hitters on the roster than there are positions on the field might qualify as a good problem to have, but as the Yankees search for some offense and a bounce-back win, it’s going to be hard to decide who joins the lineup on any given day. For now, at least, the team is on board with that challenge.
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