Bronx Bomber Ball

With the start of HOPE Week, the Yankees instilled hope in the hearts of Yankee fans throughout by sweeping a four game set with the Los Angeles Angels. Back at .500 on the season, the Yankees now welcome the Detroit Tigers for a three game weekend series. The Yankees are coming into the series with everything going their way. The offense has been much improved, starting pitching has kept games close, and the bullpen has slammed the door when its needed to. This is setting up for a good series that the Yankees should view as a must-win.

Heading into the 2013-14 offseason, the Yankees were in desperate need of a catcher. Following the departure of Russell Martin, the 2013 Yankees essentially instituted a catcher by committee system. Having to see Chris Stewart as the everyday catcher for much of that season was quite a grueling experience, to say the least. Due to the lack of production from the position, Brian Cashman generously handed perennial all-star Brian McCann a five-year eighty-five million dollar contact. While McCann has been solid behind the plate, he's underperformed offensively. McCann's power numbers have undoubtedly been aided by the short porch in right field, however this one advantage has been detrimental to his overall offensive production. The temptation of the short porch has turned McCann into a pull hitter, thus making it easy for opposing teams to shift whenever he's at the plate. For the last few years McCann's struggles have not been given the attention they deserve. His failu...

After using their first round pick on a high school prospect, the Yankees turned to the college realm in selecting infielder Nick Solak out of the University of Louisville. Solak has been a utility man in college playing both infield and outfield. Photo Via  @Everything.Yanks27 on Instagram

Ever since he was in the eighth grade, the New York Yankees have had their eyes on Blake Rutherford. The 6'2", 190-pound center fielder has continued his development, leading him to being ranked as the eighth ranked prospect in this year's draft according to MLB.com. Ecstatic that he had fallen to the 18th pick in the draft, the Yankees chose this high-ceiling prospect. Photo via  @Everything.Yanks27 on instagram

Despite Chris Parmelee’s injury in the seventh, the Yankees completed a four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Angels with a 6-3 win. Nova’s bounce-back outing, along with a five-run fifth inning, were the differences in Thursday’s win. Picture Credit: Associated Press/Frank Franklin

Chris Parmelee started for the first time as a Yankee and made it a night to remember, going 3-for-5, with a double and two home runs to lead the Bronx Bombers to a 12-5 win over the Angels. The Yankees exploded for eight runs in the 6th and 7th innings combined to break away from a close game to guarantee a series win. Picture Credit: Elsa/Getty Images

Picture Credit: Mike Stobe | Getty Images After signing Carlos Beltran to a three-year deal worth $45 million, many people across baseball began to question the move. And through the first year and a half of that deal, it seemed as though Beltran was another one of the dreaded overpaid Yankee veterans. Now in the final year of the deal, Beltran has been the indisputable best player on this underwhelming New York Yankees squad. With his current batting average of .272, OPS of .850, 15 homers, and 38 RBI (pacing for 43 home runs and 108 RBI), Beltran is not only strengthening his Hall of Fame case, but his trade value.

The Yankees’ season has been up-and-down so far, with some mild success and a lot of painful failure. At their best, this Yankees team has almost looked like they could possibly be a contender, but at their worst, they’ve looked like the only thing they’ll be in contention for is a top-five draft pick. It doesn’t take a whole lot of searching to determine the root of this problem--it’s offense. The bullpen, obviously, has been lethal, and, although the starting pitchers got off to a rocky start, they seem to have settled down and are finding a really nice rhythm. The hitting, however, has been utterly dreadful. The Bronx Bombers rank 14th out of 15 teams in the American League in runs scored and batting average, and they’re dead last in hits, total bases, On-Base Percentage, and Slugging. They don’t have a single player with a batting average above .300, and, after Carlos Beltran, the second-highest OPS on the team is .770, belonging to Jacoby Ellsbury. There are seven teams that have...

Faced with criticism from fans and coaches for his lackluster performance this season, Michael Pineda (3-6, 6.14 ERA) silenced his critics and delivered a second straight solid outing, where he allowed four hits and three earned runs in seven innings. The Yankees offense backed him up early with five runs in the first three innings, and New York coasted to a 6-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday night in The Bronx.  Picture Credit: Associated Press/Frank Franklin II

The year 2016 has been an underwhelming year for the New York Yankees, to say the least. GM Brian Cashman and the rest of the Yankees front office are in an odd position right now, as they are trying to balance the act of competing and “rebuilding”. I put quotes around the word rebuilding because in the case of Yankees’ brass, they don’t believe in that word. This comes as a result of the the Yankees mindset that we’re all used to. It comes from always trying to have a packed house every night, when that’s been far from the reality. Or the attempts to boast about the history of the illustrious ball club, nice throwbacks, but not relevant to the team today. Photo Credit: AP Photo/Michael Dwyer