Yankees.com: Yankees look to regroup, find consistency after All-Star break

From Bill Ladson:

Yankees manager Aaron Boone called the first half of the 2025 season incomplete.

There were days when they looked like Murderers’ Row and other days when they had problems winning ballgames. In the last month, the Yankees have had two six-game losing streaks, which have put the Bronx Bombers out of first place in the American League East. The Blue Jays are No. 1 now.

After losing to the Cubs, 4-1, on Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees (53-43) finished the first half in second place and are 10 games over .500. Boone made it clear that the goal for ‘25 is to return to the postseason and, hopefully, win a World Series title for the first time since 2009.

“We set out the year to get back to the playoffs and chase a World [Series] title and all those hopes and dreams are right there. It still exists for us,” Boone said. “… It’s still a long way to go. We are in a position to do what we need to do and hopefully, with the physical and mental grind of a long season, there’s that positive reset for some guys to get a breather, to get a blow and come with the hyperfocus of understanding what our mission is.”

I really just think that the Yankees need to concentrate on winning their own games, and not worry about the Red Sox’s crazy winning streak. If the Red Sox win every game, then the Red Sox win every game, what can you do? All you can really do is win as many games as you can, and get yourself ready for the playoffs. The Yankees are ten games over .500 despite dealing with MULTIPLE six-game losing streaks over the last month. They’re just two games out of first place. The Blue Jays are NOT a good team. This is a fine position to be in. The Yankees are one of the best offenses in the game, and even with the loss of Clarke Schmidt, their rotation isn’t awful (now, if Max Fried is hurt, then yes, their rotation is awful).

There are three real big areas of concern:

1. The bullpen isn’t good enough. Devin Williams and Luke Weaver look legit, after they both dealt with some bumps in the road, and Tim Hill has been very good, as well (he had a bad outing today, but only because he was fucked by Volpe’s defense), but that’s it for guys you can trust. Ian Hamilton is fine, but he’s more of low level guy than a high leverage dude. So Cash NEEDS to pick up at LEAST one really good reliever, and probably TWO.

2. Third base is a huge problem. Okay, so DJ LeMahieu can’t play third base, so he’s gone. That’s fine. But Oswald Peraza, who CAN play third base, can’t hit. Cash needs to get a righthanded third baseman who can hit a little. The blockbuster move would be to try to get Jose Ramirez, but the Yankees don’t DO moves like that these days (and haven’t in a really long time).

3. The defense needs to be better, but that’s really more of a mental thing. Obviously, Volpe and Jazz CAN play well, they just need to be better.

Otherwise, like I have said, I’m actually pretty pumped about this team for the LONG haul, since they’ll have Cole back next season, and they’ll have room to add a big name free agent, and I like how Jasson Dominguez and Ben Rice are developing. But this year is pretty shaky, and doesn’t NEED to be this shaky.

Featured image is Ian Hamilton’s shoulders slacking after losing the game in the sixth, after being used a day after pitching TWO INNINGS. Boone is so dumb.