The New York Yankees New Baby Bombers

It took the Yankees months of treading water. Well maybe treading is not an accurate word. They were a sinking ship with no direction. Instead of playing the young players they were satisfied with the likes of Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran. Oh how the times have changed. Beltran is gone, so is Andrew Miller. Arod  was forced out and Tex announced his retirement. One would think that the yankees would be in. Full tank mode and out of playoff contention by now. Yet that is not the case. Since the trade deadline this collection of Yankee players have looked better than any Yankee teams assembled in the past 3 years. That is because the old guard is finally gone. Replaced with a new crop of young players that are carrying the Yankees into second wildcard contention(be it a long shot). 

Gary Sanchez has been even better than advertised. In 21 games since getting called up, Sanchez has 9 homeruns with 16 RBIs and a .386 batting average and a .797 slugging percentage. Most of those that read the blog know that I prefer the advanced metrics, so let us look that those. Sanchez has a wRC of 20, a wRAA of 11.5, wOBA of .505, and a wRC+ of 225. For those that do not know what those stats means let me put this in layman's terms for you: Gary Sanchez is pretty friggan good. In fact he has been outstanding. Well above what many had projected him to be. The Yankees have lacked power, outside of Beltran, for most of the season. Sanchez seems to remedy that. We haven't seen a debut like this since Greg Bird's last season. Sanchez also makes Brian McCann obsolete and should be moved this off season. After the failed promise of Jesus Montero, Gary Sanchez is the catcher of the future.

Then there is Aaron Judge. Ever since  he was drafted, Yankee fans have been hopeful that Judge would be the promised child. The Yankees version of Giancarlo Stanton. The next great superstar to wear pinstripes. Sure there have been ebbs and flows of Judge (2 Homeruns 7 RBIs while batting .222) but that is the natural progression of a rookie. Let us look at his advanced metrics:his WRC is 5, his wRAA is -.2, his wOBA is .313 and a wRC+ of 92. So far average.  Of course you have morons(hi most New York Media outside of Mike Axisa), that  are already hitting the panic button. We have seen flashes in the pan, like Will Middlebrooks, fade. It is the players that have struggled early on and adjusted that have shown the longest staying power. Plus the Yankees should have called him up to start the season over the heap that is Aaron Hicks. Don't worry Yankee fans, Judge will be the player that he was promised to be.

You know early in the season, I bashed the Yankees for starting veterans like Dustin Ackley and McCann over these young prospects. That multiple people in the front office had no idea what they were doing. That these young prospects needed to be called up. That the Yankees did need to rehash and rebuild. Now you see why. Sure there have been some struggles from the young players, but atleast now the Yankees can see actually what they have. Instead of going against minor league pitching, the Yankees can see how these prospects against major leaguers. It is too bad that the Yankees wasted the beginning of the season relying on terrible veterans like Dustin Ackley and the likes of Torreyes. It would have been fun to see these young players from the start of the season.

So the New York Yankees have a new core of young players. A new set of Baby Bombers. This core has given Yankee fans a new sensation. The feeling of hoping the team will tank to rebuild even further. But here we are after the trade deadline and the Yankees were sellers. The fans couldn't be happier. Sure some casual Yankee fans will be upset by the selling off of names. But for the vast majority of fans, the Yankees were the clear winners of the trade deadline. Finally, Yankee fans can celebrate and rejoice. There is hope in the future for the New York Yankees.