Yankees

The Yankees Cannot Keep Pretending Austin Wells And This Bullpen Are Fine

By ••4 min read
The Yankees Cannot Keep Pretending Austin Wells And This Bullpen Are Fine

The Yankees keep asking fans to believe in the same weak spots, and at some point, enough is enough.

The Yankees have a problem behind the plate, and they have a problem at the back end of the bullpen. And no, this is not “early-season panic.” This is watching the same warning signs show up over and over again and pretending they are not there.

Austin Wells has been brutal offensively. There is no soft way to say it. The at-bats do not look good. The chase looks bad. The contact is weak. The confidence does not look like it is there. And when you are talking about a Yankees catcher, that matters.

This organization has history at that position. Real history.

Yogi Berra. Thurman Munson. Jorge Posada. Even guys like Gary Sánchez before things fell apart, José Trevino giving you something respectable at times. The Yankees have usually had catchers who could at least give you competitive at-bats.

Right now, Wells is not doing that.

In his last 10 games, he is 3-for-31 with a .103 batting average and only 3 walks. That is not a slump you just laugh off. That is a black hole in the lineup. And the Yankees made it worse because they traded away catching depth while betting on him.

That is the part fans should be annoyed about.

You moved pieces. You rolled the dice. You acted like Wells was the guy. And now what? You are stuck watching a catcher who barely gets on base and looks overmatched way too often.

This Is A Yankees Evaluation Problem

This is where Brian Cashman gets himself in trouble.

Because it is never just one move. It is the pattern. The Yankees fall in love with certain players, give them long leashes, ignore the obvious signs, and then everybody acts shocked when it goes sideways.

ADVERTISEMENT
Advertisement

Anthony Volpe is another example. Fans were told to be patient. Told the tools were there. Told the development was coming. But at some point, production matters. This is New York. You do not get forever.

Same thing with Wells. Potential is nice. Prospect rankings are nice. But the Yankees need winning players now.

And if Wells is not going to hit, then what exactly is the plan?

The Bullpen Is Not Championship-Level Either

Now let’s talk about the bullpen, because that is another mess waiting to explode.

David Bednar has talent. Nobody is denying that. But talent and trust are two different things. When the ninth inning comes around, Yankees fans should not feel like they need blood pressure medication.

Bednar has already shown the inconsistency. One day he looks like he can battle through trouble. The next day, everything unravels. That is not what a championship team needs from the back end.

Same story with other bullpen pieces the Yankees keep trying to sell as answers. They are not answers yet. Not reliable ones.

The Yankees cannot go into serious baseball with a bullpen that makes every close game feel like a coin flip. That does not work in October. It barely works in May.

Cashman Has To Fix This

This is why fans get frustrated with Cashman. Because some of these problems were predictable.

The catching depth got thinner. Wells was handed a major role. The bullpen had warning signs. And now here we are, watching the same issues show up in real time.

The Yankees need to be aggressive. Call somebody up. Make a trade. Try Carlos Lagrange in a real role if you believe in the arm. Do something.

But do not sit there and tell fans everything is fine.

Because it is not.

The Yankees still have time. That is the good news. This can be fixed. But the worst thing they can do is wait until the damage is already done.

Austin Wells has to start hitting. The bullpen has to become trustworthy. And the front office has to stop acting like hope is a roster-building strategy.

This team has enough talent to be dangerous.

But not with a dead spot behind the plate.

And not with a bullpen nobody trusts when the game is on the line.

NYY.NEWS SHOP - MEMORABILIA, CLOTHING & MORE