BOSTON — Alex Rodriguez was the Yankees’ feel-good story for most of 2015.
He had not played in 2014, suspended for his ties to Biogenesis. Thus, for the first time in his career, expectations were low. He batted seventh on Opening Day 2015, but hit well enough that Joe Girardi soon moved him to the third spot.
A-Rod’s strong production and the positive vibe that developed around him carried the whole team. Rodriguez had 24 homers and a .930 OPS through July and the Yankees led the AL East by six games. But when he collapsed in August, the whole offense followed. The Blue Jays zoomed into first place and the Yankees had to settle for a wild card.
Aaron Judge was promoted last August after Rodriguez was exiled. Judge performed so poorly that expectations were low for him in 2017. He batted seventh on Opening Day, but hit so well that Girardi soon moved him to the third spot.
Judge’s strong production and the positive vibe around him carried the whole team. Judge had 30 homers and a 1.139 OPS at the break and even with the onset of his slump, the Yankees finished July in first place. But Judge has collapsed in August and the whole offense has followed. The Red Sox have zoomed into first place — up five games after a 5-1 triumph Sunday — and the Yankees now are mostly fighting for a wild card.
Still, on the weekend when Girardi removed Aroldis Chapman from the closer role, he has adamantly stuck to Judge batting third daily. Even after Judge’s feeble 1-for-12 weekend with five whiffs against Boston, Girardi said he will be hitting third in Detroit.
Now, a manager is constantly forced to weigh what is a slump for a player and what is something far worse, what is best for the team and what is best for the individual. There is no script on the perfect time for alteration and Girardi said he would not play “roulette” and spin the lineup every time someone encountered a bad stretch. That is how you lose the player and lose a team.
But Judge’s downturn is at more than a month. In 2015, when A-Rod’s crisis reached a month, Girardi at least temporarily dropped him to the five hole — and Rodriguez rallied somewhat in September and was reinstalled at third.
Girardi must do the same here. He must de-emphasize Judge for a while. Heck, the Dodgers — more than 50 games over .500 — just sent their struggling center fielder Joc Pederson to the minors. The last-place Padres demoted the slumping Hunter Renfroe, though he had 20 homers.
Nothing as drastic as sending Judge to Triple-A Scranton is necessary. But he is killing them in the three hole. Girardi could more comfortably displace Chapman because he has Dellin Betances and David Robertson, and if he drops Judge, Gary Sanchez or Didi Gregorius can move up, and perhaps Greg Bird and Starlin Castro can help soon.
“I am not getting the job done,” Judge said. “I am a three hitter … and I have to be that guy for this team.”
Girardi says he has stuck with Judge because he “is still dangerous.” He has liked that Judge has continued to walk and feels the at-bats are better. But the quality of the at-bats fluctuates between good and horrific, and Judge certainly lacks the two-strike patience and production he exhibited in the first half. He struck out in a 37th straight game Sunday. He is hitting .169 in the second half with 58 strikeouts in 124 at-bats. The results are akin to last year’s late disaster.
And while Girardi said big spots find every position in the lineup, they tend to find the third spot most. The Yankees were a dreadful 7-for-40 with men on base in losing two of three to the Red Sox. Judge had the most at-bats in those situations, going 1-for-8 with four strikeouts, including 0-for-4 with three whiffs with runners in scoring position.
Girardi, hitting coach Alan Cockrell and bench coach Rob Thomson all insisted Judge will pull out of this, citing his still-unflagging confidence. But there are signs of a withering of his game. Judge dropped a fly ball last week against the Mets and twice was deked into nonchalance in this series — by Xander Bogaerts on Saturday and Mookie Betts on Sunday, each advancing to third base. Girardi did say he is continuing to monitor the meaning of such plays.
Of course, to fix a problem, the first step is usually identification of the root cause, and I don’t see how it is a positive that Girardi called Judge’s problems “mechanical” and Cockrell said, “You can’t pin it on a mechanical issue.”
Whatever the trigger, Girardi has to call a timeout for Judge in the No. 3 spot. He did it with Rodriguez in 2015. He needs to do the same with Judge because as much as his success inflated the team in the first half, his lack of it is bringing the whole team down now.