The New York Yankees have not won a World Series since 2009 when they beat the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 6. Yankee fans are probably wondering what happened, while the late great George Steinbrenner would be seething mad. This leads to the question of how long will the New York Yankees World Series drought last? There are several things that the Yankees can do to try to return to greatness once again.
Looking at the Yankees roster, there are a few players that stand out and not always in a good way. For example, there is Joey Gallo.
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On July 29, 2015, the Yankees traded RHP Glenn Otto, 2B Josh H. Smith, SS Ezequiel Duran and 2B Trevor Hauver to Texas Rangers for LHP Joely Rodriguez, LF Joey Gallo and cash. Since then, Gallo has been hit and miss. Literally. In his career, Gallo has struck out 885 times out of 2,014 at bats, This is approximately 44 percent of the time that he got stranded at the plate. His batting average isn’t great either with a career average of .206. The Yankees got him for power, which he has. In 2017 and 2018, Gallo had 41 and 40 home runs. Too bad he isn’t showing much of this. With more than twice as many strike outs than hits (415), it would be no surprise to see him on the trading block.
Aaron Hicks is another player who has to be looked at to trade. He has been on and off the injured list for several years with injuries such as left lower back strain, right hamstring strain, left oblique strain, etc. He only has had 2,425 at bats in his career stemming from 2013 and a career batting average of .233. Hicks is another possible trading pawn, especially with all his injuries.
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DJ LeMahieu is a player to watch. This season was not his best, hitting only .268. When LeMahieu came from the Colorado Rockies in 2019, he already won a batting title. He won another batting title in the shortened 2020 season as well, becoming only the second player in MLB history to win in both the American League and National League. His ability to hit in the clutch and help the Yankees every day is valuable and the team agrees.
According to ESPN, LeMahieu and the Yankees agreed to a 6-year $90 million contract earlier this year. This is clear that the Yankees mean business because they like what they saw. People can’t take what happened this past season and throw that contract away. Give LeMahieu time to fix his mistakes and go back to the fundamentals. Let him play small ball and do all the little things that helped the team win and he will change the views of any doubters out there.
Hitting isn’t the only factor in building a winning baseball team. Yankees were looking for some good pitching and they got it when they acquired Gerrit Cole from the Houston Astros in 2019. He had just finished off the best season of his career with a 20-5 record and an ERA of 2.50. He finished second in the American League Cy Young Award. With the exception of a horrific start in the wild card against the Boston Red Sox this year, he has proven himself worthy.
Finding the right combination of players to make a winning team is difficult, but winning is what the Yankees are all about. With their 27 World Series rings, it is only a matter of time before they win again. It begs the question, how long will the New York Yankees World Series drought last? Only time will tell.
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Stats Courtesy of https://www.mlb.com and www.espn.com
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