The New York Yankees currently are tied with the Baltimore Orioles for the top spot in the American League East and have an American League-leading 68 wins.
New York had a rough stretch leading up to the 2024 Major League Baseball trade deadline but has looked like one of the best teams in baseball ever since. The Yankees are considered by many to be one of the top contenders to win the World Series this season but that doesn’t mean changes aren’t on the horizon.
The Yankees have one of the best records in baseball but if they fail to make a deep run in the playoffs, manager Aaron Boone’s job could be in jeopardy and the New York Post’s Jon Heyman said that he is on the hot seat.
“Aaron Boone, I mean at this point I like Aaron Boone and he’s a terrific guy and his winning percentage is incredible,” Heyman said. “I would say, they have to get into the playoffs, first of all, and need to win at least one round. I think he is beloved by Hal Steinbrenner the owner. I think he is beloved by the general manager Brian Cashman and I think they desperately want to keep him around but if they’re knocked out in the first round, it’s going to be pretty tough.”
Boone has been a polarizing figure since taking of the Yankees. New York has done a lot of winning but hasn’t gotten over the hump in the playoffs. If that trend continues this year maybe a move could happen.
The New York Yankees and Aaron Judge have a problem. Judge has been white hot over his last nine games heading into Wednesday, posting a .485/.630/1.061 batting line with six homers across 46 plate appearances. The problem is that Judge has been walked 13 times in that space, including four intentional walks. He was intentionally walked three times on Sunday, becoming the first Yankees player since Bernie Williams in 1999 to draw three intentional walks in a game. It has gotten to the point where Joel Sherman of the New York Post feels that changes need to be made to the intentional walk rule.
The Yankees ultimately have to punish teams for giving Judge the Barry Bonds treatment. Catcher Austin Wells has done his part hitting behind Judge, having posted a .343/.375/.514 batting line in his 40 plate appearances. However, he is not nearly as dangerous a hitter as Judge. The Yankees have not provided much protection beyond the cleanup spot, Jazz Chisholm’s consecutive two-homer games notwithstanding. The Bonds Era Giants and the 2024 Yankees have the same problem. Jeff Kent was a borderline Hall of Fame talent and provided a formidable duo with Bonds in San Francisco.
However, the Giants never found another player who could consistently take the pressure off Bonds and Kent. Bonds holds the major league record with 688 intentional walks in his career and led the league 12 times, including three years with Kent in the lineup. Judge is facing the same strategy this season. He and Juan Soto can be as formidable a duo as Bonds and Kent. However, Judge leads the majors with 11 intentional walks as teams are pitching around him. Wells is proving to be a solid hitter but he does not have the same ability to change the game with one swing of the bat. There is no reason to pitch to Judge. Unless the Yankees find a way to punish the opposition for pitching around Judge, they may as well get used to seeing him trot down to first base. It is the same problem the Giants had with Barry Bonds.
Shortly after the Buffalo Bills traded star wide receiver Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans this spring, Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen insisted he will “always have a spot in my heart for” Diggs and will “always love him like a brother and wish him nothing but the best.”
Following Wednesday’s training-camp practice, Allen once again addressed Diggs’ departure. “Stef’s a great player, and what he brought to this team was special,” Allen said, per Kyle Silagyi of Sports Illustrated. “‘Miss’ is, I don’t know if I’d say ‘miss.’ He was a guy that was reliable, you could look to. He’s going to have the juice each and every day. I’m sure he’s bringing it over there in Houston. Definitely, you can’t say that you don’t miss that. But I am very happy with what we have going on here and how hard the guys have been working.”
Questions about the relationship between Allen and Diggs hovered over the Bills from January 2023 through the club’s divisional-round playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs this past January that included a costly fourth-quarter drop committed by the wideout. While Buffalo parting ways with Diggs after the postseason defeat wasn’t shocking, some continue to point out that the Bills didn’t replace the 30-year-old with a big-name No. 1 target and instead are hoping rookie Keon Coleman along with free-agency pickups Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Curtis Samuel can essentially replace Diggs’ production. “I’m very comfortable with the guys that we’ve brought in,” Allen added on Wednesday about Buffalo moving forward without Diggs. “It’s no secret, Stef was an All-Pro here.
He’s got the stats to back it up. Each year he had 100-plus catches and 1,000-plus yards. That’s a heavy workload for someone to come in and fill those shoes.” As of Wednesday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the Bills fourth among the betting favorites at +800 odds to represent the AFC in Super Bowl LIX. Unless the Diggs trade proves to be an addition-by-subtraction transaction, failing to work things out with him could go down as a regrettable mistake made by what’s supposed to be a win-now franchise.
There’s been plenty of speculation this offseason about what Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning’s role will actually be this fall. Manning is locked in as the No. 2 quarterback behind starter Quinn Ewers. But Manning obviously isn’t your average No. 2 quarterback. He’s a former five-star recruit who comes from a famous family of highly successful quarterbacks. He’s expected to be a star. And his performance in Texas’ spring game earlier this year did nothing to quell those expectations (Arch passed for 355 yards and three touchdowns in the Longhorns’ spring game).
Manning has attempted just five passes as a college quarterback. There’s no doubt that Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian wants to get him some more reps during games. And not just because he needs the experience, but because he also brings a running element to the table that Ewers doesn’t. “Arch, the thing about him that I think most people probably don’t give him enough credit for, he is a really good athlete,” said Sarkisian earlier this spring. “He’s big, he’s strong, and he’s fast….Sometimes he’ll lean into using his legs to create explosive plays.” CBS Sports suggested earlier this spring that Sarkisian should create a red zone package for Manning, much like Florida did with Tim Tebow in 2006.
But despite the need for more reps and the explosive running ability that Manning brings, it sounds like Sarkisian won’t be forcing the young quarterback into the game plan early in the season. Sark was asked on Monday if he wants to get Manning some snaps in September. “Of course I do,” said Sarkisian. When asked if he’ll force it with Manning, Sarkisian responded simply by saying “no”. So it sounds like Manning will be treated just like any other backup quarterback in the nation. If Texas is winning in blowout fashion, we’ll probably see Manning come into the game. Otherwise, it’s going to be the Quinn Ewers show in Austin.
Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh has been circling the wagons in recent days in defense of his time at the University of Michigan. On Wednesday, the NCAA announced that the ex-Michigan head man was handed a “four-year show-cause order,” banning him from returning to a athletic jobs at an NCAA member institution for “recruiting violations (and) unethical conduct” in the fallout of his former program’s infamous sign-stealing scandal. Harbaugh has consistently denied any knowledge of the scheme. Harbaugh’s famous attorney Tom Mars, who has handled a number of cases involving the NCAA, issued a statement after the ruling. The Chargers open the preseason on Saturday, Aug. 10 against the Seattle Seahawks in L.A. Harbaugh’s Chargers’ regular-season opener is scheduled for Sept. 8 (also at home), against Antonio Pierce, Maxx Crosby and the Las Vegas Raiders.