Life Without Jorge Begins

The Yankees turned it up a notch tonight, scoring 12 runs against a pretty solid Minnesota pitching staff. You couldn’t ask for more, especially with the depressing news about Jorge Posada. The Yankees will likely lose Posada for the year (after he has surgery to correct his shoulder), but they can make do with Molina’s terrible production as long as everyone else in the lineup steps up. Cano is already doing that and Melky is doing what he can. However, the DH spot will be integral to what happens to the Yankees for the rest of the year. The club needs another hitter. That’s a fact, not an opinion. A lineup that features both Wilson Betemit or Richie Sexson (DH/1B), Melky Cabrera, and Jose Molina will not take you very far, even if the rest of the lineup can truly hit (every out matters). Cashman has told us that he doesn’t expect much from the market and that the Yankees need to perform up to their abilities, yet you can’t place all of the pressure on 6 guys. This isn’t the National League and there shouldn’t be easy outs in the bottom 1/3 of the order.

If this team expects to journey into the postseason and then have a chance when there, they’ll need two things. A quality starter to displace the extremely lucky Sidney Ponson (28 hits in 22 IP, with 11 BB) or the adventure that is Darrell Rasner (at least until Hughes or Kennedy can pick up the pieces). And, the team will probably need another bat. Remember that Bobby Abreu and Corey Lidle (RIP) deal? Something similar to that package would be nice, albeit I’m not sure if such a deal is out there. There’s a lot to like about the Yankees right now, but they can’t expect Jose Molina to go 3-for-4 every night, and Brett Gardner doesn’t look like he’s figured it out yet. The team has Damon back and Matsui is trying to come back (instead of undergoing advised surgery), but another bat still seems like a good idea.