Yankees in MLB's second half: Five questions as they return from All-Star break

The Yankees resume the regular season Friday at the Stadium as the Rays visit for a four-game wrap-around series that concludes Monday afternoon. Following that is a two-game Subway Series set against the resurgent Mets at Yankee Stadium, then what shapes up as a difficult six-game trip – to Boston and Philadelphia – to finish July. The Yankees entered the All-Star break 58-40, one game behind the favored Orioles in the chase for the American League East. The Yankees skidded into the break in an 8-18 stretch, the downturn raising many questions about what lies ahead in the second half. Among them:

1. Who are the real Yankees?

The Yankees went from Team Superb to Team Stink in the proverbial snap of the fingers. After upping their record to an MLB-best 50-22 with a victory June 14 in Boston, the Yankees went 8-18 from there. But the Orioles weren’t able to completely capitalize, having their worst downturn on the first half, going 13-14 in that same stretch from June 15. As dispiriting as last Sunday’s 6-5 walk-off loss in Baltimore was – a slightly off Clay Holmes combined with defensive blunders by Anthony Volpe and Alex Verdugo helped flush the 5-3 lead Ben Rice’s three-run homer in the top of the ninth provided – more positives than negatives came out of the series. Starting with the fact the Yankees, who took the first two games, actually won the series; their first series win in a month (they were 0-7-1 in their previous eight). Aaron Boone’s belief, as well as the belief in the clubhouse, is those first two games signaled the turnaround everyone in a Yankees uniform said for the last month was coming. That will be tested right out of the gate with the Rays, even in down seasons like this one still always a thorn in the Yankees side, coming to town Friday. The August schedule appears light but the Yankees, with four seemingly tough series to open the second half, have to get there first. Presumably in the coming weeks Giancarlo Stanton’s bat, which produced 18 homers, will return, which the Yankees hope will lengthen a lineup that got thin in a hurry when he went down in late June.

2. What will the July 30 trade deadline bring?

There are no great mysteries here in terms of needs for the Yankees; it really will come down to what they are willing to surrender in terms of prospects – and/or desired players from the big-league roster – in order to consummate deals. The Yankees are in the market for one or two bats – preferably belonging to a corner infielder – as well as a stud reliever or two. In line with the sport’s time-worn cliché that “you can never have enough starting pitching,” the Yankees bolstering that area can never be ruled out. And while the Yankees believe in backup Carlos Narvaez defensively, with Jose Trevino lost for a while with a significant quad strain, don’t be shocked if they acquire veteran catching depth.

3. What do the Yankees have with Anthony Volpe?

Volpe, who won the AL Gold Glove as a rookie last season, struggled throughout much of 2023 at the plate, hardly resembling the advanced-plate-discipline-hit-to-all-fields player he mostly was during his short climb through the Yankees’ system before reaching the majors. The second-year shortstop made some alterations over the winter that paid dividends in the spring and the early part of the regular season. As recently as June 5, Volpe, 23, was hitting .290 with an .803 OPS, and it was not a coincidence his consistent production in the leadoff spot overlapped with the Yankees playing some of their best baseball of the season. Though not all cause-and-effect, it is also not a coincidence that Volpe’s long slump to end the first half – a slump that saw him hit .171 with no homers and a .433 OPS from June 6 on and ultimately getting demoted from the leadoff spot – coincided with the Yankees’ struggles to end the first half. Though much has been made of Volpe’s difficulties at the plate, it should be pointed out he so far has been better in the field than in his Gold Glove rookie season. The spectacular play – whether it be diving stops to his right or left followed by on-the-money throws, or terrific running catches into the outfield grass on bloops – has become routine. Though, oddly, it’s been the routine play at times, such as Sunday’s error in Baltimore, that have bitten him and given him a higher error total (10) than a fielder of his caliber should have.

4. Will Aaron Judge make a second run in three years at 60 home runs?

Though currently on pace to finish the season with 57 homers, anyone want to bet against Judge here? This season the centerfielder became the first Yankee in franchise history to reach the All-Star break with 34 homers, the result of a remarkable two-month stretch that followed an opening month in which Judge failed to hit .200. Judge, who hit an AL record 62 homers in his 2022 AL MVP season, was hitting .197 with just six homers and a .725 OPS as of May 2 (through the first 33 games). In 63 games since, Judge, even taking into account a mini-slump during the week leading up to the All-Star break, hit .367 with 28 homers and a 1.324 OPS. No one should be surprised if, come the end of September, Judge is again knocking on the door of 60.

5. Will Juan Soto sign an in-season extension?

The short answer remains, as it has since the Yankees acquired Soto last winter, no. It is not a secret Soto’s agent, Scott Boras, almost always takes his clients into free agency, and there’s no reason to think that won’t be the case with a player Boras earlier this season called a “centurion” – in Boras-speak, the kind of player that comes around only occasionally in a century. Soto is a four-time All-Star at the age of 25 and with multiple big-money teams potentially interested in the outfielder’s services – and Steve Cohen’s Mets are on that list – Boras would be committing an agent version of malpractice by not exploring just how high the bidding could go (many in the industry believe whatever package Soto gets, it will be at least $500 million, with the possibility it being quite a bit more than that). Hal Steinbrenner created headlines in mid-May by saying he was willing to talk extension in-season – something the Yankees’ managing general partner has rarely has done during his ownership, though it’s not completely without precedent – and Boras and Soto each said that, why, yes, of course, they’d be happy to listen. And that was about the extent of it. All involved had their roles to play and all played them well. To be continued in the winter.