A rival evaluator assessed what the New York Yankees' lineup has accomplished so far this year, with all of the contact at the plate being made by the likes of DJ LeMahieu and Gio Urshela, and especially with their success with runners in scoring position. There are probably teams, he joked, who can't wait for the big guys -- outfielders Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton -- to come back, because of their tendency to strike out.
Soon enough, the Yankees will be going all-in on power in the lineup, because Judge and Stanton will be back, to join the newly acquired Edwin Encarnacion. There will be days when the Yankees' scorecard could look something like this:
1B DJ LeMahieu
LF Aaron Judge
CF Aaron Hicks
C Gary Sanchez
RF Giancarlo Stanton
SS Didi Gregorius
DH Edwin Encarnacion
2B Gleyber Torres
3B Gio Urshela
Or maybe Sanchez bats right behind Judge, with Hicks, a switch-hitter, splitting up Sanchez and Stanton. Or maybe Encarnacion will hit higher. Or maybe Torres will hit ninth. Or maybe Luke Voit or Brett Gardner will get hot and Yankees manager Aaron Boone will have the flexibility to just go with whoever happens to be swinging the best.
But the Yankees will have incredible power, with tons of experience, and a high on-base percentage. It will be a nightmare for anybody with mediocre stuff, anybody who tends to allow fly balls -- especially when playing in Yankee Stadium, with the right-field stands that hitters can seemingly reach out and touch from the batter's box. The deal for Encarnacion should improve the Yankees' lineup in the regular season, unquestionably: A hitter with 401 career homers will be a complementary piece in this arrangement of prolific hitters. They will embarrass teams such as the Baltimore Orioles.
This group also will be slower with Encarnacion, and yes, one with more strikeouts. Last year, Encarnacion had 132 K's for the Cleveland Indians, while Judge had 152 and Stanton 211 for the Yankees. Opposing pitchers thought there were ways to navigate through the 2018 Yankees because of the strikeouts and the station-to-station nature of the lineup. Assuming the Yankees reach the postseason, they will have to prove that a lineup with all of them in it can perform against the best pitchers -- starters such as Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, Blake Snell, Charlie Morton, Jake Odorizzi, Jose Berrios and the like.
Encarnacion will help the Yankees slug past their other weaknesses in July, August and September. But the Yankees' postseason chances probably will be more greatly impacted by whatever moves general manager Brian Cashman makes to upgrade the pitching staff before July 31.