The New York Yankees need to get Aaron Judge some supportAdam Hunger/Getty Images

For the first month of the 2024 Major League Baseball season, the New York Yankees were rather potent on offense. Even with Aaron Judge struggling to get into a groove, they stormed out to a 19-10 start, averaging well over five runs per game.

Then, in May, Judge joined the party in a big way and the starting rotation went on an outrageous heater, posting a 2.02 ERA across 28 starts. In particular, Luis Gil transformed from someone they were just hoping could hold down the fort until Gerrit Cole got healthy into a viable Cy Young candidate with seven consecutive starts in which he allowed zero or one run.

At the end of play on June 12, the Yankees had the best record in baseball (49-21), had scored more runs (356) than any other team and had allowed fewer runs (228) than every other team.

Throw in Cole being on the verge of making his 2024 debut and it felt like everything was coming up roses for the Bronx Bombers.

But now?

The Yankees suck.

“Hopefully we can add some outside pieces that will benefit us at some point,” said Yankees GM Brian Cashman on Tuesday.

Their sinking season is all anyone has been able to talk about in recent days, and it begs the question: Can they salvage what has become a complete mess?

What the Heck Happened?

New York has gone 6-17 in its last 23 games, good for the worst record in baseball.

Yes, even worse than the atrocious, might-set-a-record-for-most-losses-in-a-season Chicago White Sox.

The offense has shouldered most of the blame for the shortcomings, as the lineup has devolved into Judge and Juan Soto as the lone beacons of light in what otherwise feels like a sea of helpless hackers. (Well, aside from Rookie Ben Rice, who has been hot as of late.)

With the exception of Nestor Cortes, though, the pitching has been the even bigger problem, as the five aces rotation from May feels like it was a lifetime ago.

Marcus Stroman has a 6.43 ERA in his last four starts, but, sadly, he has been the Yankees’ second-best starter as of late, with Cole at 6.75, Gil at 7.59 and Carlos Rodón wearing five straight L’s with an ERA north of 10.

Closer Clay Holmes is right there with Rodón at a 10.80 ERA, blowing both of the save opportunities he has received in the past month. (As an entire team, the Yankees haven’t converted a save since June 10.)

After emerging as the team to beat through 70 games, they suddenly seem helpless, even though Judge might set the single-season record for home runs.

If this sounds all too familiar to what happened two years ago, you’re not wrong. This is the same team that started out 61-23 in 2022, only to play sub-.500 baseball the rest of the way before getting swept out of the ALCS by the Houston Astros.

They need to address some of their weakest links before this chain irreparably breaks again.

“We definitely have areas to improve upon, and we’ll do our best to do so,” said Cashman.

He didn’t specify which areas they’ll be looking to improve, but there are three pretty obvious ones.

Second Base and/or Third Base

Luis Rengifo would be a great deadline acquisition for the YankeesJohn Cordes/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Between Gleyber Torres, Oswaldo Cabrera and DJ LeMahieu, the Yankees are getting a whole lot of nothing from second base and third base. For the year, it’s a .635 OPS at the former and a .606 OPS at the latter, with no substantial value added on defense, either.

Mike Francesca suggested on Monday that the Yankees should trade for Jeff McNeil, but do we even believe that’s an upgrade?

McNeil was a batting champ two years ago and hit .307 for his first five years in the big leagues, but he has been on a Tim Anderson-like rapid decline since turning 31 and hasn’t been able to hit the broad side of a barn this season. Plus, his back-loaded, four-year, $50M contract has only begun to get painful, owed $15.75M for each of the next two seasons.

If the Yankees are willing to make that much of an investment, forget about McNeil and see if the Giants would consider parting with Matt Chapman.

Chappy is making $18M this season with a $17M player option for 2025, an $18M player option for 2026 and a $20M mutual option for 2027. Considering he has already been worth 3.6 bWAR this season, though, odds are he’s going to opt out in a few months, at which point the Yankees would just owe him a $2M buyout.

Most teams want nothing to do with trading for a guy holding a player option, let alone several years’ worth of player options. However, this is a spot where it would make sense. Pairing Chapman’s elite glove with Anthony Volpe’s would give the Yankees an incredible left side of the infield on defense, and his slugging percentage (.423) dwarfs what the Yanks are currently getting from Cabrera (.343) and LeMahieu (.223).

The most likely/logical solution, though, is Luis Rengifo.

The Angels’ utilityman is batting .315 with an .800 OPS and 22 stolen bases. He’s making just $4.4M this season—also read as roughly a $1.5M prorated salary if acquired at the deadline—and he has one year of arbitration eligibility remaining. Plus, the fact that he has spent this season primarily bouncing between second base and third base would give the Yankees some flexibility in trying to address both of those black holes.

(Rengifo is currently on the IL with a wrist injury, but is expected to return shortly after the All-Star Break—i.e. before the trade deadline.)

One Outfield Spot

Brent Rooker would be a huge, inexpensive boostLachlan Cunningham/Getty Images

Alex Verdugo was initially a solid offseason acquisition, but he has triple-slashed .226/.261/.368 since May 8. He isn’t hurting the offense as much as second base and third base are, but he’s basically a replacement level player for which there are quite a few intriguing replacement options.

The marquee one, of course, is Luis Robert Jr., who we’ve been talking about as a coveted trade candidate since before the regular season began.

The White Sox centerfielder is making $12.5M this season (a little over $4M prorated as of July 30) and $15M in 2025 before $20M club options for 2026 and 2027. Not only would acquiring his slugging prowess spruce up the 2024 lineup, but having Robert under contract for up to three more years would help soften the blow if Soto signs elsewhere this offseason.

Another long-term option is Jazz Chisholm Jr., who has recently been mentioned as a player likely to be traded.

Chisholm’s $2.625M salary this season wouldn’t even be a full million prorated for two months, and he is arbitration-eligible for two more years. His bat doesn’t pack the same punch as Robert’s, as Chisholm has the same number of home runs this season (10) in more than twice as many plate appearances. Still, 61 home runs and 74 stolen bases with a .251 batting average since the beginning of 2021 is nothing to scoff at.

The even longer-term and arguably best solution, though, is Brent Rooker.

Oakland’s top slugger has primarily served as a DH this season, but he has played a fair amount of corner outfield in his career. Even if he’s a slight step down from Verdugo with his glove in left, no one is going to care in the slightest about that if he brings his .891 OPS with him to the Yankees.

And as far as salary goes, it’s pittance. Rooker is only making $750,000 this season, and he has three more years of arbitration eligibility remaining before reaching free agency.

They would need to part with some serious prospect capital to get him, but that’s also true for 2.5 years of Chisholm or 3.5 years of Robert. Quality outfielders don’t come cheap.

Rooker might be the one most worth it, though. At any rate, it’d be fun to add him to the mix right as Giancarlo Stanton is coming back from the IL.

Left-Handed Reliever / Closer

Tanner Scott is easily the best left-handed reliever on this year’s trade block.Rich Storry/Getty Images

You don’t necessarily need a left-handed relief pitcher. The Astros won the World Series in 2022 without using any, and darn near got back to the promised land last year without having an LH RP on their postseason roster.

But they’re nice to have, and the Yankees have certainly been trying to find one that they like.

The offseason acquisitions of former Dodgers Caleb Ferguson and Victor González didn’t pan out. The former has a 5.46 ERA and the latter was sent to the minors a few weeks ago when they scooped up Tim Hill from the White Sox.

Hill has been OK thus far with the Yankees, but has been a below replacement-level player for his career. New York also recently called up Josh Maciejewski again, but they’ve only used him in mop-up roles thus far.

What they need is Tanner Scott.

The left-handed closer of the Marlins has a 1.42 ERA this season and could be a major addition as either the set-up man to Holmes or the replacement for him in the ninth inning, considering New York’s current closer has a 6.75 ERA over his last 17 appearances, blowing four saves in 10 chances.

Scott’s $5.9M salary would be less than $2M prorated.

So…How Aggressive Will They Actually Be?

The 2022 Yankees tried to plug the holes in their similarly sinking ship via trades, but it was mostly square pegs in round holes. Andrew Benintendi was nowhere near the same hitter after landing in the Bronx and got hurt a month later anyway. The Frankie Montas acquisition was a disaster. And by the time Harrison Bader got healthy, it was too little too late to fix a broken offense.

They need to do a better job this time around, which isn’t going to be easy when they already have the highest payroll in the majors.

The Yankees did have the fifth-best farm system in our latest rankings from Joel Reuter and theoretically could swing something big, but how much more are they willing and able to spend?

As is, they’re on track for a substantial luxury tax bill. We’re talking an estimated $62 million payment as a third-time CBT offender, even if they add nothing else.

What we’re also talking about is—aside from the Dallas Cowboys—the most valuable franchise in any sport, and one that is desperately trying to avoid what would be a 15th consecutive year failing to reach (let alone win) the World Series.

If any team can find the money and the motivation to spend like there’s no tomorrow, it’s this one.

They could get Robert, Chapman and several of the best relievers if they really wanted to.

But for a team that is just three games behind Baltimore for first place in the AL East with a six-game cushion over Kansas City as the best AL team not currently in the playoff picture, they might take a more budget-conscious approach.

As poorly as things have gone in recent weeks, they’re still in good shape, should be getting Stanton back shortly after the break and may have found something in Rice. And they could add all of Rengifo, Rooker and Scott while increasing the payroll by less than $4 million.

If they go that inexpensive route and it blows up in their face, though, buckle up for louder and even-more-disgruntled-than-usual Yankees fans longing for the days when George Steinbrenner would spare no expense to build a champion.

If they penny-pinch at the deadline and fail to re-sign Soto this winter, there might be pitchforks and torches.