so the question is did he just wake up and stop hitting for life? Or was it just an off-year? We’ll find out.”

If only we had fancy, schmancy indicators of hitting that might lead us to a more concrete solution?

Those indicators won’t tell you what the guy will do next year. You might have data points that tell you Josh wasn’t unlucky in 2022, he just sucked at hitting. But the same types of data might tell Josh exactly what he was doing wrong and how to adjust. What did the fancy new data tell us about Matt Carpenter at the end of 2021?

As a Yankee fan I'd much rather see them ship out Donaldson and Kiner-Falefa for whatever cost saving they can get, and let Volpe, Peraza, and Cabrera play. I don't care how bad they are, give them all 450+ PAs to see what you've got.

I don’t think the Yankees would get anything useful for Donaldson or Kiner-Falefa at the moment, while still having to pay most of their salary, so NYY might as while see how they perform in Spring Training & the early season, hoping a rebound of sorts would justify the roster space/playing time, and/or boost their trade value. You can always release them if it doesn’t pan out.

Mild defenses of these players:

Donaldson was outright horrible in the playoffs (5-29 with 16 K's and zero RBI). He's not quite as bad as he looked against Houston.

Hicks: has pretty much shown that his true talent is a <100 OPS+. If he was your full-time CF, he's not setting the world on fire, but you could do worse. He's not useless and only makes $10M a year through 2026.

Unfortunately, the Yankees have too many of this type of player, they need another star or two.

I don’t think the Yankees would get anything useful for Donaldson or Kiner-Falefa at the moment, while still having to pay most of their salary

I think this is true for Donaldson but I don't think it's true for IKF at all - if you believe bb-ref he was a 3 WAR player last year (FG just 1.3), and it's not like they were stuck with his contract, if they thought he was worthless they could have just not offered him arbitration.

I'm not really seeing the need to move either one if you aren't getting anything back and would need to eat salary. Donaldson was solid enough at 3B and bad with the bat...give him a couple of months to rebound and then make a change if you need to. IKF is fine as a backup infielder who can handle SS, 3B and I'm sure could handle 2B if needed - plus he's the emergency catcher.

But the bigger reason not to move them is you don't have any clearly better options.

Peraza is penciled in as the SS as of right now, but you need some depth behind him and IKF is it. Volpe got 100 good but not great PA at AAA last year...unless he lights the world on fire in Spring training, he should be starting in the minors.

Cabrera was solid last year, but he's your insurance policy at 3B and LF...if you move one of Hicks or Donaldson without getting a replacement there, you're awfully thin or banking on LeMahieu staying healthy and rebounding to play 3B full time. And DJ will likely already be getting a fair amount of playing time at first and second as it is.

Getting rid of Donaldson, Hicks, or IKF back when there were free agent options out there made some sense...getting rid of them for the sake of getting rid of them just doesn't. So absent a trade or getting good production out of 2-3 of Peraza, Cabrera, Volpe and Florial (or one of the OF NRIs they are bringing in) just leaves them short handed and not necessarily better off than they were at the end of the season.

Let Peraza play basically every day at SS, then between Hicks, Cabrera, Donaldson, IKF and DJ, whoever is playing the best gets the starts at 3B and LF, with preference to Cabrera since he's the only one of the group with real upside....then hope someone else steps up, or see what the trade market looks like after Memorial Day.

Well my argument (and this assumes IKF has trade value) is to try trade IKF for a starting left-fielder. (Easier said than done, I know.) Then Cabrera is the backup middle IF, Hicks is the backup OF, Donaldson backup corner IF.

The other thing about Hicks is he's rarely in the lineup long enough to do real damage.

#9: No, no no. The mere presence of Donaldson, Hicks and IKF on the Yanks' 40-man roster does so much damage to the very fabric of this mortal plane of existence that every second that passes puts the entirety of human existence at risk. Do you think we would be this worked up about it if it was just a question of an irrational dislike for three solid ML players, two of whom aren't even overpaid???????

#9: No, no no. The mere presence of Donaldson, Hicks and IKF on the Yanks' 40-man roster does so much damage to the very fabric of this mortal plane of existence that every second that passes puts the entirety of human existence at risk. Do you think we would be this worked up about it if it was just a question of an irrational dislike for three solid ML players, two of whom aren't even overpaid???????

Eh, it's entertainment. Seeing three Rookies put up 3 WAR is fun. Seeing three overpaid veterans making $45M put up 5 WAR sucks. I'd argue NY fans gain in value, even if the team is worse. Let's not kid ourselves. This team is making the playoffs and losing in the first couple rounds again, unless some young players break out. Last year's starting lineup has virtually no chance at a pennant. A lineup with 3-4 above average hitters isn't winning anything, no matter what WAR says.

I hope all the Yankees fans out there are doing okay in these terrible times. I truly can't imagine what it must have been like last year to only win 99 games. God help you if you find yourself in that kind of situation again.

This team is making the playoffs and losing in the first couple rounds again, unless some young players break out.

Yes of course, it can't be a veteran having a bounceback year, a midseason addition, a lucky pitching staff, riding the back of a 10-WAR superstar, or a hot streak timed right in the playoffs. Yes, that is how baseball works.

It's fun in the playoffs when they calculate salary and age of the players to help determine who wins.

I hope all the Yankees fans out there are doing okay in these terrible times. I truly can't imagine what it must have been like last year to only win 99 games. God help you if you find yourself in that kind of situation again.

Don't be so glib. There are 2nd and 3rd graders in the Bronx who have endured their whole lives without seeing a Yankees World Series victory parade that is their birthright. Think of the children.

The Yankees haven't played in the World Series since 2009.
That's 14 years.
The longest period since the pre Babe Ruth era.
This is unacceptable to any True New Yorker!
We need to have an inquiry!

#15 Forget the inquest, I'll just take a walk out my bedroom window. It's too much.