Michael Kay SPEECHLESS on Yankees ‘epically bad’ situation, grows concern on Alex Verdugo and Clay Holmes’ performance

Sports critics talk about NY Yankees roster moves, and future plans as their playoff dream hangs by thread with nearing the end of regular season games.

Michael Kay SPEECHLESS on Yankees ‘epically bad’ situation, grows concern on Alex Verdugo and Clay Holmes’ performance

Clay Holmes, Michael Kay, Alex Verdugo [Image Credit: NY Post/Fox News/Imago]

Over the months, especially in September, fans and critics talked about their concerns regarding the New York Yankees’ sinking performance with only 23 games remaining for the season. Their recent performance, and epic 6-10 loss against Texas Rangers on Wednesday, provided a fatal blow to the team record.

They currently sit only half a game ahead of their AL East divisional rivals, the Baltimore Orioles following the team’s devastating loss against the league-worst Chicago White Sox. The Yankees roster needs a solid boost to save themselves from a Wild Card drop and to secure their place for playoffs.

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However, a couple of player’s slumps in the lineup have greatly affected the team’s performance. One can say the team is mostly led by Aaron Judge and Juan Soto, along with Jazz Chisholm Jr., and Giancarlo Stanton.

Concerns have been growing regarding the performance of Alex Verdugo and Clay Holmes, especially after their loss against Rangers. NY Yankees play-by-play broadcaster Michael Kay recently gave harsh feedback on the current team and their probable future if the Yankees don’t make any drastic changes in the lineup.

Yanks pitcher Holmes recorded a crushing 11th blown save of the season, ending the game with a dramatic grand-slam by rookie Wyatt Langford of the Rangers. Looking at the result, Kay stated how the Yankees should look for more bullpen options and explore their pitchers a bit more, as Holmes cannot be trusted with closing games at least at the moment.

It’s all happening in his mind. Last night was epically bad. I don’t think you can close with Clay Holmes anymore. It was a terrible, terrible loss. You cannot close with this guy.
Michael Kay on ESPN.

Michael Kay was even speechless to see how Alex Verdugo seemed to give up on running to the bases during the game against the Rangers. Although he would’ve been out regardless, Verdugo’s running situation has been called on many times by the fans and critics in the past too.

Kay even questioned if there was anything wrong with his leg, and if not why is he not running with all his might. Even fans are extremely frustrated with Verdugo’s performance, although manager Aaron Boone has a different opinion on it.

Aaron Boone defends Alex Verdugo despite outfielder’s slumping performance

Despite all the criticisms the NY outfielder is getting; manager Aaron Boone stands firm in support of Alex Verdugo. Boone claimed that the 28-year-old is already playing with all his might and he sees no problem with his performance.

Alex Verdugo and Aaron Boone
Alex Verdugo and Aaron Boone [Image Credit: SI/CBS Sports]

Boone even stated that they intend to get “creative” with the closer role, which can be interpreted as the Yankees changing lineup according to situations on the field. Despite Clay Holmes and Verdugo’s performance, Boone believes there’s enough time for them to turn it around.

He’s beat up. He’s playing his a** off…You see him beat it out when he needs to…I don’t have any issue with how hard he’s playing the game.
Aaron Boone on Alex Verdugo.

Verdugo also expressed he was “fine”, and it provided more questions to arise as to why his performance has been on the downplay in the last few games. On the other hand, Austin Wells is expected to make a comeback after he missed two games due to his bruised hand. He may be on the roster on Friday during the Yanks game against Chicago. Clarke Schmidt is also nearing his return after getting sidelined with a lat injury.

Even baseball critic Joel Sherman expressed how he wants to see Luis Gil at the back of the Yankees lineup as “this bullpen at the end is not good enough.” “I would try something drastic,” he added. Now it only remains to see how the Yankees will perform in their last few games, and whether their changes and current rotation is enough to participate in the 2024 playoff.

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