Michael Kay, Paul ONeill open up on the state of Yankees heading into second half and whats the biggest concern
Before the Yankees took the field again for the second half, YES broadcasters Michael Kay and Paul O’Neill fielded some questions about the Bombers from The Post’s Steve Serby.Q: The state of the Yankees?Kay: I think they’re grinding, they’re battling, going through a lot of injuries.… I truly believe if they’re 100 percent healthy, they’re by far the best team in the American League.
I think the league is really weak this year.I think when the Yankees have [Max] Fried and [Carlos] Rodón to go along with [Cam] Schlittler and [Gerrit] Cole, that’s their best starting rotation.
Obviously they need [Aaron] Judge back and if they get [Giancarlo] Stanton back, I think it lengthens the lineup.Now are they gonna get all of them back? That’s anybody’s guess.
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O’Neill: Well if you’d have asked me a week ago going into Tampa Bay and the way Tampa Bay was playing, and the way the Yankees were playing, they could have played themselves out of the American League East, but they didn’t.They had a nice little run going up to the All-Star break, and so I think that you’re back on solid ground as far as looking to try to win the American League East.Q: What would be the Yankees’ biggest concern?O’Neill: You can nitpick and break everything down, it’s basically consistency.
They go through these unbelievable times where they look like a great baseball team, and then all of a sudden they fall off a cliff.It’s kinda baffling at times.Kay: Not getting Judge back.
That’s the key to everything.People go, “Why don’t you have reinforcements?” There’s nobody that can be Judge.
Judge is a once-in-a-generation player, so when you take him out of the equation it changes everything and I think you’ve seen that … he’s the most important person on any te...