Yankees Second-Half Preview: Cody Bellinger, Trade Deadline & Dodgers Series

The Yankees are going to get back in the regular season swing of things on Friday when they welcome the back-to-back world champion Dodgers to the stadium for a three-game set. But the Bronx Bombers are coming off some good vibes at the All-Star game. Will that help them? Will it propel them down the stretch of the season? That is the question. Let's talk about it with the Yanks beat reporter for the New York Post. It's my guy Greg Joyce who joins me now. Greg, what's going on? Long time no see, man. How you doing, Dexter? Thanks for having me. I'm doing good, man. Always good to talk to you. Greg, let's start with this. Cody Bellinger drove in two runs in the All-Star game. He was named MVP of the Midsummer Classic. How big of a moment is this for Bellinger who we know isn't the same player that he was when he won the NL MVP award back in 2019? And what has his reinvention meant to the Bronx Bombers this season? Yeah, for an exhibition, I think it's still meaningful for a guy. This was his first All-Star game since 2019. I think he even said last night, you make a couple errors in your career, you kind of think that you're going to be going to the All-Star game almost every year. And then he went seven years in between going. So I think that for a guy like that, even though he's been to a couple, the fact that there was that kind of break, kind of stretch of his career where he wasn't making the All-Star games and kind of had to go through some injury struggles, go through underperformance, kind of, like you said, reinvent himself a little bit, come back and to be able to make, not just make the All-Star game, but then have an impact in it when the MVP, I think that's meaningful. You know, it was kind of a classic Bellinger at bat situation there, bases loaded, left on left, and just kind of puts one in play up the middle. So I think that's a feel good story for him. You know, and he's been so important to what they've done in the first half. You know, kind of having a hand in all areas of the game. Like he's, you know, he's really good at everything almost. And, you know, he's been one of the best defensive left fielders in the game. You know, he went through a rough stretch during the Yankees, rough stretch offensively, which didn't help get them out of it quickly. But, you know, on the whole, he's been really good offensively for them. You know, runs the base as well, does everything well. So it's a nice reward for him, for a guy that's kind of stuck with it and is having a big year for the Yankees to kind of see that play out. You know, I know that feels good for him about that. Yeah, I know he's got to feel good for himself about that too. And I love what you said there, just sticking with it. That has been the story of Cody Bellinger. But Greg, when you look at the Yankees heading into the post-All-Star break portion of the season, right now we see that they have the second best record in the American League. They have the best run differential in the league. However, some people are going to point to their struggles scoring runs, particularly without Aaron Judge in the lineup. And then also that stretch you mentioned, that recent late June or early July 4 and 14 stretch. So when you look at this team, my question for you is, are the Yankees a really good team? Or do you look at them as a really confusing team with the numbers I mentioned and in that stretch we saw recently from them? How do you look at the Yankees? Yeah, maybe a little bit of both. You know, tough to figure out just because I think if you got, you know, if you did like a mid-season evaluation in the middle of June, you know, you'd be feeling pretty good about themselves. You know, they'd obviously gotten up to a strong stretch. And even the first couple of weeks without Aaron Judge, you know, they were kind of holding their own. I think they started, or they had a 9-3 stretch in there before the 4-14. So, you know, they had done well early on to kind of survive his absence. Then all of a sudden everybody goes cold at the same time. You know, the rotation had some pickups in there too. The defense was pretty bad. The base running was, which had been pretty good, you know, early in the season. All of a sudden guys started making some mistakes there. So it seemed like everything went bad all at once. And that obviously shades the how you feel about the team at the break. They, you know, they did play well last four games before the break to end on a high note. But it just shows you that, you know, how quickly you can kind of, you know, those good feelings, how you're, you know, everybody playing well can go off the rails real quick if, especially when everybody kind of does it together. So be interested to see how they kind of respond in the second half. Obviously, you know, if you, we told you going into the season that they would be in this position, you know, where they are, I think it's fifth best record in the majors. Having missed Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Max Freed, Carlos Rodon for big stretches, I think you generally feel pretty good about where they are at right now. But obviously, kind of watching it during that 4-14 stretch, it kind of rings those alarm bells because it's, you know, it's stuff we've seen in past seasons kind of helped derail seasons, whether it's, you know, middle of the year or in October. So I think just kind of seeing it play out, you know, before your eyes kind of gives you some concern. But obviously how they respond here in the second half, when they get Judge back, you know, it looks like Freed should be back in early August, same with Rodon. So we'll see, you know, when they get those guys back, what they look like when they do return. But obviously it's important for them to kind of tread water until they get those guys back. I'm glad, Greg, you mentioned getting some of those guys back because that's part of where I wanted to go next year, because with the trade deadline looming, do you expect Brian Cashman to be aggressive at the deadline and try to address the team's shortcomings? Or do you think that he'll largely look at the potential returns of Aaron Judge, Max Freed, John Carlos Stanton, Carlos Rodon, and Clark Schmidt as that will be the Yankees' second half upgrades? What way do you think Brian Cashman could move here at the deadline? Yeah, I think getting those guys back will help. But I do think they'll try to be, you know, as aggressive as they can at the deadline. The one kind of big hold up at this point is that, you know, with the playoff format, it's almost like everybody's still in it. The teams that you expected to be sellers maybe aren't clear-cut sellers at this point. And so there's only a handful of teams, you know, at least with a few weeks to go before the deadline that are obvious sellers at this point. Some teams trying to kind of play their way into at least being a middle ground or even buyers. Obviously, you know, the Yankees just faced, during that rough stretch, faced the Tigers twice, faced the Red Sox, faced the Twins, and kind of helped all those teams feel a bit better about themselves that, you know, maybe they were going to be sellers before then. And now maybe see how the next few weeks play out. So we'll see where it ends up. But I think they still, you know, regardless of getting those guys back from the IL, it's still pretty clear they need to get a catcher in here, probably a right-handed bat who can, at the very least, platoon with Austin Wells, if not take on, you know, some more of the playing time. Obviously, they need some bullpen help. The bullpen has actually been all right. You know, I think they lead the league in ERA. But obviously, just when you look at it in terms of who you can trust down there in the late innings, it's not flush with guys beyond, you know, the guys that Aaron Boone has gone to almost every day, like David Bednar, Fernando Cruz, Brent Hendrick, and even of late Paul Blackburn. But, you know, if they can get some more guys down there, more sure things down there, I think they'll try to. And then you look at the starting pitching to obviously getting Fried and Rodon back, hopefully, they hope next month, it will be important, but obviously got to get there. And the pitching depth is obviously taking some hits a little thin right now. So do they try to get someone to eat some innings until they get those guys healthy? We'll see. So obviously, you know, a number of areas to address there and trying to figure out how to do that with maybe a limited marketplace. But I do expect him, you know, Brian Cashman to try to be aggressive there as he's proven that he'll, you know, he'll do if he feels like he has a good enough team to go for it. Yeah, he has proven that in the past. It'd be very interesting to see what the Yanks do at the deadline. Last thing for me here, Greg, three game set, as we mentioned for the Yanks this weekend with going against the team with the best record in baseball, that would be the Dodgers in the boogie down Bronx. So considering that the Yanks have a 15 and 15 record against teams with above 500 records this season, how important is this series for the Yankees? And do you think a strong performance here this weekend can propel them to greater heights following the break? Yeah, I think it's a good one, you know, a good one to start off on kind of a gut check there. And obviously, it's like you said, it can kind of if they take the series can give them some momentum going into the second half. You know, if they don't take it, then there's more questions about what, you know, did they really turn around? Are they still stuck in that that rut? You know, the sad about team, you know, facing teams above 500. They obviously haven't played their best in general against those teams. But I think, you know, if I go back and forth on the status, because I think the Nationals were above 500 before that series began last weekend, then by the end of it, they are under 500. So that's that kind of changes all around. But you know, it's I think, in context, it is, you know, something to look at. But if they can, obviously, you know, facing the Dodgers this weekend is the best of the best. It's, you know, it should be a pretty good showdown between those two teams. And kind of starting the second half on that note is a it feels like a big series for you know, you know, they had one in Tampa earlier this month, you know, with the team that they're trailing in the division. They were able to get out of there with the series split. So we'll see what they do this weekend. But obviously, it'd be a good test right away. And like I said, they're doing it without without some key guys, those, you know, judging standing aren't exactly close to coming back. So you know, they're gonna have to find a way to kind of survive without them for at least their foreseeable future and do try to do it against a really good Dodgers team this week will be a pretty good test. Yeah, it would be huge for them to take the series, especially without those guys. They're in the lineup Yankees, hopefully trying to get healthy, get some guys back as they approach the trade deadline. We'll see how the Yankees do in the second half of the season here. That is Greg Joyce. You can catch him doing a fantastic job covering the Yankees for us here with the New York Post. Greg, always good to see you and talk some Yankee baseball. We'll do it again soon. You got it. Thanks.