Yanks entering play today are one of the worst teams in baseball in the second half. Thankfully, they were the best team in baseball in the first half by a wide margin and are still 10 games up in their division. But the shine is starting to fade a bit. Here are the things that have gone wrong

1. Stanton hit the IL. Stanton had been slumping, but he is still a tough AB. He extends the lineup and he made guys around him better by putting in good at bats. Also, you cannot replace the home run power he brought and his ability to absolutely demolish the Red Sox. Thankfully, he is nearing a rehab assignment

2. Carpenter breaks his foot. Shitty timing for a guy who was probably about to steal comeback player of the year away from Lemahieu. He will likely be back for the playoffs

3. Torres hits a slump. Torres' slump is coinciding with him quietly getting a cortisone shot over the ASB. Since the ASB, he has had no power. He's rolling over on everything and has shown limited signs of improvement.

4. Hicks still slumping and Bader on the mend. Yanks got Bader for a reason, who is a near All Star level player when healthy. Instead we have run Hicks out there who, outside of one big month, has been an absolute minus all year.

5. Pen implosion. Green went down and they didnt miss a beat. Chappy got the yips and we kept rolling. Loaisiga struggled and we crushed. Once we lost King, things changed. Boone started asking Holmes for more than one inning and he imploded. We went to guys like Abreu in big spots and they couldnt handle it. We brought in reinforcements, but havent worked them into the mix yet.

Now that this team is starting to fade, it is time to make some changes....

1. Get healthy. That is the most important thing. If you get Stanton back at DH and Bader in CF, you can remove Hicks from the lineup and stabilize the middle of the order. Bader isnt having the biggest offensive year, but he is coming off two seasons of 110+wRC+ while also providing gold glove defense. Also monitor the progress of Carpenter. Adding him for the playoffs as a bench bat would be huge for this lineup

2. Promote Peraza. Since June 1, he's got a .297/.357/.520 slash with 17 steals and 11 bombs while playing stellar defense. In promoting Peraza, send Torres to the IL. Let the wrist heal and see if he can get his power stroke back. The Torres of right now does not help this team.

3. Put Chapman back at closer. Move Holmes to mop up for a week or two until he can get his location back then redeploy him in the late innings. Use Effross, Peralta, Luetge and Trivino in the middle innings and for GOD SAKES bring up Marinaccio. The guy has been nails and we sent him down because he had options. Fucking A, we need him back