Yankees' issues on display in return from All-Star break

The New York Yankees are most likely going to find themselves in the playoffs this season. But even if they do, they have some serious potential flaws that are going to limit their ceiling. All of those flaws were on display on Friday night in their return from the All-Star break.

Those flaws not only include pitching depth issues in the starting rotation and bullpen, but also the same sort of fundamental issues that plagued the Yankees throughout the 2024 season and ultimately helped burn them in the World Series. 

The Yankees are already dealing with starting pitcher injuries that have taken Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt out of their rotation, but they have also not had a consistently effective bullpen. Both of those issues met head-on on Friday as they opened the second half with a bullpen game that produced a 7-3 loss to the Atlanta Braves. 

They clearly need to add some serious pitching help before the July 31 deadline.

But even that might not be enough if they do not clean up some of the fundamental issues the rest of the roster has. 

While those issues are typically related to their play in the field, they surfaced on Friday night on the base paths when third baseman Jorbit Vivas was thrown out at third base on a play that should have easily resulted in him moving up 90 feet.