Yankees Power Numbers: Anemic

Yes, they rank sixth in the AL with 60 homers, which is not horrible.

But a third of those are coming from one guy, A-Schmuck.

That is pathetic.

When Old York won all thoe championships in the '90s, they had more balance. The home run leaders those years were as follows:

'96: Bernie Williams - 29
'98: Tino Martinez - 28
'99: Tino Martinez - 28
'00: Bernie Williams - 30

Nobody hit more than 30 those years, but the difference is that you had a bunch of other guys who hit in the 20s or high teens. This year, A-Schmuck is on pace to hit 59 dingers. No one else is on pace to get close to 30. Right now, after A-Rod you have the Juicer and Ringo Posada tied for second with seven each. We know that the Giambino is out of commission for a while, and Ringo may very well cool off considering that he's a 35-year-old catcher.

Abreu, Jeter, Shemp, Damon, Phelps, and Cano are simply not hitting homers. So I'm reminded of those teams with one huge home run guy, say the Cardinals of the late '90s with McGuire, or the Giants with Bonds, or the Cubs back in Sammy's heyday, and those teams never got anywhere, save for the '02 Giants.

So when Snorre is teeing off in early October, we can add this as reason #1017.