Man it feels good to be back writing about my beloved New York Yankees! If you don’t already know it, we’ve made some changes to The Subway Beat. Our own Mike Sheerin will handle the reporting in Flushing on his personal favorite Mets. It’s exciting to share the duties here and talk baseball in a fashion that’s best suited for you the fans to consume. Now to the matter at hand, let’s talk about what is working and what isn’t working for the Yankees on route to their 9-7 start.

The Good

Death, Taxes, Judge: We’re really running out of superlatives to describe the brilliance of Aaron Judge. Number 99 is off to his usual brilliant start, hitting .367, with six homers and 20 RBI’s. He’s always been fantastic but perhaps the most exciting thing about Judge’s start is that he’s surrounded by a solid supporting cast that joined this winter. Judge leading Bellinger, Goldschmidt and many more is enough to help carry the offense early on!

Rice in the Thick of It: Speaking of supporting cast, how about Ben Rice?! Yankee fans have complained for years that the lineup has lacked depth. The bombers sought to rectify that by bringing in Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt this winter, and while they have held up their end of the bargain, Ben Rice has outshined them. Number 22 has hit .300, with five homers and seven RBI’s to start the year, which the Yanks will hope to see continue with more reps.

The Bad

Rodon Gets Rocked: Ahhhhhh Carlos Rodon. We’re back on the merry go round with the big lefty and so far the returns aren’t exactly positive. Number 55 was dazzling on opening day against Milwaukee, but since then the wheels have come off. He’s lost his last three decisions, falling to 1-3 on the season with an ERA of 5.48. With Cole out got the year and Gil on the mend, Rodon has to be MUCH better going forward.

Settle Down Devon?!: Since 2013 many men have had to bear the unfortunate burden of Yankee fan expectations for a closer. Mariano Rivera set the bar very high, and latest candidate to try and reach that bar is winter addition Devin Williams. Number 38 arrived in the Bronx to much fanfare but he’s been playing with fire too often in the 9th inning, putting a scare into fans. While he is perfect on save opportunities (2 for 2), his ERA is over seven and is averaging almost three walks an inning. It’s early still, but he has to lock in and settle down at the back end.

Highlight of the Week

Max is worth his Millions: Our highlight of the week last week was Max Fried’s outing in Detroit. With the Yankee rotation ravaged by injury the new lanky lefty in town has been asked to pitch like an ace. Fortunately he’s more than capable of that, and he flexed his muscle in the finale against the Tigers last week. Number 54 was overpowering with 11 k’s over seven shutout innings, pushing his record to 2-0 and his ERA down to 1.56. Ace like work from the new Ace of the staff.

The Yankees still have two more tilts with the Royals at the stadium before heading out on the road for seven games against the Rays and Guardians. They’re in first place in the AL East, and just a game off the pace for the best record in the league…which says more about the AL than them. Stay tuned for more Yankee coverage and plenty of other baseball talk!

On twitter you can find Mike @Mike_Sheerin, Tyler @TMon_19 and Sean @SeanMartinNFL. Subscribe to the site by hitting the follow button in the bottom right corner and entering your email address. Check out our Instagram feed @thebroadwaybreakdownsports for special gameday and promotional content. Our podcasts are available on Spotify. Visit the Rangers Ed Shop by clicking the link on our homepage. Check out our mailbag page to join the conversation here on the site and on our partners show, The Rangers Ed Podcast! We’ll be back with more soon!