Embarrassing loss to rival Mets offers a reminder that deadline action is a must for struggling Yankees

NEW YORK — Gerrit Cole slammed the dugout railing in frustration and let holler four angry letters.

His agitation — Cole had just been pulled after a sluggish Subway Series start in which he surrendered six earned runs on three homers — was echoed by the home half of the Yankee Stadium crowd. They booed, with a sense of lost desperation, as their ace shuffled off the pitching mound in the Yankees’ 19th loss in their past 28 games.

The other half of the yard, wearing royal blue and orange, roared in jubilation.

For the second consecutive evening, the Mets strolled into The Bronx and took the Yankees down. On Tuesday, it was a nailbiter. On Wednesday, it was a laugher, with the Mets pulverizing their Big Apple counterparts 12-3 to complete the four-game season sweep. There was no mercy rule; the Yankees had to play this one through.

Star shortstop Francisco Lindor homered twice. First baseman Pete Alonso, a deadline trade chip no longer, went yard as well. Southpaw starter Sean Manea sliced through a listless Yankees lineup like a katana sword through whipped cream cheese. During the top of a disastrous, demoralizing eighth inning in which the Mets plated six runs, many of the pinstriped faithful trudged toward the exits as visiting Mets fans filled the yard with echoing cheers of “LET’S GO, METS.”

It was, all in all, an embarrassing night for a Yankees team that has had its fair share of recent stinkers.

“We’re pissed off in there,” an animated Aaron Boone told reporters after the game. “We got a lot of pride in there. We have a lot of expectations in there. Stretch, slump, recent — I don’t give a s***. We got to play better the rest of the way.”

With the deadline less than a week away, it is abundantly clear that the Yankees have no choice but to act. Their punchless showing against their crosstown rivals — in a primetime, nationally televised game attended by a litany of sporting superstars — provided yet another reminder that this lineup, as currently constructed, is not good enough to win the World Series.

The only team in MLB with a worse record than these Yankees since June 14 (11-22) is the doormat Chicago White Sox (9-25). Most of New York’s slide is due to an offense that, behind Juan Soto and Aaron Judge, has struggled to score runs. The decline is all the more shocking considering that these same Yankees had the league’s best record on June 14.

Yet Boone, in his postgame remarks, emphasized that he believes the current personnel is capable of orchestrating a turnaround.

“[The deadline] is not even for us to worry about,” he said “ … It’s too unpredictable. The reality is we won a boatload of games with everyone in that room.”

Boone’s confidence aside, all signs point toward an aggressive deadline for the Yankees. A league source told Yahoo Sports that the Yankees are expected to search for lineup upgrades wherever possible. That could mean a versatile infielder such as the Angels’ Luis Rengifo, a dynamic all-around catalyst such as the Marlins’ Jazz Chisholm Jr. or a blockbuster game-changer such as the White Sox’s Luis Robert Jr.

For anybody who has been watching this excuse of a lineup sludge through the past month, none of this is particularly shocking. The offense, beyond the superstar duo of Judge and Soto, has been an unwatchable catastrophe. As Soto himself told reporters this week: “It’s going to take more than two guys to go to the World Series and win it.”

Granted, some of the Yankees’ secondary pieces have shown signs of life. Second baseman Gleyber Torres, in the midst of an underwhelming contract year, homered for the second consecutive game Wednesday. Rookie left-handers Ben Rice and Austin Wells have hit well over the past month.

But otherwise, this is a lineup stuck in neutral waiting for the injured Giancarlo Stanton — a player whose inevitable injury the Yankees structured their roster around — to return and save the day. Stanton was great before he hit the injured list, but relying on a player with his injury history feels awfully shortsighted.

Last year, with the Yankees on the fringes of the playoff picture, general manager Brian Cashman opted to stand pat at the deadline. His inaction was met by a wave of criticism from Yankees fans, but the exec’s lack of faith in his own club proved to be the right move. The Yanks capitulated in August, playing to a 10-18 record. Their playoff odds went from 33.4% two days before the deadline to under 1% on Aug. 20.

The 2023 Yankees were simply not very good, particularly during Judge’s IL stint. Cashman understood this dynamic and made the correct decision to not sacrifice the future for an undeserving club.

But Cashman, who has been the club’s top executive since 1998, should not and will not take that same path this season. This Yankees team, with Judge and Soto leading the line, are too talented and too pot-committed to not push more of their chips in. And this team — horrendous summer slog aside — still has the makings of a World Series contender.

Heck, they still have the best run differential in the American League. Their AL East deficit behind Baltimore remains at 1.5 games, thanks to a similarly dreadful run of play from their division counterparts.

Boone hammered that point home after Wednesday’s game.

“We have it right in front of us,” he said, banging his fist on the table. “We’re a really good team that has played s***ty of late.”

But as good as the Yankees might think they are, they almost certainly won’t be the same group of 26 players when the post-deadline dust settles at 6 p.m. ET Tuesday.