Yankees defensive issues already have carried over into 2025

Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees.The Yankees’ glaring issue from 2024 showed up again, and it’s only the second game of the season.They committed five errors during a 20-9 win over the Brewers on Saturday in The Bronx, providing a sour asterisk to what will go down as a historic offensive game.

Pablo Reyes, a non-roster invitee who got one of the final bench spots and earned the platoon start over Oswald Peraza against left-hander Nestor Cortes, committed two errors, while Anthony Volpe, Max Fried and Jazz Chisholm Jr.each accounted for one.

“Obviously, we didn’t catch the ball great,” manager Aaron Boone said, while later adding that those miscues make it difficult to judge Fried’s outing.“I mean, that’s an understatement.”And as a result, Fried, making his Yankees debut to start a $218 million deal and a campaign where he’ll be tasked with stepping in as the ace with Gerrit Cole sidelined, couldn’t make it out of the fifth inning to earn the win despite getting all of the run support.

He allowed six runs — with just two earned — on seven hits, while walking two batters and hitting two more, throwing 94 pitches and landing 56 for strikes during an outing where he also struggled with command at times.“Pretty frustrated about not being able to make that play in the second [inning] to get out of it,” Fried said of his error.“But all in all, when your teammates support you and being able to have 16 runs in the first four innings, just gotta be able to try to get as many outs as you possibly can.”The experiment with Goldschmidt hitting leadoff turned into more than a spring training one-off.With the Yankees facing their first left-handed starter of the season in Cortes when they resumed their series against the Brewers, manager Aaron Boone gave his Game 1 lineup a complete overhaul — and that included the 37-year-old Goldsc...