Who’s had the biggest decline the Yankees?

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 18: J. C. Escarra #25 and David Bednar #53 of the New York Yankees celebrate after the final out against the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium on May 18, 2026 in the Bronx borough of New York City.

The New York Yankees won 7-6. (Photo by Ishika Samant/Getty Images) | Getty Images Yesterday, Jake opened up the day with a discussion about what the biggest positive development the Yankees have gotten out of this season has been. If you’ll forgive the shameless piggy-backing off of that topic, I’d like to flip the question on its head and ponder what the worst development has been, what decline in the team’s roster has been the most worrisome and in need of addressing.

There are, unfortunately, plenty of areas to look at. The culprit that has made the most commotion recently has to be the bullpen at large, and there are several offenders here but only one that has definitively regressed from what they were in 2025. David Bednar was solid enough for New York last season after coming over at the deadline, but his tendency to cause a mess before getting down to business has backfired tremendously this year.

The other relievers struggling to this point, namely Camilo Doval and Jake Bird, were already problems after coming over as part of that deadline overhauling, with Bird infamously getting demoted after just a few games even. The rotation has been the deepest strength of the team throughout this year, but there’s one candidate you could point to here in Luis Gil. The 2024 AL Rookie of the Year missed a large portion of last season, but when he returned he was still serviceable with a 3.