The Bronx Tales: We are living in a world without Aaron Judge. Why are the Yankees broken?

We are living in a world where the San Francisco Giants signed Aaron Judge. With his absent so apparent, the Yankees are starting to downward spiral without him. The offense is a blackhole of nothing.

The team can't stay healthy, every week a new guy hits the IL after running to hard. They are losing to teams that they shouldn't, and we as the fans are getting excuses shoved down our throats from all angles of the organization.

Now, could I be over reacting in some way, shape, or form? Yes. Baseball is acting up this year. The top years are underperforming like crazy, while the Reds and Diamondbacks are at the top of the table.

So what gives? Like I mentioned, the offense has been putrid. How does Dillon Lawson still have a job? The fact that Anthony Volpe discovered an error in his swing over dinner with some of his minor league buddies rather than Lawson showing him is mind boggling. I mean look at the numbers this month, it's atrocious.

And with the absence of Judge, the Yankees need their core leaders to step up. Sadly, they are letting us down. In the month of June, Anthony Rizzo is batting sub-100, Giancarlo has struck out 15 times and has a mere 5 hits, and DJ LeMahieu has a .194 on base percentage. What is going on? Clearly, Dillion Lawson isn't solving the problem. We need new eyes looking at the players approach, because the Yankees shouldn't be ranking last in offense.

While this is happening, we are forced to watch the Yankees to play Josh Donaldson, who still believe he's an MVP. He flashes solid defense and still possess some pop in his bat with 6 homer runs on the season. But when you take the blinders off, he only has 8 hits, and boasts a .151 batting average. Now he's contemplating retirement at the end of the season. My thoughts? Cut ties, and play the kids. Oswald Peraza is batting close to .300 with 11 home runs. You can make the argument that the Yankees should have waited on Aaron Hicks to get of his slump, because now he is batting .327 and playing stellar defense in Baltimore. It sucks that now he has "stepped up", but if you aren't going to play hard in pinstripes, then move out of the way.

Clearly, this team needs a spark. If any A-List player is available at the deadline, the Yankees need to be in the position to spend for them. I am sorry, and this might sound like entitlement, but Juan Soto and Luis Castillo should have been Yankees last summer. If Ohtani and Burnes are available, you need to get them. If they aren't, you need to bolster this team. Add a left fielder, and get a starter. In a perfect world, here is your lineup.

Starters

• 1B: Anthony Rizzo

• 2B: Gleyber Torres

• SS: Anthony Volpe

• 3B: Oswald Peraza

• C: Jose Trevino

• RF: Aaron Judge

• CF: Harrison Bader

• LF: Cody Bellinger

• DH: Giancarlo Stanton

Bench

• Catcher - Austin Wells

• INF - DJ LeMahieu

• UTL - Isiah Kiner Faleafa

• OF - Jake Bauers or Oswaldo Cabrera

Starting Pitchers

• Gerrit Cole

• Carlos Rodon

• Shane Bieber

• Domingo German

• Nestor Cortes

Bullpen

• Luis Severino / Clarke Schmidt

• Ian Hamilton

• Jonathan Loaisiga

• Ron Marinaccio

• Tommy Kahnle

• Mike King

• Wandy Peralta

• Clay Holmes