The Yankees' most frustrating players are Clay Holmes and DJ LeMahieu, according to fans

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of Major League Baseball fans. All year long, we ask questions of the most connected New York Yankees Fans and supporters across the country. Register here to participate in the weekly surveys sent by email.

The latest edition of SB Nation Reacts brings you frustrating questions about the 2024 Yankees. But the larger MLB-wide polls also examine the positives of this current season, going over the top contributors in each league.

Kyle Thele

The fact that there's no shortage of options in this poll is a problem in and of itself. While one could argue for higher expectations for Anthony Volpe or Gleyber Torres — and everything that sucks about the Alex Verdugo discussion — the sheer disappointment with DJ LeMahieu is the biggest one.

Calling it a disappointment isn't quite accurate when you're talking about a .204/.269/.259 triple slash and a 51 wRC+, because not even the most pessimistic fan could have seen that coming. One shouldn't drag this criticism out too much, and it's always worth maintaining a healthy level of empathy. If anything, the Yankees should have terminated his contract and not let the matter drag on for so long.

It's one thing to root for a player who is struggling and just below league average, but LeMahieu's current OPS (.527) is lower than Zack Greinke's career-best (.598). Greinke was a good pitcher, but he was still a pitcher.

Kyle Thele

Perhaps speaking of the overall quality of the team, it's clear that there was only one choice here. Clay Holmes wasn't necessarily more frustrating than LeMahieu (at least in my opinion), but he had no other pitcher to compete with. The three starters listed were merely mediocre.

Ironically, Holmes is an All-Star for the second time in his career, and his ERA is quite reasonable, peaking at 3.27. However, he has allowed too many baserunners, which is bound to cause problems for someone operating with tight margins and without elite strikeout potential.

The WHIP over 1.30 is by far the highest of Holmes' career and has led to many blown saves, hence this level of frustration. In Texas, he blew his 11th save of the season, earning him a demotion from the clearly defined role of closer.

Kyle Thele

Everyone stand up! Nearly three-quarters of baseball fans (not Yankee fans, but MLB fans in general) believe the best batter alive has another MVP title in his trophy case.

It's truly amazing that the percentage is that high, and rightly so. Bobby Witt Jr. is having one of the greatest seasons a shortstop has ever seen, and yet Judge has managed to hit at a completely different level than his main competitor.

Judge entered Saturday's game with a wRC+ of 215, the second-best mark among the bigs belongs to Juan Soto at 183, who is also having a fantastic year.

Kyle Thele

Everything that has been said about Judge largely applies to Shohei Ohtani, although he makes up for being one step below Judge on the hitting scale by hitting 50-50—a feat that has literally never been seen before.

Like Judge, Ohtani faces stiff competition from players who would have won an MVP title in most years, such as Francisco Lindor with his potential 30-30 season and outstanding defense.

Kyle Thele

Kyle Thele

Tarik Skubal showed outstanding potential in half a season last year, and the Tigers' left-hander has carried that into his 2024 season. Corbin Burnes has been solid in his first year in Baltimore and Cole Ragans appears to be the Royals' best pitcher since Zack Greinke at his best, but no one really comes close to Skubal's dominance.

In the National League, Zack Wheeler still has a good chance and plenty of time to make his mark, but Chris Sale's importance – especially without Spencer Strider – is enormous. It looks like he's finally going to win the first Cy Young Award of a potential Hall of Fame career.

What's interesting, though, is that the odds for all of the major awards seem pretty much locked in, even though there's still a lot of baseball to be played. At this point, it would be a surprise – albeit at different levels – if one of these four favorites didn't win the MVP or Cy Young.