The New York Yankees are in big time danger, and it’s getting more and more serious by the day.
The Yankees have been one of the biggest disappointments in baseball this season. Without Aaron Judge, the offense has looked horrid. They have a combined on base percentage under .300 and they can’t hit with men on base.
They have mishandled many “can’t miss” prospects – like Gary Sanchez and Greg Bird – while always being one piece short of going back to the World Series despite high payrolls and incredible performances from some of the best regular season performances in recent memory.
The first place people point to is the hiring of Aaron Boone. Boone is a man the Yankees selected to manage the team after the Yankees fired Joe Girardi in 2017. Girardi was best remembered for helping the team win the 2009 World Series and leading some awfully constructed Yankees teams to winning seasons during his tenure.
Griardi led a young and hungry Yankees Team to the 2017 ALCS against the Houston Astros where they would lose in 7 games despite valiant efforts by nearly everyone on the roster. The team had promise but Brian Cashman let him go after Girardi clashed heads with him over many things, but the most notable one was the Yankees All-Star catcher Gary Sanchez.
Girardi wanted Sanchez to focus on being a Designated Hitter or a First Baseman since he was one of the worst defensive catchers in baseball but had incredible potential as a hitter. Cashman had other ideas and he did not want Girardi challenging him.
Cashman decided to go with former Yankees third baseman and postseason hero Aaron Boone who has been at the helm since then. Boone’s time as manager has been a mixed bag and, unlike Girardi, has not challenged Cashman about any team decisions. Boone was the first manager in MLB history to win 100+ games in each of his first two seasons, but had nothing to show for it.
Boone has never proven to be an elite manager during his time in New York as he is more notable for being thrown out of games and making questionable – and sometimes “fireable” – moves in big games that have ultimately cost the Yankees a chance to get back to the fall classic. He is sometimes outcoached by weaker managers and there have been people calling for his firing since the 2020 season.
But Boone can only be blamed for so much, the product on the field has also been a bit questionable and it is hard if management gives you a team that isn’t gonna get over the hump. Brian Cashman deserves the blame as well.
Cashman has been praised as the architect of the late 1990s and 2000s Yankees that won five championships and seven pennants but in reality he didn’t build those teams. Gene Michael and George Steinbrenner built the 90s teams and Cashman took over for Michael in 1998.
Cashman can be credited for the 2009 championship but he could not capitalize on the primes of Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia, Robinson Cano, and Mark Teixeira as this team easily could’ve won three or four championships with that roster. They have not returned to the fall classic since 2009 and have lost in the league championship series five times since their last world series appearance.
Cashman has also been one to blame for hugging prospects and failing to let kids develop. He will keep prospects – like former top prospect Estevan Florial and current #2 prospect Oswald Peraza – in the minor leagues for more than half a decade and only call them up for a few games.
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Yankees GM Brian Cashman
Keith Allison / Wikipedia | Flickr
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Moves like this have truly hindered the kids in the minor leagues development, while he now refuses to call up Peraza and he is going to rot in Scranton all season like Estevan Florial has since 2020. Their top catching prospect Austin Wells is raking in double-A, why not let him get an opportunity to play at the next level or even some at bats this September? Everyone else from that draft class is progressing nicely in other organizations but Wells will most likely rot if Cashman doesn’t move on from him at the trade deadline in a few weeks.
Cashman is so tone deaf to his organizational needs that he decided to draft a shortstop in the first round of the MLB Draft. The Yankees already have six shortstops (seven if you count utilityman Oswaldo Cabrera) in their prospect pool system including the incumbent MLB Starter Anthony Volpe. This team would have benefited greatly with any other position. Long Island High Schooler Josh Knoth was right there for the taking and he could’ve been a perfect fit for the Yankees, but Cashman had other ideas that could cause some big time gridlock in the organization.
Cashman is the general manager of one of the most valuable and the most successful franchises in all of sports. He should be able to get anyone he desires to play in pinstripes but has constantly fumbled at the opportunity.
A prime example was Bryce Harper, who was willing to change positions from right field to first base, to play for the Yankees. Brian Cashman decided that a two time MVP and future Hall of Famer wasn’t a fit on the roster. The Yankees have regretted the decision for years as an outfield of Harper, Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Harrison Bader would be an all time great four man outfield.
Yankees Principle Owner Hal Steinbrenner has recently made an appearance on The Michael Kay Show where he told the fanbase to relax since it is mid-June and there's plenty of season left. However, Steinbrenner did say that if the team was 90% healthy and they didn’t win the World Series, he would make some “Tough decisions.” They already fired hitting coach Dillon Lawson but the organization needs to clean house as soon as possible if they are truly serious about winning.
The Yankees resume their season after the All-Star break this Friday after the All-Star break in Colorado. The team has been recently surrounded with rumors from them acquiring and potentially extending the Japanese equivalent of Babe Ruth in Shohei Ohtani from the Angles among other big names like Juan Soto of the Padres and Shane Bieber of the Guardians who may be available at the trade deadline.
Only time will tell if the Yankees can get it together before the end of this season and if they can finally bring home that coveted 28th World Series in franchise history. But it is well overdue that Cashman and Company have overstayed their welcome in the Bronx. It’s time to live in 2023 and not 2003.