If you are a diehard sports fan long enough you will reach many peaks and valleys with your favorite team(s). As a Yankees fan I've been in the valley for the better part of the last decade. Now don't get me confused, I'm not one of those Yankees fans who talks about "27 rings" or "but we make the playoffs almost every year". I simply want them to be competitive and play the game the right way. Of course I love when they win, but I'm not into excuses when they don't. I'm over the "just get in" mentality when it's clear they aren't good enough to get passed getting in. The 84 win Diamondbacks made it to the World Series, they just got in but play the game the right way and got hot when they needed to. They play team baseball. The Yankees of the last decade sit back and wait for the big hit, combine that with majority of the time not getting the big game pitching performances and it is the reason they haven't been to a World Series since 2009. Joe Torre's Yankees teams stepped up when the lights got the brightest, these Yankees fall back. They are nowhere near the same.
Which brings me to yesterday. Hal said months ago that if the Yankees didn't make the playoffs "big changes would be coming." It is clearly obvious that he will not be following thru on that statement at all. Brian Cashman, the man who majority of the mess should fall on, was never in danger of losing his job. Doesn't even sound like it was ever an option. Hal's first statement was that he wanted to know if his new found "Circle of Trust"...Brian Sabean, Omar Minaya, Andy Pettite, & Nick Swisher...felt that Aaron Boone was the right manager for the club. Apparently they all agree he is. I am no Boone fan at all, but Boone does not deserve to go before Cashman, at least not as we stand here today. Cashman built this inept roster, Boone was forced to deal with it. The one thing I will agree with Hal on is you don't need a $300 million dollar payroll to win, but the issue is you need to develop good young players and combined them with the veterans. They continue not to do that part , and aren't proving the current regime is capable of changing it either.
Then we can move on to Cashman. My god the outright arrogance of his answers to Joel Sherman, it was like listening to John Gotti talk about beating the government again. He truly believes he is the smartest man in the room. He seriously stood up there and defended hsi previous trades for Joey Gallo and Sonny Gray. Gallo has been on 2 playoff teams the last 2 years, and played a total of a 1/2 inning as a defensive replacement (2022 with the Dodgers). He didn't even make the Twins postseason roster this year. Gray turned his career around after the people Cashman surrounded him with almost destroyed it. But he thinks his front office staff is "Pretty F*cking Good", what are they good at Brian? You stood there and tried to justify not giving Peraza a real chance last year because you had Josh Donaldson and DJ. It's been the same for years now, they rarely if ever give these young kids a chance to prove themselves on the big league level, and hold on to them until they have no value at all. The one thing they all have in common, it's all been done on Brian Cashman's watch!!
I can't truly fathom how they believe that bringing back what looks to be the same front office, at least at highest levels, combined with no changes to player development is going to change anything. This is an incompetence and arrogance the likes I have never seen before. Yes they can still trade for Juan Soto, but is giving up what the Padres will want for what could be nothing more than 1 year worth it? If you think it is then you made my argument over the poor player development because if you are willing to give them Peraza, Perreria and who knows what else for 1 year of Soto then you will neve break the cycle of barely developing your own players and continuing having to break the bank to compete. If you can't get Soto to sign an extension before the season, I'd rather wait till he is a free agent and will only cost money. Because the Yankees need more than Juan Soto to get back to the World Series. They need to add a Starter because if you are counting on Rodon and Nestor both making 30 starts next year I don't know what you have been watching. The best FA fits for the Yankees are Yamamoto & Josh Hader. A number 2 starter and a proven lefty closer. Sad thing is I don't know if we will even be in on Hader because Cashman thinks he can just put anyone in that bullpen and it will magically work. He's made some damn good bullpen moves, Holmes & Peralta namely, but they need a closer. The same way they need to stop looking at god damn computer reports and move Judge to 3rd in the lineup. They have forgotten how to get length out of this team in all areas. Imagine guys getting on base in front of Judge, or Loisiaga, Holmes, and Wandy setting up for Josh Hader? The depth of this team in every single area comes in to question every year and it starts with the offseason construction of the roster.
Hal is the owner, he showed his cards yesterday by basically saying he believes in his guys, that they can turn it around. We are now officially in a 12 month period where we see if he is right, or if he is just believing his own bullshit.
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