ANTHONY RIZZO HAS A BACKBONE. YET THE YANKEES STILL DON'T HAVE ONE

Back in February 2025, I suggested that Anthony Rizzo could return to the Yankees in a player-coach role. The idea was simple: keep a respected veteran in the clubhouse, use his experience to teach younger players, call out bad attitudes and preserve something this organization too often treats as expendable—leadership. Read: COULD RIZZO EVOLVE INTO A PLAYER-COACH ROLE WITH THE YANKEES?

Newsweek picked up our article, as we documented at Bleeding Yankee Blue. Why did it deserve attention? My answer remains the same: because it made baseball sense. Rizzo’s value extended beyond whatever production remained in his bat. There was knowledge there. Credibility. An understanding of what winning requires and what wearing that uniform demands. Oh yea, and his presence provides leadership.

Now, after another miserable October ending, that argument looks pretty damn relevant.

The Rays swept the Yankees out of the ALDS, finishing them with a 4–3 loss. Another season ended with the other team celebrating and Yankee fans wondering when the people running this operation will stop confusing expectations with accomplishments.

Then came Jazz Chisholm’s confusion about getting booed. Apparently, amid the disappointment of a playoff elimination, we needed to stop everything and discuss whether the paying customers had been sufficiently encouraging. Jazz, read the room. Preferably before explaining it to everybody else.

On Ross and Rizzo, Anthony Rizzo slammed Jazz. He questioned how Chisholm could be surprised by boos after seeing established Yankees stars receive the same treatment. Rizzo described him as looking like “a player that’s lost.” He also challenged the organization’s annual championship declarations: the Yankees cannot keep announcing the highest standard without producing results that justify the talk.

"Jazz Chisholm's comments after the game just looks like a player who is lost,"

"He says after the game about being booed, 'I don't understand, I was confused why I was being booed.' It surprises you that you were booed? What do you mean?"

"You've played there for three-plus years now, you've seen [Anthony] Volpe get run out of town. You've seen Judgey get booed. You've seen Stanton get booed.

"It surprises you that you got booed? That's just not the right way to answer questions...You just have to be smarter there… it shows a little bit of immaturity there."

That is accountability.

No soothing soundtrack. No lengthy explanation of why disappointment is secretly encouraging. A former teammate heard something that needed challenging and challenged it.

That is the voice I wanted inside the Yankees’ clubhouse in February 2025. But more importantly its the voice I wanted there since Girardi left. Boone's a pushover. He's a fanboy. He wants to be friends with all his players. He is a poor leader. 

You can debate whether booing helps a player. Fine. Have that conversation. But the first response after failure should concern the failure. What went wrong? What needs to improve? What responsibility do you bear?

Fans did not strike out for you. They did not throw the ball away. They did not assemble the roster or write the lineup. They bought the tickets.

The Yankees seem awfully comfortable accepting championship prices while asking their customers to practice developmental patience. And that brings us to Aaron Boone. My problem with Boone is that his public leadership too often sounds like an effort to cushion every uncomfortable landing. There is always another explanation, another encouraging interpretation, another reason to believe the breakthrough is approaching.

At some point, the breakthrough needs to show up wearing a uniform. A manager should support his players. Absolutely. But support must include correction. When protection becomes the default response to repeated failure, you risk teaching players that the explanation matters more than the improvement.

From where I sit, Boone babies this team. His public posture too often shows no backbone when the moment calls for a firm standard. He can defend a player’s dignity and still say the player’s performance was unacceptable. These are professional athletes. They can survive a sentence without a pillow under it.

I want a manager who can say: we prepared poorly, we executed poorly, and we are going to fix it.

BUT THEN THEY ACTUALLY FIX IT.  

Rizzo’s history gives me reason to believe he understands that responsibility.

Consider October 2024. With fractured fingers keeping him out of the Division Series, Rizzo helped Jon Berti and Oswaldo Cabrera with positioning at first base. He remained useful while somebody else occupied his position. That is a concrete example of a veteran transferring knowledge under postseason pressure.

Think about what that tells you.

His contribution did not end when he came off the lineup card. He recognized what teammates needed and helped them prepare. Teaching the details of a position is coaching work, whether the organization prints the title next to your name or not. That was the foundation of my player-coach argument back then and it's what I would expect from a leader in the Yankees clubhouse now. I was proposing that the Yankees give structure to something Rizzo was already demonstrating.

He subsequently returned for the 2024 ALCS, starting at first base just 16 days after fracturing two fingers. He spoke about the opportunity to compete for a pennant and the importance of appreciating it while it was there. That matters because opportunities expire. A talented roster does not come with a reservation for next October.

Rizzo had already helped the Cubs win the 2016 World Series, ending their 108-year championship drought. He experienced the pressure of playing for a franchise whose history could feel like an extra opponent. He was part of a team that finally delivered. That experience gives weight to his criticism of empty championship language. And his leadership record extends beyond baseball. A cancer survivor, Rizzo established his family foundation in 2012; he received the Roberto Clemente Award in 2017.

In 2018, he returned to Parkland after the school shooting and spoke at a vigil for the victims.

Those actions show someone willing to accept responsibility when there is no easy thing to say. Someone who shows up for other people.

That quality matters in a clubhouse. Players need to believe that a leader cares about them before criticism carries its full weight. Rizzo’s case is compelling because compassion and directness can coexist in the same person.

You can care about a teammate and tell him his answer was lousy. You can believe in a young player and tell him his preparation needs work. You can build confidence while demanding competence.

The Yankees need considerably more of that.

Instead, this organization keeps inviting questions about whether its development process produces improvement or simply produces more reasons to wait.

Anthony Volpe is the obvious example.

Through his first three seasons, Volpe had a .662 OPS and an 84 OPS+, below league average. By the end of his fourth year, I want answers from the people who scouted him, projected him, promoted him and were responsible for developing him. This kid sucks.

What did you believe his offensive ceiling would be? Which weaknesses did you identify? What was the plan to address them? And how long does the organization get to keep selling potential before somebody evaluates the return?

Calling the results a dud isn't harsh. The Yankees helped create the expectations, and they should have to answer for the gap between the projection and the product. Volpe’s effort does not absolve the organization. Neither does his prospect pedigree.

Scouting is supposed to identify ability. Development is supposed to help turn that ability into reliable major league performance. If the results disappoint year after year, examine both. A framed scouting report cannot take an at-bat. And a manager repeating his belief in a player cannot substitute for a coaching plan that works.  Boone is in love with Volpe still looking for a moment. Rizzo would have benched this dude in June.

This is why the Yankees’ training and preparation deserve scrutiny. What are they emphasizing? How are they measuring progress? What happens when an approach keeps failing? Where are the consequences for poor execution?

I am tired of the franchise treating those questions as an attack. Show us the improvement and the questions become easier to answer.

Complacency is comfortable. You can keep the same voices, repeat the same reassurances and tell yourself continuity is a virtue.

But continuity without correction is how you preserve a problem.

Would Rizzo make a terrific manager? I believe he has the qualities to become one. On paper, he's better than Boone already.

His case starts with credibility earned as a player, experience under championship pressure, demonstrated willingness to teach and the ability to deliver an uncomfortable message. Those are substantial foundations for managing people. Boone hit a homerun against the Red Sox that really doesn't matter because the Yankees lost in the World Series anyway.

Sure, Rizzo would still have to prove his ability to run a pitching staff, construct lineups, manage workloads and make decisions over 162 games. Being a respected player does not automatically qualify someone for every responsibility in the dugout.

But the Yankees should take his leadership potential seriously because clearly they don't.  Someone like Rizzo would challenge people and not roll over.  My February 2025 proposal was about recognizing an asset before it disappeared from the room.

Now Rizzo is speaking into a microphone in a new role, delivering the kind of blunt assessment I know he would deliver if he were the Yankees manager, and that should bother the Yankees. You know, the fact that there are better managerial options out there rather than the one they have.

This is now a former teammate publicly reminding them that accountability belongs at the center of a winning organization, while fans are left wondering who delivers that message inside the building.

Rizzo would not magically fix every flaw. But I believe he could help steer the ship because he understands that leadership includes telling people when they are heading in the wrong direction.

The Yankees need that. They need alot, but they definitely need leadership.

They need better teaching, firmer standards and an honest review of the people responsible for the results. They need to stop protecting their preferred narrative and start correcting the baseball.

I saw the value in Rizzo in February 2025. After this October, the Yankees should be asking why that voice is outside their clubhouse.

BURN IT DOWN. THE YANKEES HAVE TO REBUILD.

The Rays swept the Yankees, celebrated in their ballpark, and blasted “New York, New York” in the visiting clubhouse.

They took the series. Then they took the soundtrack.

Want to stop another team from turning your stadium into a punchline? Beat them. Tampa Bay earned its celebration. The Yankees earned another winter of uncomfortable questions that somehow never seem to produce meaningful consequences.

Start with Brian Cashman. Then Aaron Boone. This operation needs a complete overhaul, and another offseason of rearranging the same furniture isn’t going to cut it.

Fire Boone. Move on from Cashman. Burn down this approach and build something that actually works in October.

Look at the offense against Tampa Bay:

• Game 1: One hit. Zero runs. A 1–0 loss.

• Game 2: Two runs, both on solo homers by Ben Rice. A 5–2 loss.

• Game 3: Three runs. A 4–3 loss that ended the season.

Five runs in three games. That’s 1.67 runs per game, calculated from those scores. Gerrit Cole gave them a chance in the opener, and the lineup responded by practically disappearing. Austin Wells finally broke up the no-hitter, then got thrown out trying to stretch his double into a triple. Their only hit became another mistake.

This wasn’t merely an offense going cold. It was a team failing to execute when every out mattered.

Four errors in Game 2. Then, with elimination staring them in the face, Boone moved Wells up to sixth. Wells went 0-for-3 before being lifted for a pinch hitter. Trent Grisham went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts in the finale. Those are the results of the lineup Boone trusted to save the season.

And Boone’s Game 2 decisions deserve scrutiny.

Against left-hander Ian Seymour, he let Luis García Jr. and Spencer Jones hit in the sixth, then stayed with Jazz Chisholm, Grisham and Wells in the seventh. Seymour retired all five. Boone had right-handed alternatives sitting on the bench. His explanation was that Seymour’s numbers made him a relatively neutral matchup, and that he was waiting for baserunners before deploying those alternatives.

Waiting for somebody to reach base while the offense keeps making outs is a hell of a rescue plan.

Yes, there was a statistical argument for staying with the lefties. That doesn’t make the decision untouchable. A manager has to recognize when his plan is producing nothing and decide whether another approach gives his team a better chance.

Boone watched the outs accumulate.

Then came the elimination-game shuffle. Jazz and Ryan McMahon sat. Anthony Volpe and José Caballero started. Asked about choosing Volpe, Boone offered: “Just felt like it.”

Volpe actually contributed in Game 3. Give him that. But the Boone’s explanation still deserves more than a shrug. With the season on the line, fans are entitled to hear a coherent baseball reason.

That’s my problem with Boone’s constant tinkering: What is the governing principle? Matchups? A hot hand? Defense? A feeling? Players need defined responsibilities, and fans need some evidence that all this movement serves a purpose. We cannot prove that lineup changes caused the offensive collapse. We can absolutely judge Boone by the collapse he failed to stop.

He is a failed championship leader. Fire him.

And Cashman doesn’t get to hide behind the manager he keeps endorsing. He built the roster. If the available choices keep leaving Boone searching for a spark, the person assembling those choices belongs in the firing line, too.

Then there’s Jazz, questioning the boos:

“So you’re booing a guy that’s playing, trying to help the team win, and you’re hearing boos instead of trying to hype guys up.”

Jazz, nobody owes you a standing ovation for trying.

You finished the regular season with 19 homers, 41 steals, a .231 average and a .711 OPS. The 19/41 club. Not the 50/50 club. Those steals have value. Your athletic ability has value. But the swagger needs more consistent production behind it. Play cleaner. Play better. Give the fans something to cheer about.

Fans paying real money to watch another October collapse are allowed to express disgust. Millionaire players treating the crowd’s frustration like the central problem is pathetic. The boos didn’t construct this roster or make those errors.

Do not bring back Jazz. Do not bring back Grisham. Get a dependable everyday catcher. Shop Volpe and make a trade that improves this team.

That doesn’t mean giving Volpe away for nothing. It means ending the attachment to what everybody was supposed to become. Evaluate what they are, what they can realistically become, and whether someone else makes the Yankees better.

Judge is asking the front office to address the holes and go all in. He’s right. His message is especially pointed because he also acknowledged that a winning team alone isn’t enough in New York. For accuracy, he backed Boone’s return; the demand to fire Boone is mine.

Build a complete roster around your captain. Stop asking one superstar to cover every organizational weakness.

Get hitters who put together competitive at-bats. Get defenders who finish routine plays. Establish roles. Hire a manager who communicates clearly and demands execution. Make every department answer for whether its work produces a better baseball team.

The greatest franchise in baseball history cannot keep selling its past as an excuse for its present.

I haven’t paid for a ticket to that ballpark in four years because I’m done financing the same bad movie. Be a fan however you want. But ask yourself what incentive this organization has to change if disappointment keeps selling just as well as ambition.

The fans want a championship.

Stop asking us to accept less while charging us more.

Fire Boone. Move on from Cashman. Revamp the roster.

Burn it down and build it back up—because this version of the Yankees has exhausted its excuses.

It is absolutely pathetic.

JUDGE DESERVES A CHAMPIONSHIP. CASHMAN & BOONE DELIVER NOTHING

Aaron Judge shouldn’t have to remind the New York Yankees what the New York Yankees are supposed to be.

Yet here we are. Another October ends, another opponent advances, and the captain has to explain that the assignment is winning a championship.

“I feel like they [the front office] should go all-in and do what they need to do. If we’ve got holes, if it’s finding certain players or personnel, whatever we need, you’ve got to go out there and get it.” Judge said after the elimination. He’s absolutely right.

And I back him 100 percent.

Brian Cashman, Aaron Boone, Hal Steinbrenner—are you listening? Because the rest of us are sick of watching this organization congratulate itself for getting through the door before falling down the stairs.

The Rays swept the Yankees in three games. New York scored five runs in the entire series. Five. That’s an offensive collapse, and it deserves a harder examination than another winter of assurances that the organization believes in its people.

Well, the fans have seen what that belief produces. We’d like some results.

Judge missed the postseason with a calf injury. His absence hurt. Nobody with a functioning brain would suggest otherwise. But his absence also raises a question Cashman should have to answer: How prepared was the team you built to survive without its best player?

A championship roster needs enough depth, discipline, and dependable production to withstand adversity. Injuries happen. Building a team means preparing for them, too.

Judge’s injury belongs in the explanation. It cannot become the front office’s escape hatch.

Cashman owns the construction of this roster. He owns the choices, the priorities, and the judgment behind them. You cannot spend years accepting credit for assembling contenders and then treat their failures like weather events nobody could have anticipated.

Enough with the résumé. Evaluate the work.

The Yankees haven’t won a World Series since 2009. How many more disappointing endings does this front office get before its own performance becomes the central offseason question?

And Boone? He deserves the same scrutiny.

The manager’s responsibility extends beyond keeping the clubhouse comfortable. Preparation matters. Execution matters. Recognizing when an approach is failing matters. When the season ends in a sweep, the manager should have to answer for the performance of his team.

I want Boone replaced. He absolutely sucks. I want a different voice, a different approach, and a manager whose continued employment requires more than the organization’s affection.

Judge didn’t demand Boone’s firing. That’s my position. Supporting the captain doesn’t require pretending he said something he didn’t.

It means taking his actual message seriously.

He wants the Yankees to commit fully to winning, address their holes, and match the effort he gives this team and this city. He also acknowledged that acquiring every player he wants isn’t realistic. That’s a reasonable demand from a captain, not some reckless shopping list.

The front office needs to meet it with decisions that improve the team.

Spending alone doesn’t settle the argument. You can write enormous checks and still assemble a roster that doesn’t work. Cashman’s job is to make the pieces fit. Hal’s job is to hold him accountable when they don’t.

And if Hal keeps approving the same leadership after the same disappointment, then Hal owns the outcome, too.

Fans aren’t paying championship prices to hear another presentation about how difficult championships are to win. We know they’re difficult. That’s why the people entrusted with pursuing them need to be exceptional.

Judge deserves an organization willing to examine its own failures as seriously as it examines a player’s swing.

He deserves help. He deserves urgency. He deserves leadership willing to change course instead of defending the course that brought us here.

Back the captain. Demand better from the people building his team.

Cashman and Boone have had their opportunities. My vote is to move on from both and give Judge a championship plan shaped by fresh judgment.

Because the Yankees cannot keep selling greatness while asking everyone to lower the standard.

Fix the damn team.

STOP PAYING FOR THE SAME DAMN YANKEE FAILURE

It's a Boone loss in the playoffs, because leaders need to lead when a team needs them most. But Boone can't lead. Boone can't close and worst of all, the fans? The fans are fed up. But I have bone to pick with the fans in this post... so read and you will see what I think for real.

Look, it's another October and it's another embarrassment. But we at Bleeding Yankee Blue told you this was going to happen.  It's pathetic and obvious to everyone except Brian Cashman. Last night another team celebrating in the Bronx while the Yankees prepare to explain why the roster they assembled and the baseball, they played were not good enough.

The Rays finished the sweep last night, beating the Yankees 4–3. Ben Rice delivered an RBI single. Spencer Jones added an RBI double. New York fought back to tie it twice, then Victor Mesa Jr. hammered a two-run homer off Max Fried in the sixth. Anthony Volpe’s apparent tying homer became an RBI double after a fan-interference review. Volpe still had this high school demeanor about his like he was robbed by the umpires, but that's what happens when you get everything you want in your life without working hard to get it. But whatever, he shouldn't have even been in the line up.  Bottom line, the Yankees never recovered. Season over.

And please, spare me the argument that one replay decision explains a three-game sweep.

This is the same bad movie, and the Yankees keep charging admission like they’ve produced a masterpiece.

Aaron Boone is a failed leader. A loser in the job this organization supposedly values most: delivering a championship. The stupidity is watching the failures pile up and continuing to treat his leadership as something worth protecting.

After the loss, Boone said, “We gotta be more complete offensively, defensively, pitching.” 

What a stupid fuck. So… everything, Aaron? You talk to the press like an 11-year-old. Go away.

You manage a baseball team, and your October assessment is that it needs to improve at practically every part of baseball. What the hell are we preserving here?

Boone should lose his job. Fire this dope. There needs to be a consequence beyond standing at a microphone and explaining another failure.

But firing Boone while protecting Brian Cashman would leave the bigger problem sitting comfortably upstairs.

Cashman builds these teams. He owns the roster, the holes, and the assumptions that fall apart when the competition gets tougher. He cannot keep collecting credit for the talent while treating the weaknesses as somebody else’s responsibility. Cashman is more complacent this year than the last. I mean do you realize that both Cam Schlittler and Rice have succeeded better than any other player this year on the Yankees and it has NOTHING to do with Cashman? I mean, think about that for a second.

Yes, the Yankees reached the World Series in 2024. Nobody forgot. They also didn’t finish the job. A World Series appearance does not buy this front office permanent immunity from criticism.

How many chances does one executive get to solve the same problem?

And why does ownership keep acting as though replacing the people responsible would be more dangerous than keeping them?

Because the money keeps coming.

Fans bitch. Fans boo. Fans demand changes. Then fans reach into their pockets and pay this organization again. Why? Stop doing that.

The Yankees keep losing, and you keep spending your hard-earned money on the losers responsible. Tickets. Parking. Concessions. The whole expensive ritual. You work all week, pay the bill, and get another October explanation from people whose jobs somehow survive the results. You all know you didn't believe in this team.  I surely didn't. Why? It's not the players guys, it's the front office. You don't give you a reason to believe, because the whole thing isn't baseball anymore with the Yankees... it's numbers. The Yankees are no longer the fun franchise to watch. Let's be honest, 2009 was fun, but the magic left in the 90's. Hard-nosed teams, where managers managed and players that sucked DID NOT PLAY even though the piece of paper in front of the manager had projections.  Boone doesn't manage with his gut, he manages with what "could be" because the analytics told him so.  How's that worked out since Boone's been in charge. WHAT A LOSER.

Look, be a fan however you like. Take your kids. Wear the jersey. Enjoy an afternoon at the Stadium. That is your choice.

But aren’t you noticing a pattern?

Your loyalty is unconditional. Their accountability barely exists.

The Yankees front office doesn’t care about you the way you care about the Yankees. That is how I see it. They know you love the history, the uniform, the memories. They know walking away from the spending feels like walking away from something personal.

And they benefit every time you confuse those two things.

I haven’t paid for a ticket to that ballpark in four years. That decision was made long before this latest embarrassment. The Yankees have spent those four years reinforcing it.

My money can no longer go to a loser. I work too damn hard to finance the same failure while the people responsible keep getting another opportunity.

At some point, loyalty becomes permission.

Permission to keep Boone. Permission to keep Cashman. Permission to sell championship expectations without delivering championship accountability.

They’re counting on you being furious today and buying tickets tomorrow.

That’s the business model: sell the history, collect the money, explain the failure. Repeat.

The fans deserve better. But ownership has little reason to fear our anger when our spending keeps rewarding its decisions.

THE MOMENT THE SPENDING STOPS IS THE MOMENT THE PRESSURE BECOMES REAL.

Let Boone explain another collapse to empty seats. Let Cashman pitch another roster to fans who have stopped buying the sales job. Let ownership discover what disappointment looks like on a balance sheet.

We’ve paid enough.

Make the failures expensive for the people responsible for them.

F this manager and front office.  Happy winter. Let's go hunting.

DISGRACEFUL!

 Commentary tomorrow. I'm sick of it.

ONCE IS A MISTAKE, BUT TWICE AND BEYOND IS A PATTERN

It sucks to suck, and that's exactly what the Yankees have established. It's dejavu all over again and it doesn't have to be. But the Yankees choose it because they like to suck more than they like to win, apparently. I just twitched violently as I typed that.

Year after year this team is plagued by awful fundamentals. The Yankees manage to lose. Keeping Aaron Boone and the front office in place is a losing strategy. The official box score says the Yankees were charged with four errors but let's be real that was six. One of those errors was miraculously called a hit by the official scorer and the other was saved by George Lombard Jr and Jazz Chisholm should bow down and praise him for saving his butt. This organization does not teach good fundamentals, and they certainly don't expect it out on the field. It's an afterthought for the Yankees as long as they can smash homeruns out of the park.

But that's not serving us well at all. We saw it against the Dodgers in the World Series two years ago and we haven't learned anything from it. Here we are two years later still beating ourselves and we did it against a very fundamentally sound team. That's what makes it worse. It's also what gives us another dose of harsh reality.

Good teams don't just ride a hot streak, they literally outplay everyone else and make inferior teams look stupid. That's everything we see with this Rays team. I've always said Kevin Cash is a good manager, and he is smart. The Rays play fundamental baseball and what makes it worse, they know how to create those pressure situations that make bad teams like the Yankees crumble. The Rays have created chaos, and the Yankees haven't overcome it. The Rays have a manager that knows what he is doing, and what other teams are not doing. He is the opposite of Aaron Boone and we are reminded of it yet again.

In MLB postseason history, only 10 out of 91 teams have ever come back to win a best-of-five series after losing the first two games. Coincidentally, the Yankees are the last team to do that back in 2017 but this isn't even a shadow of what that team was. Saying that really makes me miss "the good old days" because at least we weren't THIS tragically pathetic. Anything is possible but it is hard to have faith in this team with no Aaron Judge and weak players like Ryan McMahon, Chisholm and Austin Wells unnecessarily filling in the roster.

The Yankees need to change everything they do and think. It's time to turn things upside down. We've already endured 16 seasons of losses with no championships but Hal Steinbrenner hasn't understood our frustration. I wonder if this is the year it finally clicks and he gets it.....but I'm not going to hold my breath.

Please boys....show us something today. Don't just rollover and get eliminated at home. Please.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj

A LOT OF BOONE IMPROVEMENT PROMISES, BUT ALL THESE YEARS LATER, NOTHING CHANGES

Yup, we don't forget.

Players have changed over the years, but one thing remains. Boone. And after the mistakes, he's not out there reprimanding them.  Just a lot of talk to the press about how things need to get better, but the players do not.

What the Yankees did against Tampa Bay on Monday was an embarrassment.

Four errors. A 5–2 loss. A 2–0 deficit in a best-of-five division series. A team supposedly built to compete for a championship suddenly standing one loss from elimination because it could not handle the basic responsibilities of playing baseball. Catch the ball. Make the throw. Understand the situation. Give your pitcher a chance. It's your job.

Apparently, those expectations are too demanding.

We here at Bleeding Yankee Blue has been hammering this organization about leadership, accountability and fundamentals for years. The other night supplied another miserable example of why. The names change. The opponent changes. The calendar changes. The Yankees keep finding familiar ways to sabotage themselves.

And Aaron Boone keeps finding something to say afterward.

That is the part I cannot stomach anymore. There is always an explanation. Always another assurance. Always a suggestion that the Yankees understand what went wrong and will address it. Then another important game arrives, and the same problems show up wearing freshly washed pinstripes.

How many times are we supposed to buy this?

Boone kept Ryan McMahon in the lineup partly because he wanted “to prioritize the defense.” McMahon then mishandled a routine grounder on the second pitch of the game. Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s attempted double-play throw went astray. Austin Wells added catcher’s interference. Three official errors in the first inning.

Prioritize the defense?

The Yankees could barely survive it. Those were the opening moments of a playoff game. This was the preparation they brought to a night when they desperately needed to even the series.

By the end, the defensive damage extended beyond the four errors in the box score. There were additional misplays, including mistakes involving Spencer Jones, George Lombard Jr. and Luis García Jr. Three unearned runs helped bury the Yankees.

Every one of those players has a responsibility to execute. Their mistakes belong to them. But the manager and his coaches have a responsibility to prepare a team that can perform under pressure. When these breakdowns keep resurfacing in important games, the people running that preparation deserve scrutiny.

Boone has had years to establish his standards. We are looking at the results. Cam Schlittler was left trying to navigate the mess around him. He departed after 4⅓ innings, charged with four runs, only two earned.

His outing was not flawless. He kept grinding. But his teammates made an already difficult assignment harder. Before making the pitching change in the fifth, Boone had watched his defense repeatedly compromise his starter.

I wanted to see Schlittler get a chance to work through that inning. Pulling him did nothing to repair the fielding behind him. George Lombard Jr.’s subsequent error extended the inning, and Richie Palacios delivered the two-run single that pushed Tampa Bay’s lead to 5–1.

Meanwhile, Ben Rice supplied two solo home runs. The rest of the lineup went a combined 2-for-28. Rice was trying to drag an entire offense across the finish line while the defense was busy digging a hole underneath it.

That is a hell of a way to approach October.

Afterward, Boone said:

“We’ve got to get over it.”

Of course they have to recover. There is another game to play.

But fans deserve something more substantial than the latest invitation to move past a disaster. We have been moving past these disasters for years. Eventually, somebody has to explain why the organization cannot stop producing them.

The history of these comments makes last night even harder to accept.

In 2022, Boone said of baserunning:

“It’s been a stronger point of emphasis from Day 1 of Spring Training.”

Good. It should be. But an emphasis has to become a habit. A habit has to survive a difficult game, a tight score and the pressure of October. Otherwise, the organization gets to announce its commitment every spring without ever being held responsible for whether that commitment lasts.

On July 5, 2024, after a loss to Boston, Boone said:

“We have to play clean baseball, especially when things are hard to come by. We’ve got to be better, period.”

I mean, no shit. Don't tell us, tell them! And while you're at it, make sure these players are doing what is needed! The context was maddening. Anthony Volpe failed to run hard enough from third to score before DJ LeMahieu was tagged at second. Because that final out was a tag rather than a force, getting home in time mattered. LeMahieu also could have prolonged the play with a rundown. The Yankees wasted an opportunity through poor execution and situational awareness.

Boone recognized the problem publicly. Recognizing it was the easy part. The harder responsibility was making that kind of baseball unacceptable—and producing a team that consistently demonstrated it understood why.

On July 8, 2024, CBS Sports’ Mike Axisa wrote:

“Simply put, they need to play cleaner baseball.”

Even the outside diagnosis had become familiar. There comes a point when “cleaner baseball” should stop appearing on the organization’s wish list and start describing the product on the field.

On February 14, 2025, Brian Cashman acknowledged the defensive problem:

“Defensively we were challenged in a lot of positions last year.”

He also said:

“I thought we were bad defensively.”

Cashman was discussing the offseason effort to improve run prevention after the 2024 World Series loss. He believed personnel changes would strengthen the defense and help the Yankees go further. That matters because this failure reaches above the manager. Cashman knew. The front office knew. The problem had been identified. Improving it was an organizational objective.

So nobody gets to act blindsided when fans demand answers about another October defensive collapse.

Then, in comments reported July 24, 2025, after another four-error game against Toronto, Boone said:

“Keep working at our fundamentals day in and day out and it will continue to get better.”

Read that again. Then think about last night.

The Yankees may conduct drills. Coaches may review video. Conversations may happen behind closed doors. We do not need to invent what happens inside the clubhouse to judge the effectiveness of the work.

The recurring failures are visible.

Whatever instruction and accountability exist have not produced a standard reliable enough to prevent another postseason embarrassment. That is the failure Boone and the front office have to answer for.

And I am tired of hearing their intentions presented as evidence of success. The same week as that Toronto debacle, Aaron Judge said:

“Going into this off day, we’ve got to refocus and tighten it up on defense.”

The captain could see it, too. At some point, all this tightening is supposed to hold. Instead, the Yankees keep arriving at the biggest moments with parts falling off.

Bleeding Yankee Blue was calling for change long before this latest disaster. On November 5, 2024, our senior managing editor, Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa, argued that the Yankees needed to move on from Boone and establish accountability after the World Series. Her criticism specifically addressed the team’s baserunning, fundamentals and leadership.

On July 24, 2025, BYB returned to the same issue in HOUSE OF HORRORS & LOSERS Jeana described recurring fundamental failures and challenged the protection Boone and the front office continued to receive.

The record is there.

I have been ahead of the curve on this argument, and BYB has kept making it when plenty of people preferred to dismiss the criticism as excessive. We were watching the habits. We were watching the excuses accumulate. We were asking why an organization with these resources continued to tolerate such unreliable execution.

Now, for those finally opening their eyes: welcome.

And shame on everyone who waved away the warning signs and treated concerned fans as the problem. You do not have to agree with every lineup criticism or bullpen complaint to recognize that repeated failures deserve more than another defense of the manager.

Being demanding about the Yankees is part of caring about the Yankees.

I care enough to say this plainly: Aaron Boone should be fired.

His public assurances have lost their credibility with me. A manager cannot keep promising improvement while his team repeatedly demonstrates the same vulnerabilities under pressure and expect unlimited patience...FOR YEARS.

The players need consequences for repeated lapses. Those consequences should be deliberate and consistent: corrective work, changes in roles, and playing time earned through execution. A respected veteran should face the same expectations as a rookie. Talent should come with responsibility.

Boone also needs to be judged by that standard. So do his coaches. So does Cashman.

A replacement manager will need authority to enforce expectations. The front office needs new decision-makers who will challenge unsuccessful practices and judge the organization by what it delivers. Hal Steinbrenner has to demand that change instead of signing off on another round of reassuring explanations.

The Yankees of the late 1990s, carrying into 2000, won four championships in five seasons under Joe Torre.

That is the seriousness this franchise should be trying to recover, but with a clown like Boone... forget it.

It requires preparation, trust, execution and the willingness to confront failure. Players can feel supported while being held responsible. A manager can remain composed while insisting on standards. Torre’s success should remind the Yankees that leadership is measured by the team it produces.

Last night, Tampa Bay kept putting pressure on New York. The Yankees kept giving that pressure somewhere to go.

Boone cannot throw away this game, retrieve another familiar phrase and expect the discussion to end. The discussion should reach his office, Cashman’s office and ownership.

I have no faith that the Yankees will win a World Series under this leadership. They have given me years of reasons to reach that conclusion. Another October collapse only strengthens it.

Fire Boone. Bring new leadership into the front office. Give the next manager the authority and responsibility to make disciplined baseball a daily requirement.

And hold everyone to it! 

The Yankees have supplied enough statements about getting better. Their fans have earned the right to demand that they actually do it. The time is now, I am fed up.

FOUR ERRORS, ZERO BACKBONE & ANOTHER BOONE OCTOBER DISASTER

Four errors. Two runs. One more loss and everybody can start packing.

The Yankees lost Game 2 to Tampa Bay, 5–2, and somehow the score makes this embarrassment look more respectable than it was. Down 0–2 in a best-of-five series, they looked outmatched, rattled and completely unprepared to handle the most basic requirement of postseason baseball: catch the damn ball.

Four errors in a playoff game is a disgrace. These are major leaguers playing for the New York Yankees, and they turned the field into an obstacle course for their own pitcher.

Cam Schlittler deserved better.

He was competing. He was giving this team a chance. But what good is getting a ball hit to a defender if you have to hold your breath waiting for the play to be made? Cam had ZERO SUPPORT FROM HIS TEAM IN THE FIELD, and the Yankees made his job harder with every mistake.

Then Aaron Boone removed him.

Why the hell did Boone think pulling Cam was a good idea?

Explain the baseball logic. Explain why the pitcher should lose the ball while the defense responsible for sabotaging his outing gets to keep fumbling through October.

To my eyes, Cam was doing what the Yankees needed: battling through a mess his teammates helped create. I wanted Boone to trust him to keep fighting. But Boone feels like he needs to tinker with stuff, like the PITCHER... when it's not the pitcher at all. The brilliant Rays put the ball in play.  The Yankees don't play well defensively. By the way, WE HAVE BEEN TALKING ABOUT THIS FOR 4 YEARS. It has never improved.  And so yeah, Going to the bullpen didn’t fix anybody’s glove.

And afterward? The familiar Boone comfort blanket.

“A really rough night to say the least for us,” Boone said. “We’ve got to get over it. We’ve responded all year to difficult times and we’ve got to do it again.”

Statements like that only add fuel to the fire.

A “rough night” is traffic on the way home. Four errors when it matters with your season hanging in the balance demands something stronger than another reminder that everyone has bounced back before.

Where is the anger? Where is the accountability? Where is the manager willing to say this performance was unacceptable without immediately cushioning the landing?

Boone’s public response sounds soft just like him. He's a bad fucking leader. The decisions invite scrutiny, the team falls apart, and then we get another soothing explanation. Fans are furious, and he sounds ready to roll over and turn the page.

Meanwhile, the fantastic Tampa Bay Rays are turning the series into a rout.

The Yankees have one loss left to give. They need clean baseball, actual urgency and a manager whose decisions help them survive.

Because right now, the errors are embarrassing, the excuses are exhausting, and October is almost over. Oh yea, and Boone will screw this up... as predicted.

SOME PEOPLE DO STICK UP FOR BOONE! THEY MUST BE STUDIED.

We've spent 9 seasons criticizing Aaron Boone. I think the only way we stop is when he is finally gone. That has to happen sooner or later, right? No one can live forever. That's what science has told us anyway. So since Baboonie isn't immortal and the Yankees aren't smart enough to fire him we can pretty much count on Baboonie doesn't go away because the Yankees finally fire him.

At this point, I can't imagine ever defending Baboonie. If I ever did, someone needs to have me examined because something is wrong with me. There's always at least one that goes against the grain though, right? Well NJ.com is defending Baboonie, you can check it out HERE. The closest I will ever get to defending Baboonie is to say that he did not hand pick Austin Wells to be the catcher of this team. He is stuck with him. Wells definitely screwed up game one, but given his track record it isn't a surprise.

Baboonie even went so far as to admit he screwed up. He gave him some tough criticism in his own Baboonie way so there is that. But why defend him at all? He doesn't need or warrant defending. If he actually won a championship the criticism would at least come with one gleaming moment of accomplishment that matters to all of us.

Instead, we have to listen to him defend dead weight like Wells and then strangely justify decisions not add Aaron Judge to the ALDS roster. I say strangely because he tried to use science to ssound smart and defend the thought process but it just falls flat. NJ.com went as far as to say Judge isn't close to being 100% yet....but one more week not rehabbing could get him there.

Come again? Seriously, am I the only one who thinks one week could be a difference maker? We've seen Giancarlo Stanton battle with an epidemic of strains for years now. One week never brought him close to 100% in the nine seasons he's been here. He's a constant walking strain! Baboonie has an example of the exact opposite thought process but the aging captain is somehow going to be different. It's Baboonie logic.

A Grade 2 strain takes 6 to 8 weeks to fully heal for all other professional baseball players not named Judge. When the ALCS starts on October 12th, Judge's rehab will be on day 26. That's not even four weeks IF the Yankees can even get there. I'm not against wishing for that once in a lifetime miracle....I just don't trust that Baboonie or the Yankees would recognize it happening.

So while anything is possible, I just don't understand defending Baboonie for anything, really. Anyone who does needs to be studied and possibly committed.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj

WELLS PLAYS HERO, BOONE’S OFFENSE PLAYS DEAD

The Yankees lost Game 1 to Tampa Bay, 1-0, wasting five innings of one-run pitching from Gerrit Cole. Jonathan Aranda’s third-inning homer supplied all the scoring. Drew Rasmussen supplied the humiliation: eight innings, 10 strikeouts and one lousy hit.

Then Austin Wells decided he was trying to be a hero. With two outs in the eighth, he finally broke up the no-hitter—and promptly got thrown out stretching a double into a triple. He saw Luis Rojas’ stop signal after passing second and kept going. Congratulations: you rescued the Yankees from one embarrassment and drove them straight into another. Stay at second and give the next hitter a chance. That’s October baseball, not an audition for a highlight reel.

And Aaron Boone deserves scrutiny, too. He stacked the lineup with eight left-handed hitters, and Rasmussen carved it up. The supposed matchup advantage produced 23 swings and misses. At some point, having right-handed alternatives means actually considering a different look while there are still outs to work with.

Then Boone chose Giancarlo Stanton to pinch-hit for Ryan McMahon leading off the ninth—Stanton’s first plate appearance since April 24. He struck out. I understand betting on his October power, but asking a guy sidelined for five months to rescue a one-run playoff game is a hell of a gamble. Boone afterward said he liked the at-bat. Wonderful. Put that on the scoreboard.

Monday’s Game 2 has Cam Schlittler lined up to start. The Yankees need to give him actual run support and bring this series home tied. Expect pressure immediately: another loss means facing elimination in Game 3.

Boone needs better answers. Wells needs better judgment. And this lineup needs to remember that beating Boston didn’t finish the job.

WELLS BLOWS A LEGIT SHOT FOR THE YANKEES

Austin Wells finally did something useful against Drew Rasmussen—and immediately found a way to wreck it.

Two outs. Eighth inning. Yankees down 1-0. Wells breaks up the no-hitter with a double, then gets thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple. Opportunity over. Inning dead.

Park your ass at second base.

You’re a catcher, Austin. You run like you’re dragging the equipment bag. Where exactly did this sudden belief in your blazing speed come from?

Austin Wells spoils Drew Rasmussen's no-no then gets HOSED at third 🤯 https://t.co/yIGAjlCHK3

— B/R Walk-Off (@BRWalkoff) October 4, 2026

The Yankees finally had a pulse, and Wells decided to unplug the monitor.

This was brutally dumb baseball. Second base already puts you in scoring position. With two outs, you’re running on contact. Give the next hitter a chance. That’s basic baseball awareness, and Wells apparently left his in the dugout.

Instead, he took the team’s precious opening and gambled it on legs that had absolutely no business making that bet.

Spare me “he was trying to make something happen.” Something had happened. You hit a double. Your next assignment was standing on a bag. Somehow, that proved too complicated.

The lack of speed was obvious. The lack of judgment was inexcusable.

Wells deserves credit for breaking up the no-hitter. Then he deserves to get absolutely roasted for turning a legitimate scoring chance into an inning-ending display of delusion.

You don’t have to be fast to help this team. You do have to be smart enough to know you aren’t.

HEY BOONE, DON’T SCREW THIS UP

The Yankees swept Boston, and I enjoyed every second of it. Now comes the harder part: beating Tampa Bay without turning their own dugout into the Rays’ greatest competitive advantage.

These Yankees—the misfits as I call them, the guys I’ve questioned all summer—have given us something worth rooting for. They handled the Wild Card round without Aaron Judge. Austin Wells contributed. Spencer Jones contributed. Suddenly, a lineup that too often looked like a collection of separate problems started playing like a team.

I want these misfits to win the whole damn thing.

That doesn’t mean Brian Cashman gets a summer’s worth of criticism erased by two October victories. I’m still tired of roster construction built around gambles, injury recoveries and the assumption that somebody will eventually figure it out. I still question the evaluations, the patience afforded certain players and the habit of selling hope as a strategy.

But the players have an opportunity now. Let them take it.

Tonight starts with Gerrit Cole. Game 1 begins at 6:30 p.m. ET at Tropicana Field, with Cole facing Drew Rasmussen. Tampa went 55–26 at home, so walking into that building and expecting Boston’s surrender to carry over would be a mistake.

Cole brings a 10–9 record, a 3.61 ERA and 131 strikeouts. Rasmussen counters with 16–5, a 2.67 ERA and 174 strikeouts. Those numbers should get everyone’s attention.

Cole is rested. Now he needs to be sharp. There’s unfinished business after Tampa eliminated the Yankees in the 2020 ALDS, but revenge doesn’t retire hitters. First-pitch strikes, command and keeping the ball in the park do. Junior Caminero, Yandy Díaz and Jonathan Aranda cannot be allowed to turn every inning into traffic.

And against Rasmussen, the Yankees need useful at-bats. Make him work. Move runners. Take the available run instead of waiting for the three-run homer that might never arrive.

Then there’s Wells. I’ve criticized him plenty, and his regular-season bat earned those questions. I really don't think he's good, but maybe he's on a hot streak. He had a good Wild Card series, and he deserves credit. In Game 1 alone, he delivered two hits, drove in a run and scored another while helping the Yankees pitchers overwhelm Boston.

Trent Grisham? I appreciate what he can provide offensively. I’m still watching him in the field. Does he take the right route? Make the clean play? Keep an extra base from becoming an extra run? October defense has to withstand scrutiny, especially against a team willing to pressure every small mistake.

And is Aaron Judge even necessary in this series?

It’s a provocative question, but the roster decision deserves one. A healthy Judge makes this team better. A limited Judge returning from a strained right calf presents a different calculation. Entering today, his availability remained uncertain, with a possible pinch-hitting role under consideration.

If he can help, use him. If he cannot run or defend effectively, don’t rearrange a functioning lineup simply because the biggest name is available. The misfits just showed they can win together. Respect that.

Ryan Weathers’ potential addition to the ALDS bullpen presents another test. I’ve questioned the Cashman gamble there, too. Making the roster is one thing; being ready for a tight October inning is another. Boone needs to know the difference.

Behind Cole, Cam Schlittler is slated for Monday’s Game 2, with Carlos Rodón and Max Fried the likely options when the series reaches New York. Those Bronx assignments remain unconfirmed, but there is enough pitching here to make this a real fight.

Which brings us to the question every Yankee fan eventually asks:

Will Boone mess this up?

Will he recognize when his starter is finished? Choose the reliever suited to the inning? Let productive players play? Or will we spend tomorrow discussing a decision everyone could see going wrong before it happened?

Manage the game in front of you, Aaron. Give these guys their best chance.

I’m rooting for Wells to keep hitting, Grisham to make every play, Cole to own the opener and the kids to keep bringing life into this team. But, Rasmussen is tough... and the Rays are home.

Let the misfits win.

I’d love nothing more than to spend November explaining how they proved me wrong.