The modern game of baseball is highly reliant on statistics to drive decision-making. Quite frankly the modern day of higher education where I spend most of my time is highly reliant on data to make decisions about programs, student success and admission of learners. Even our day to day decisions are based on numbers—interest rates, shopping deals and airline prices to name a few. And it is fantastic that we have access to data to support decisions, but data can't be the only factor. So, this is the well or ditch or impasse where the Yankees are right now—relying on metrics to determine its fate. Front and center of the key decisions for this team land with General Manager Brian Cashman. And honestly it is time for a Come to Jesus moment for him as he looks to make decisions about the Yankees near future.
"At the end of the day, after the changes, the Yankees are still a team of big sluggers. The roster is still power-based and unathletic with very few contact hitters. They have very little versatility built into their roster and heading into 2022 a lot of questions about whether they are heading in the right direction," reported the New York Daily News. I have to agree and I am thinking most of you reading this do as well.
This team doesn't have the agility and versatility in this lineup that other teams that are beating them consistently do. They don't have speed. They don't have pure hitters, who can drive runs in when there are guys in scoring position. Their blueprint has been swing for the fences and as we saw with Giancarlo Stanton on the last day of the Yankee 2021 season, you can bank on home runs to get you wins. Aaron Boone seems to think you can and that and his inability to manage pitchers is killing the chances of this team to perform at a higher level next year. So do the Yankees bring in more talent to be managed by this kind of manager? That's for a different piece. We have lots of them in our BYB library!
The Yankees need speed, they need consistent hitters who can drive in runs and they need to play fundamental baseball. They can't allow teams to easily get by them by taking advantage of walks, passed balls and errors. They have to close up the holes in the infield, namely getting themselves a shortstop and they need a center fielder who can play more than 145 games in three years! Aaron Hicks and Gary Sanchez are absolute jokes. The Yankees have given them chances. It is time to part ways. Gleyber Torres may have more value to give at second base in 2022, but if he can't perform, he needs to be shown the door too.
And honestly, as much as I like Luke Voit, he can't be the Yankees every day first baseman because he simply can't stay off of the IL. He is consistently getting hurt and then stumbling to get back. It is a lot of wasted time, which the Yankees can't afford as we have witnessed in 2021.
Cashman has a lot of work to do. But is he the guy to do it? I mean are the Steinbrenners really happy with him? 2009 was a very long time ago and as we edge up to 2022, it is almost difficult to remember good baseball consistently coming out of the Bronx. This modern day team seems to be ok with a bunch of almosts—making excuses for players who get paid a heck of a lot of money to be ok. Ultimately the Yankees failures are a part of Cashman's legacy as GM as much as his successes are. Time to look in the mirror and determine who you want to be.
I echo the News in my final thoughts here—"They have become increasingly reliant on analytics, which many of the top teams in the game are doing but with more success. The information across the game is largely the same now, so why have other teams been able to adapt and be more successful? No one is saying stick your head in the sand, but there has to be a hard look at how information is being used to make decisions." Looking forward to seeing what the Yankees as an organization decide to do with their current staff and players. I'm hopeful they take this time to think long and hard about their future. Otherwise, I will be spending another summer anywhere but the Stadium for the third year in a row.
--Suzie Pinstripe
BYB Senior Managing Editor
Twitter: @suzieprof
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