FIRING DILLON LAWSON WAS SYMBOLISM FOR YANKEELAND & A MESSAGE TO BOONE

The Yankees are 8 games back... fourth place going into the All-Star break.  While it seriously is NOT the end of the world and there's plenty of baseball to be played, Yankee brass knew something had to be done to make Yankee fans feel, well... a little relieved that maybe change was coming. And so, the worst hitting coach in the league, Dillon Lawson had to go.  A symbol to the fanbase, that yes, "We acknowledge that you are unhappy, and yes, we will try and fix this."  

Will the firing of Lawson work?  Who knows, meaning ultimately it does come down to these professional hitters, all capable of hitting a baseball. But for some reason, all caught up in some type of habit or hitch that won't allow them to move forward.  But for me, there is no question as a Yankee fan that the end of Lawson came when Aaron Hicks found new life in Baltimore. Coupled by alittle Chicken Parm and adjustment made by Anthony Volpe with the help of Austin Wells.  When it was revealed that these players were finding quality at bats elsewhere, that really should have kicked Dillon Lawson's ass in gear to start to do his job.  Bottom line, it was too late and with the Yankees losing to the Cubs 7-4 yesterday, Steinbrenner had seen enough and good for him.

And so, this is the reset portion of our Yankee season.  

But more importantly, Yankee brass will be looking a lot closer at how to fix the struggling offense.  Dillon Lawson is partially to blame sadly.  Many of the pros are adults and can't seem to make adjustments on their own, but we also have had plenty of injuries.  That being said, now we need to move forward to the second half of the season. And yes, if things don't get better, Boone should be worried. That's how it works.

The Athletic writes:

"Boone has to be on alert. Sure, the three-year contract the Yankees gave him runs through next season and comes with a team option for 2025. But so what? Firing Lawson was a drastic measure, and the heat has been turned all the way up in the Bronx. Boone knows that all eyes are on him to turn this around. The next hitting coach, whoever gets the job, will be starting from a deficit. He won’t have an offseason and spring training to prepare. It’ll be up to Boone to not just make sure players are on board with the new guy’s message, but he’ll also need to make sure the players maintain trust in the front office. Players will be looking for leadership, and leadership has decided that one of its own had to go."

There's that word. Leadership.  Bleeding Yankee Blue has preached the word Leadership ever since Aaron Boone showed up.  This isn't a guy that can actually manage a winning Yankees team. This is a guy with a baseball pedigree that like the 1996 movie Multiplicity, got worse from Ray Boone to Aaron Boone.  

In other words, guys like Ray, his son Bob Boone were from that old school mentality of really understanding this game. I'd even give some credit to Bret Boone who had a pretty decent career.  But something went wrong with this other Boone. 

Aaron is just not capable or experienced enough to hold the Yankee reigns and cares more about arguing with umpires over balls and strikes than he does of actually molding players.  I equate Boone to the Yankee fan boy. He loves hanging with the Yankee players... but doesn't really understand the amount of responsibility he has. And it's enormous.  Boone has never said much in press conferences.  

His anger is only truly demonstrated on the field yelling at umps, and let's be honest, no one gives a crap about that. It's theater, not leadership.

And so, firing Lawson was a warning shot, symbolism to not only us frustrated Yankee fans who want a quick fix, but a turn-around in the second half. But it's more than that.  It's Hal Steinbrenner finally understanding why his dad was a lunatic all those years before.  

Winning in baseball is important, especially if you're the Yankees.  Boone can preach that this is a marathon, not a sprint all he wants, but since he came to the Yankees in 2017, he's preached "marathon".   So listen to me carefully... we're going on a 6-year marathon now.  Sooner or later you better start sprinting.  And that's what Steinbrenner is seeing these days.  Boone's being complacent, not showing urgency as the manager of the New York Yankees and it is disturbing to do this for this amount of time. Remember the last time we won? It was 2009.  

Good ol' Steinbrenner made it a point to demonstrate what urgency really is.  It's time.  Time for change and time to get off your ass and make this team competitive, Mr. Boone.

We can only hope.  It won't be easy, however. It starts with Boone, but we also have to deal with a new hitting coach, unfamiliar with the players and not coming into spring training, but instead halfway through the season.

The fans and most of the MLB players will be relaxing this break, all doing their own type of reset. But the Yankees front office will be working hard, and they should.  They have no choice.  Enough of the "one game at a time" and "marathon" mentality.  Urgency needs to be seen and leadership needs to step up.  Do that and we have a shot this year.  Yelling at umpires over balls and strikes and talking about "hitting strikes hard" means nothing in the second half.  

We are the Yankees. We just need to do better, that's it.