ARE THE YANKEES THE BLOCKBUSTER OF BASEBALL?

Now I realize I am dating myself. But it's okay. My kids know what Blockbuster Video is or rather was. I think maybe a good portion of you do too. And you know the Yankees of today and in the days of Blockbuster. They were, good. Blockbuster provided access to VHS and then DVDs to customers across the country. They were the only video rental chain, and they owned the market. But they drank the invincible punch and therefore, never thought they could be ousted. They even declined the purchase of their first true competitor, Netflix, which could have kept the giant in business. Interestingly enough, Blockbuster closed in 2014. You know who also hung up his cleats in 2014. Yep, the Captain, Derek Jeter. The Yankees are the Blockbuster of Baseball and here's why.

"Blockbuster was known for charging customers a fee for every day they were late returning a movie rental. In fact, Blockbuster said it made $800 million in late fees, or 16% of its revenue, Quartz reported. This frustrated many customers, including Netflix founder Reed Hastings," reported Business Insider. The Yankees, well they play by their own rules. They don't listen to fans, or their baseball gut; they only listen to analytics. They don't reward good leadership; they'd prefer puppets who execute orders from above. They are old. They got cocky. And guess what, they are as defunct as Blockbuster.

The new baseball, the modern baseball, takes into consideration wisdom of the past coupled with today's analytics. Great teams of today favor strategic hitting, lower pitch counts, and low tolerance for mediocrity. If you don't have it today, you are out of the game. 

But Aaron Boone does not subscribe to that kind of mantra. He likes to give days off to players who are making a difference in the lineup, he prefers home runs over base hits and he misuses his pitchers. Yet, "One thing Steinbrenner has decided on is to retain Boone as manager for ‘24. Steinbrenner spoke to a lot of the current players, former Yankees like Andy Pettitte and Nick Swisher, and front office people like Omar Minaya and Brian Sabean, and the conclusion was unanimous. "Without giving my opinion on the call, they all came to the same conclusion which is, Aaron is a good manager. He should be our manager in 2024. That was the first big decision I needed to make,” said Steinbrenner as reported MLB.com. 

Now the Yankees have decided to bring in an outside consultancy to evaluate their analytics department. "Steinbrenner wants to make sure that the team is making the right decisions on the field. Zelus will work with the Yankees throughout the season.  "We are going to take all that from what we learned and compare it to what we do,” Steinbrenner said. “There could be some areas that we feel that we need to do better and change,” reported MLB.com. 

How about using a combination of baseball knowledge and analytics? You don't need an outside consultant to prescribe that. How about take a page from Texas Rangers Manager Bruce Bochy, Arizona Diamondback Manager Torey Lovullo or even Philadelphia Phillies and former Yankee coach Rob Thomson's playbook. They know their players; they don't tolerate crap and they use that combo of wisdom and numbers - the secret sauce for leading winners.

When you are aging, you look for ways to stay young. You challenge yourself. You keep current. If you don't, you simply will be outplayed, and therefore become outdated. The Yankees are just that. They assume they are the Yankees and therefore everyone would want to play here and as a fan, come to the stadium and drop hundreds of dollars to see a legendary franchise play. But guess what? The fans want more and expect more. 

In 2023, "New York finished with a .227 batting average, 29th among the 30 teams, and was 25th in runs with 673," reported ESPN. Steinbrenner says there will be big changes that to the naked eye, you can't see. Well, with the manager and general manager still in place, I am not sure the Yankees will look that much different in 2024. What are they actually waiting for? Another "streaming service" to overtake them in the market? They know what the stakes are. They can see how other teams are winning. Can't they see the writing on the wall? The Yankees are the Blockbuster of Baseball and unless things change, they will remain out of business for the foreseeable future. 

--Suzie Pinstripe

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @suzieprof