BLEEDING YANKEE BLUE BROUGHT THE DYNAMITE. RIZZO LIT THE FUSE.

First off, you’re all late to the party.

If you’ve been reading Bleeding Yankee Blue for the past five years, none of this should surprise you. We’ve been hammering the Yankees’ front office, questioning Brian Cashman’s judgment and calling out Aaron Boone’s failed leadership while everyone else kept waiting for the same operation to magically produce a different ending.

Now the criticism is getting louder. Wonderful. Grab a chair. We’ve been sitting here for years.

And thank God for Anthony Rizzo.

On Ross and Rizzo Unfiltered, Rizzo questioned how a team with this much talent and financial muscle keeps coming up empty. His description? “The definition of insanity.” He challenged the endless repetition and the Yankees’ inability to beat the teams standing between them and a championship.

Finally. Somebody who wore the uniform is saying something worth hearing.

Rizzo didn’t name Boone. Let’s be clear about that. But BYB will: Aaron Boone has failed as a leader, and the front office has failed by continuing to accept the results.

There comes a point when defending your players becomes protecting a culture that desperately needs to change. A manager has to demand something. Preparation. Discipline. Accountability. And when October exposes your team again, he needs a better answer than another explanation of how close everything was to working.

Close doesn’t get a parade. Close gets the equipment packed.

The Rays swept the Yankees out of the Division Series, giving Boone his fourth ALDS exit in nine seasons. That’s an awfully long audition for a franchise supposedly obsessed with winning championships.

And Cashman doesn’t get to watch this from behind the glass like an innocent bystander. He builds the roster. He backs the manager. He owns a substantial piece of this recurring disappointment.

You cannot keep selling the plan while asking everyone to ignore its ending.

Then there’s the communication. Boone publicly described Aaron Judge’s calf strain as moderate; Judge questioned that characterization. That disagreement doesn’t establish a clubhouse revolt, but the manager and captain offering conflicting injury messages certainly doesn’t inspire confidence in how this operation communicates.

The Yankees have enough problems beating other teams. Getting their own message straight ought to be manageable.

Now the looming labor situation is being discussed as a reason they might keep Boone. Reporting has identified a possible December lockout as a complication in making a managerial change. That is a consideration, not an announcement that Boone is staying.

But if organizational convenience becomes the justification for another year of this, fans should be furious.

Leadership changes require work. So does winning. The Yankees can afford both.

Rizzo’s comments matter because they puncture the comfortable idea that another expensive roster will finally fix everything. Talent needs direction. Spending needs judgment. Players need leadership that produces more than loyalty to the manager.

For five years, we’ve been asking where the accountability is.

Now more people are asking.

Welcome aboard. But don’t confuse your arrival with the beginning of the conversation.

BYB has been sounding the alarm. The Yankees keep hitting snooze.