CASHMAN PROTECTED LOMBARD. WHAT ELSE HAVE YOU DONE FOR THIS TEAM?

I keep seeing these ridiculous takes about the Yankees’ trade deadline:

“One of Brian Cashman’s best moves was not trading George Lombard Jr.”

Seriously?

Protecting your best young player isn't some brilliant front-office achievement. That’s Cashman’s job. You know what else is his job? Finding another way to make the Yankees better.

If a team demands Lombard, say no. Then call somebody else. Offer different prospects. Take on money. Get creative. 

Cashman has an entire organization at his disposal. The choices aren't trade Lombard or go home.

This Yankees’ deadline leaves us in a familiar place: Cashman made moves, including Heliot Ramos and Luis Garcia Jr., but did he actually do enough to turn this team into a championship favorite?

That’s the problem. He did not. Cashman always seems to go through the motions. Make the calls, make better calls. Ask about the big names. Tell everyone the prices were too high. Protect a prospect. Make a few secondary moves. Do something meaningful.

Deadline over. And we did this last year too.

In 2025, Cashman brought in Ryan McMahon, David Bednar, Camilo Doval, Jake Bird, José Caballero, Amed Rosario and Austin Slater. There was plenty of deadline excitement then, too.

And where did it get us? Doval, Bird and Slater are already off the team. We didn't move the needle. That’s why I don't want to hear about Cashman “winning” another deadline because he didn't make a stupid trade.

Not making a bad trade isn't the same thing as making a great one. Keep Lombard. Absolutely. But then GO GET SOMEBODY ELSE. Someone meaningful.

We are the New York Yankees. Cashman has prospects, major-league players and enormous financial resources to work with. Eventually the standard has to become championships again—not congratulating Brian Cashman because he managed to protect one of his own best prospects.

But that’s not genius. That's just part of the job.

DO THE YANKEES EVEN NEED AARON BOONE?

The Yankees swept the Royals, and somehow it still leaves me wondering if Boone is the problem. Crazy, right?  Look, The Yanks handled the Kansas City Royals 3 straight losses.  

They outclassed them. Out-hit them. Out-pitched them. Out-everything’d them. For three games, the gap between the two teams looked significant. Let's say it though. The Yankees are supposed to do that. The Royals are in 4th place in the AL Central and 10 games out.  They're not very good.  

But when everything is clicking, baseball is simple. The Yankees are good enough to make it look almost unfair alot of the time.  And that’s exactly why the uncomfortable conversation always circles back to Aaron Boone for me.

For those 3 games, the talent did all the heavy lifting. Start with the obvious headliner: Aaron Judge.

Judge hit and helped despite a mini-slump, Amed Rosario turned the Yankees-Royals series into his personal batting practice session. During the sweep, he was the Yankees’ hottest hitter — and in the historic 15-1 demolition, he went a ridiculous 4-for-5 with two homers, a pile of RBIs, and enough fireworks to make Kansas City wish for a rain delay.

Then there’s Gerrit Cole.

When Cole is right, and he is, everything else becomes easier. The bullpen breathes. The lineup loosens up. The dugout stops feeling like it’s waiting for something bad to happen. Against the Royals, Cole didn’t manage the game — he erased the need to manage it at all. He went out, attacked hitters, and pitched like a guy reminding everyone that he’s supposed to be the ace of a championship-level rotation.

And that’s really the theme of the entire series:

When Rosario is on fire and Cole pitches like Cole, the Yankees don’t need inspiration. They don’t need strategy. They just need to show up. And it wasn't just them... it was contagious. Many did their part for the Bombers.  Which brings us to the part nobody in the front office likes to say out loud.
When It’s Easy, It Looks Fine. When It’s Hard, It Falls Apart. Admit it.  And you know why.

It is my decision that the Yankees didn’t win these games because of clever managerial decisions. They won because the talent gap was so wide it could cover up anything short of total self-sabotage.

But this is where the Boone experience always gets interesting. Because when things are easy, everything looks fine. Lineup decisions disappear into the background.  Pitching changes don’t get questioned.  The game flows, the scoreboard stays in your favor, and everyone can pretend the process is airtight.

But when the game tightens up — when the opponent actually punches back — that’s where things start to feel different. That’s where Boone has a habit of turning manageable situations into chaotic ones.

A bullpen move one batter too late. A matchup that makes no sense on paper. A refusal to ride the hot hand or, worse, the insistence on “staying the course” when the course is clearly sinking.

The Yankees can win 15–1 and nobody notices it. But the postseason doesn’t look like Kansas City in May.  And that’s the problem. That's what I've been saying for years.

Look, this series didn’t prove Boone is good, it proved he might not matter. I'm serious. The Royals series didn’t require managerial brilliance. It required the Yankees to not mess it up.

And they didn’t. Judge helped, Rosario was on fire.  Cole did his job. Hell, even Volpe did his job.  In fact, many of the supporting pieces filled in the gaps when needed.

That’s what a good roster is supposed to do. But at no point did it feel like Boone added anything to the equation.  If anything, it felt like a situation where the Yankees were winning around him, not because of him.  And that’s where my real question starts to creep in. Do We Even Need Boone?

It’s not a troll question anymore. It’s a baseball question. If the Yankees’ wins are driven almost entirely by elite player performance… If their losses often feature questionable in-game decisions by our manager… If the team looks identical whether the manager is praised or criticized…

Then what exactly is the managerial value of Aaron Boone really adding to the Yankees except for headaches in close games? Great teams don’t just need talent. They need leadership that can turn talent into championships when margins shrink and pressure increases.

Right now, the Yankees look like a team that can dominate Kansas City in May with or without a manager in the dugout.  But the real test — the one everyone already knows is coming — is whether Boone can survive when “easy wins” disappear. Because against the Royals, baseball was simple.

Against October opponents, it never is. And that’s where the Yankees still don’t have an answer.

Think about it.

WEAVER REMINDS THE YANKEES OF WHAT THEY COULD HAVE HAD

“I’m not the biggest guy in the room, but I ain’t scared of nobody.”

--Luke Weaver

Luke Weaver didn’t just expose the Yankees bullpen problem Saturday night — he was the answer they let walk out the door.

This wasn’t some overpriced superstar the Yankees couldn’t afford to keep. This was a guy they helped rebuild. A scrap-heap arm who turned himself into a bulldog in the Bronx. A “point and go” pitcher who took every role imaginable and somehow became one of the most reliable weapons Aaron Boone had when the season was hanging by a thread. Their closer.

And what did the Yankees do?

They handed out money elsewhere, watched Trent Grisham accept a one-year, $22 million qualifying offer, shrugged, and basically told Luke Weaver, “Thanks for the memories.”

Bad move, because Weaver clearly remembered.

The second he signed with the New York Mets, you just knew this matchup was circled on his calendar in permanent marker. Revenge games are real, and Weaver looked like a man who had spent months imagining this exact moment. Bases loaded. No outs. Two-run lead against his former team.

That’s either a nightmare or a movie script. Weaver made it cinema.

He punched out Amed Rosario. Then Grisham. Then he got the always-harmless Anthony Volpe to end the inning, because of course Volpe found a way to make the biggest moment disappear into a routine out. At this point, expecting a clutch hit from Volpe is like expecting New Jersey traffic to magically vanish at rush hour.

Weaver was breathing fire, too. The radar gun touched 97.6 mph — his highest velocity of the season. After one strikeout, he barked for the ball back immediately like a guy operating on pure adrenaline and spite. You could practically see the emotion pouring out of him.

And honestly? Good for him.

I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it: Luke Weaver has a legitimate case for being more valuable than David Bednar. Bednar is your classic ninth-inning closer. Fine. But Weaver gives you versatility, swing-and-miss stuff, multiple innings, and better adaptability for today’s game. Managers dream about arms like that in October. The Yankees can't win in October.

Most importantly, Weaver was a teammate. A gamer. The kind of guy Yankee fans naturally gravitate toward because he looked like he genuinely loved wearing the pinstripes.

So no, don’t get it twisted — I’m still a Yankee fan through and through. But if you watched that moment Saturday night and didn’t feel even a little happy for Luke Weaver, you’re lying to yourself.

He wanted revenge, and he absolutely got it. That's what great baseball is.

BOONE'S VOLPE OBSESSION IS SHOWING & IT'S GETTING OLD

Anthony Volpe's minor league exile lasted all of seven days. With Jose Caballero diagnosed with a broken right middle finger, the Yankees recalled their struggling shortstop from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre ahead of Tuesday's game in Baltimore — right in the middle of a four-game skid, because apparently that's the perfect moment to bring back a guy who was rehabbing and sucking at it. 

Aaron Boone's justification? A masterclass in saying nothing with a lot of words: Volpe got "a number of at-bats," "a lot of reps," "a lot of playing time" — basically a "more than a full spring training." Cool. So, Volpe took some grounders and saw some pitching in Triple-A for a week. That's the bar now.

Here's what Boone conveniently glossed over: the error at shortstop. Getting picked off first base. Jogging around second while watching a Spencer Jones fly ball like a tourist while not running hard to get to home plate. These aren't mechanical slumps you fix with a week of reps — they're baseball IQ problems, and those don't get ironed out between bus rides in the minors.

And here's the thing — the Yankees don't even need Volpe to replace Caballero. Ryan McMahon or Max Schuemann is the better defensive option and can slide into short. Amed Rosario can cover third while McMahon shifts to short. The pieces are already there. But Boone didn't go that route, because this was never really about filling a roster hole.

This is about Aaron Boone's bizarre, inarticulate commitment to Anthony Volpe — a crusade to convince a skeptical fanbase that this kid belongs, even as Boone himself can't explain why with any coherence beyond word salad about "reps" and "playing time."

"I would expect Anthony to play a lot," Boone declared. Why? Why, Aaron? That question will remain unanswered, because a real answer doesn't exist.

Caballero reportedly tried to push through it and play. He wanted to be out there for the Yankees, after all, he earned his spot.  But Boone shut that down — "We just didn't want to risk him doing something more to it where it becomes something he had to deal with all summer." Fine, protecting a player is reasonable. But if you're going to be that cautious and deliberate about one roster decision, maybe apply that same energy to figuring out why you're so hellbent on running Volpe out there every day when better options are sitting right in your own dugout.

I am so over this manager and Volpe is a waste.  Filling this hole at short and Volpe going 0-4 day in and day out is just as bad as Caballero playing hurt. The difference? Jose could probably still produce hurt. Volpe? He's just past his time.

'HERO' MCMAHON WITH A 2 HANDED SWING & GROUNDED!

It's a great thing when you fix your hitting mechanics, isn't it? Ryan McMahon was grounded, in his legs, his bottom half & top half worked together... and he swung with both hands.   Say Halleluiah, Say Amen.

And what does Aaron Boone have to say about all this? Strap in for another masterpiece of empty-calorie philosophy—something along the lines of: baseball is hard, adversity builds character, good players are good. "Put a good swing on it on a crazy night." Simpleton. Riveting stuff. Truly groundbreaking analysis. You’d get more insight from a fortune cookie.

That’s the issue. Boone talks like a motivational poster when the moment actually calls for awareness. This wasn’t some vague “trust the process” situation—this was real, tangible adjustment happening in real time, and he sounds like he’s narrating a rain delay.

Because the moment for Ryan McMahon? That was massive. Not symbolic—mechanical. The kind of thing that actually changes outcomes. His swing had been out of sync for weeks—top half flying open, lower half lagging behind, everything disconnected. And then last night? Something clicked. He worked to fix it.

This didn’t come out of nowhere either. McMahon was grinding in the cage for half the game before he even saw the field, then steps in after replacing Amed Rosario in the eighth with the New York Yankees barely holding a lead. That’s not a casual at-bat.

Meanwhile, Cam Schlittler was dealing—six-plus innings, one unearned run, carving through the first 11 hitters like it was a spring training scrimmage. The game had that flat, lifeless feel offensively after Ben Rice went deep earlier. By the eighth, it looked like another quiet, quick inning was coming.

Then Rice keeps it alive with a single—again—and suddenly the whole inning pivots. McMahon steps in, and instead of that disjointed mess we’ve been watching, the swing is finally synced. Lower half fires, hands stay back, barrel stays through the zone, 2 hands on the bat—and boom. That’s not luck. That’s correction.

And somehow, the broader conversation from Boone completely misses it.

This wasn’t “he battled” or “he stayed with it.” This was a hitter actively fixing a broken sequence and getting immediate payoff in a huge spot. That’s the story. Not Boone’s recycled sermon.

If McMahon sticks with that connection and doesn’t drift back into bad habits, this could be a turning point—not just a nice moment.

Big swing. Big adjustment.  Everything Boone somehow managed not to say properly.

Nice win!

BAD BOONE DECISIONS CONTINUE TO LOSE GAMES FOR THE YANKEES

Friday night’s 5–3 loss to the Rays wasn’t just another notch in a three-game skid—it was another reminder that the biggest problem in the Bronx isn’t always on the field.

Yes, Luis Gil had a rocky debut. Fine. That happens. But the defining moments of this game didn’t come from the mound—they came from the dugout, where Aaron Boone continues to manage like he’s guessing on a multiple-choice test and proudly circling “C” every time.

This is becoming a pattern, not a fluke.

April 5: high-leverage situation, Boone rolls with JC Escarra—three pitches later, strikeout, rally dead on arrival.

April 8: a .077-hitting Ryan McMahon keeps getting chances like he’s on a lifetime achievement tour. Boone’s justification was dumb. He actually said McMahon “had been on base four times in the previous three games.” That’s the bar now? Four times in three games? For a hitter batting .077?

And then Friday—somehow worse.

Down 5–3 in the ninth, the Yankees finally wake up. Giancarlo Stanton and Amed Rosario lead off with singles. Jazz Chisholm Jr. does his job, chaos ensues, runners move—suddenly, one swing ties the game.

This is where a real manager plays chess. But we don't have a real manager. We have Boone who plays rock-paper-scissors… blindfolded.

With a righty reliever on the mound, Boone sticks with Randal Grichuk while Trent Grisham—a lefty—sits on the bench watching the season pass him by. Predictably, Grichuk strikes out on four pitches.

And Boone’s explanation? Brace yourself:
“I like the righties against Baker. Had it been two outs, I might have gone Grisham.”

That’s not just a bad answer—it’s barely an answer. It’s the kind of logic that makes you wonder if lineup decisions are being made with a dartboard.

Then came the postgame philosophy lecture, where Boone said:

“Up until the last game of the homestand, we’ve been walking a ton, giving ourselves an opportunity, just got to get some guys clicking and obviously get that big hit... We’re not hitting a ton of longballs right now, but for the most part, approach-wise, I’ve been good…it’s going to happen sometimes from the offense. They’ll get it rolling and some people will pay the price.”

That all sounds nice—if you ignore reality.

Because here’s what Boone refuses to acknowledge: when you do get those opportunities, you can’t hand them to the worst possible matchup and hope for a miracle. Walks don’t win games by themselves. “Approach” doesn’t drive in runs. The right hitter in the right moment does.

Instead, Boone keeps rolling out scenarios where JC Escarra, Ryan McMahon, or a cold righty in a righty-righty matchup becomes the guy. Not because it’s smart—but because, apparently, it “feels” right.

That’s not strategy. That’s gambling. It's a guess. You need to give your team an opportunity. He's not.

Managing this team right now is like handing someone the keys to a Porsche and watching them say, “I like my chances,” right before driving it straight into a wall. And then afterward, they explain the crash by talking about how smoothly the steering wheel felt.

At some point, you stop calling it bad luck. You call it what it is: bad leadership.

The New York Yankees aren’t losing because they lack talent. They’re losing because, in the biggest moments, the decision-making collapses because of Aaron Boone. And until that changes, October isn’t the goal—it’s a fantasy. Mark my words, even if we make it to the playoffs, Boone doesn't have the brain capacity to guide us in a short series.  Trust me.

You cannot win a championship when your manager keeps explaining losses instead of preventing them. That's the bottom line.

AMED ROSARIO IS A GAME HERO & RYAN MCMAHON IS A ZERO!

It's early, so I'm not going to jump to conclusions yet but, THE CASE OF MCMAHON'S MISSING LOWER HALF is really concerning. It's enough that even clown Aaron Boone knew he had to make a change. Let's hope he continues to think smart and use a baseball brain.

Everything is off with Ryan McMahon right now so I am glad Baboonie used his brain for once and used Amed Rosario Tuesday against the A's. Rosario's role was planned as the bench infielder that would play more against left-handed pitching but when you aren't getting the job done like McMahon right now who is in a 2-for-23 slump, sometimes you gotta take a leap of faith.

And it paid off. It's hard for me to watch the Yankees struggle against teams like the A's but it happens. Sometimes your regulars just don't get the job done but one person can be the sparkplug that changes everything. That's exactly what Rosario was with his two homeruns. He could make it very easy for Baboonie to give Rosario more playing time against right handed pitchers if McMahon can't remember how to hit a ball again.

If McMahon was in the lineup Tuesday, we wouldn't have been able to watch that beautiful home run against Mark Leiter Jr. and bring that energy to the rest of his teammates. I can appreciate McMahon's glove, on paper it is "better" than Rosario's but it's not a detriment to this team to play Rosario instead. This isn't a Anthony Volpe concern who can't hit worth a lick and is a defensive liability.

I think Baboonie needs to look a little harder for more opportunities to play Rosario. It's obvious McMahon needs a cleansing of sorts to get his mojo back offensively. I don't care about righty-lefty scenarios right now. McMahon would struggle to hit an oversized beach ball at the plate and until he gets his shit together Baboonie needs to be willing to play Rosario against righties and look at matchups that may be good to get his bat into. All guys have those pitchers that they just see well. 

Right now it's not good to be a Ryan on this team. McMahon isn't getting the job done and let's face it Ryan Weathers also stinks to high heaven. Someone call Baboonie and tell him the Ryan's aren't getting the job done and to continue to make adjustments.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj

THE END OF WHAT MY NEW YORK YANKEES USED TO REPRESENT

Call it dramatic if you want, but this Yankees franchise is no longer living large. The New York Yankees, the supposed gold standard of professional sports, are operating in something that looks a whole lot like survival mode. And I say that as someone who has bled Yankee blue for decades. I have lived through bad teams, weird teams, transition teams, and aging-dynasty teams. What I have never lived through is an offseason quite like this one: timid, directionless, and drenched in alligator arms.

This isn’t patience, gang. This isn’t strategy. This isn’t some grand chess match where Brian Cashman is secretly five moves ahead of the rest of baseball. This is an organization sitting on its hands, congratulating itself for not spending money, while the rest of the league treats urgency like oxygen.

And yet, somehow, we the fans are supposed to be scolded for being angry.

Enter Michael Kay, stage left, wagging his finger at the fanbase like a disappointed substitute teacher. Kay can whine, lecture, and condescend all he wants, but the reality is painfully obvious: his commentary has drifted so far from the lived reality of Yankees fans that it’s become unrecognizable. Let’s not play dumb here. Michael Kay is paid handsomely through the YES Network, the Yankees’ own broadcast arm. That paycheck clears because the organization signs it, not because fans clap politely when the team sleepwalks through an offseason. When Kay lashes out at us fans, it’s not analysis. It’s insulation. His wallet is doing the talking.

And here’s the thing he seems to have forgotten the moment he handed in his fan card: fans are allowed to be mad. In fact, being mad is often the most honest form of fandom. We invest time, money, emotion, and generational loyalty. Anger isn’t betrayal. Apathy is.

The Yankees lost last year. Not “just short.” Not “one bounce away.” They lost. Which means the assignment this offseason was painfully clear: improve the team in a meaningful way. Add impact. Add stars. Add players who scare opposing teams in October.

Instead, here’s the receipt:

Ryan Weathers, acquired for four prospects to “bolster depth.”

Kaleb Ort, claimed off waivers.

Paul DeJong, minor league deal.

Sebastian Pinto, minor league deal.

Trent Grisham, qualifying offer accepted.

Amed Rosario, one-year versatility play.

Paul Blackburn, re-signed.

Ryan Yarbrough, re-signed.

Nick Torres, minor league deal.

Tim Hill, re-signed.

That’s not a championship plan. That’s a clearance rack with pinstripes on it.

Not one All-Star caliber stud. Not one needle-mover. Not one player who walks into a postseason series and forces the other dugout to change its strategy. This is a collection of depth pieces being sold as vision.

Meanwhile, Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón won’t be ready for Opening Day. The shortstop we’re told is “elite” won’t even sniff the field until summer. The catcher who was hyped as the next great stopper hasn’t stopped much of anything and only batting .214. 

And hovering over all of it is Aaron Judge, a generational superstar wasting prime years on a roster that refuses to meet him halfway. Every season that passes without serious reinforcement is another year of malpractice. Judge will retire one day never seeing a championship if this front office continues to lead blind.

The front office’s greatest blind spot remains the same: baseball is played by humans, not spreadsheets. Chemistry matters. Urgency matters. Accountability matters. You can’t model heart, confidence, or fearlessness in a back-office algorithm, no matter how pretty the Excel file looks.

And where is ownership in all of this? Where is Hal Steinbrenner? Where is Randy Levine? Once upon a time, the people at the top didn’t hide when the Yankees underachieved. Now they’re silent, distant, and seemingly detached from the product on the field. Cashman tells us long-term contracts limit flexibility. Steinbrenner promises aggression without recklessness. Fine words. Empty results again.

The Yankees print money. Roughly $700 million a year in revenue. That’s not a small-market excuse. That’s a financial juggernaut choosing restraint while fans are told to be grateful for prudence. There is zero justification for this level of inactivity. None.

Fans have every right to be furious. We pay for season tickets, parking, concessions, jerseys, streaming packages, and cable networks. We show up 162 times a year emotionally, even when the team doesn’t. Wanting a championship isn’t entitlement. It’s the standard this franchise taught us to expect.

And if nothing changes by spring, if Aaron Boone is still wandering the dugout without consequence, if 2026 is once again sold as “trust the process,” then yes, fans should consider drastic responses. Boycotts. Walkaways. Silence where noise used to be. Because loyalty without accountability is just being taken advantage of.

For the first time in my life, I’ve even questioned my own fandom. I’ve thought about walking away for a season. I’ve thought about shutting down Bleeding Yankee Blue, a blog that’s been alive since 2010, because the frustration has curdled into something worse: sadness. This front office doesn’t seem to understand what fans want, or worse, doesn’t care.

It has been a championship drought since 2009 despite sky-high payrolls. Analysts and former players alike have called out unbalanced rosters, outdated thinking, and a fixation on bargain-bin signings. Too many DH-types. No first-base stability. A power-or-nothing approach that collapses under pressure. No urgency. No consequences. No fear of failure.

That’s on Brian Cashman. That’s on Aaron Boone, who would rather be liked than respected. And it’s on voices like Michael Kay, who should be holding this organization’s feet to the fire instead of blaming fans for noticing the smoke. You're pathetic Kay. Shame on you.

Don’t tell us how to root. Don’t insult our intelligence. And don’t pretend this is fine.

This used to be the New York Yankees. Now it feels like a brand slowly being run into the ground by people who confuse comfort with competence. At this point, why not bring Frankie Montas back and call it a day?

Sad.

PAUL DEJONG IS THE YANKEES NEWEST BAND-AID SIGNING!

Okay, seriously what the HELL are we doing? The Blue Jays are out signing shiny new toys to their roster and we get the crappy insurance or depth piece scrubs that no one wants. This is what Brian Cashman can deliver with Hal Steinbrenner's penny budget.

Welcome to our new reality. While our division rivals get stronger, we just sit on our hands because Hal doesn't want to open his piggy bank. The latest proof is Paul DeJong as a freaking New York Yankee, yippee! You can read more HERE.

Again, Yippee! While we have dreamt of getting rid of Anthony Volpe, and would love to see it happen Cashman and company gives us another freaking scrub to the party. Hal said having a $300 million dollar payroll was "not sustainable" and that it would be ideal for payroll to go down, but that did NOT mean that was guaranteed to happen. The Yankees were still going to be in on big names....right.

We've all been gaslit. At this point, Tatsuya Imai signed with the cheating Houston ASSTROS, Cody Bellinger is still out there because the Yankees are playing hardball. We still need another starter and oh yeah....our bullpen is absolute crap! This season is going to be UGLY if the offseason continues like this.

Look, I know DeJong is just depth, especially while Volpe is out for the beginning of the season. DeJong is just a minor league signing with an invite to Spring Training that likely won't make the opening day roster but I am sick and tired of these lackluster depth pieces that are utter crap. I'm not saying depth isn't good....but the Yankees need to go out there and chase after the difference makers also and we aren't!

We aren't acting like the New York Yankees. This is not the picture of a hungry team trying to get back to a championship after 16 years! Now let's just add a bunch of crap depth pieces and make that bench even more crowded as we search for lightning in a bottle in hopes to complete with real powerhouse teams. It's STUPID! Two of the Yankees four bench spots are theoretically filled with Amed Rosario and J.C. Escarra so that leaves DeJong to compete with Oswaldo Cabrera, Jorbit Vivas, and Braden Shewmake for those last two spots. What a joke.

I'm beyond frustrated. I'm sick of the Yankees operating like the Athletics right now. If you want to win you have to make those big moves, also. I'm not saying make ALL of them, make strategic ones. The Yankees aren't making any and I am tired of biting my tongue!

This isn't a competitive team....this is bottom feeder all thanks to clowns Cashman and Hal!

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj

WEAVER TO THE METS & THE YANKEES STILL HAVEN'T MAKE A SIGNIFCANT MOVE

If this is what urgency looks like in the Bronx, someone needs to check the pulse.

The Yankees have officially sleepwalked into MLB free agency, and the early returns are… Amed Rosario and Ryan Yarbrough. That’s it. Two names that scream “placeholder,” not “contender.”  Meanwhile, the rest of the league is out here shopping like it’s Black Friday, and the Yankees are squinting at the clearance rack like they forgot their wallet.

At some point, we have to say the quiet part out loud: the Yankees do not appear to care about being competitive or even good in 2026.

And yes, before anyone reaches for the PR talking points, this is the same organization whose owner, Hal Steinbrenner, once suggested the Yankees are not a profitable franchise—which we all know is fucking bullshit. This is the New York Yankees, not a roadside lemonade stand. They print money in their sleep. Claiming poverty while fielding a half-asleep roster is insulting, not convincing.

The bullpen situation is a perfect snapshot of the rot. The Yankees desperately need relief pitching, yet somehow managed to sit on their hands while most of the high-end bullpen arms flew off the board. Even worse, several of those signings happened right in the AL East. Translation: the Yankees aren’t just standing still—they’re actively falling behind.

And if you want to see what a serious franchise looks like, glance north. The Blue Jays get it. They’re bringing in top-tier talent, players ready to win now. They look hungry. They look aggressive. Right now, they look like the new kings of the AL East, while the Yankees look like a brand living off past glory.

Then there’s the Luke Weaver situation, which somehow manages to be both baffling and infuriating.

According to Joel Sherman, “The Yankees were not part of the bidding to try to retain Weaver.” Not “they got outbid.” Not “they made an offer but fell short.” No—they didn’t even show up.

This is insanity.

Weaver was a legitimate bullpen weapon for the Yankees in 2025. Even if he wasn’t at the top of their wish list, you don’t just ignore a quality arm who already proved he could handle New York. Not even entertaining a conversation—especially when the contract was two years, $22 million—is organizational malpractice.

And now? Weaver heads across town to the Mets, where he’ll pitch alongside former Yankees Clay Holmes and Devin Williams. That alone should be humiliating.

But here’s the real question: it’s not “Why did Weaver go to the Mets?” It’s why the fuck didn’t the Yankees even try?

The Yankees are the ones who created the Weaver mess in the first place. He was a top closer down the stretch two years ago, and then Brian Cashman brought in Williams and detonated the bullpen hierarchy. Roles vanished. Confidence evaporated. Nobody knew where they stood—Weaver included, Williams included, everyone included. It was the dumbest bullpen decision Cashman made in 2025, and that’s saying something.

And now the follow-up act is even worse: they let Weaver walk without a phone call, without a pitch, without a pulse.

So, what’s the plan?

Nothing.

No replacement. No backup move. No urgency. Just another useful arm drifting away while the Yankees act completely fine with it. That tells you everything you need to know. This wasn’t a tough decision—they were comfortable letting him go.

This is why Yankees fans are furious. This is why the organization feels hollow. The Yankees don’t look competitive. They don’t look gritty. They don’t even look like they want to win anymore.

It’s not just disturbing—it’s embarrassing.

BOONE'S BRAIN HAS LEFT THE BUILDING

You ever watch someone fail so hard at their job that you genuinely start to worry they might be doing it on purpose? That’s where we are with Aaron Boone. At this point, it’s not just poor decision-making or lying to the press and fans—it’s just stupid. Yes, I said it. Stupid. And the latest example of Boone’s misguided nonsense? His defense of Anthony Volpe in the face of very real, very deserved fan frustration.

Let’s set the scene: Yankee fans boo when they’ve had enough. Period. We’re not clapping politely in the Bronx. Joey Gallo got booed into the next time zone, and rightly so—he couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat. And now, like déjà vu dipped in pinstripes, Volpe is getting the same treatment. He’s not producing. He’s not improving. And he’s certainly not “the guy.”

But does Aaron Boone listen? Nope. He holds a weird, almost unsettling loyalty to Volpe—like he’s guarding some dark Yankee secret. It’s beyond favoritism. It’s delusion. Boone was asked about fans booing Volpe and, in a moment that may go down as the dumbest soundbite in Yankees managerial history, he responded with this gem:

Aaron Boone uses his shirt to explain why he's not worried about Anthony Volpe getting booed pic.twitter.com/31Qfv3Kl4D

— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) July 30, 2025

“Look, I bet you every guy on this shirt’s been booed here,” he said, pointing to his shirt... which had pictures of Derek Jeter, Babe Ruth, and Lou Gehrig on it.

Boone tried to equate Anthony freaking Volpe—who couldn’t find the strike zone with GPS—to three of the greatest players to ever breathe in Yankee Stadium air. Jeter? The Captain. Ruth? The Sultan of Swat. Gehrig? The Iron Horse. And then there’s Volpe: the struggling, erratic shortstop who’s only “legendary” for lowering fans’ blood pressure by getting benched. Volpe is in the Gallo category.

It’s not even funny anymore. It’s offensive.

Boone went on to wax poetic about how “everyone gets booed,” including Mariano Rivera. Yeah, Mo got booed. After he gave up runs. In the major leagues. In the World Series. Volpe gets booed for botching routine ground balls and hacking at pitches like he’s trying to kill a mosquito with a tennis racket. There’s a difference. A big one.

And look, it’s not Volpe’s fault he was crowned the future King of the Bronx before ever proving he belonged. That’s on the Yankees. That’s on their “trust the projections” analytics team that thought he was going to be Ozzie Smith. Instead, he’s barely hanging on as Jack Wilson with worse instincts.

What’s worse is Boone’s press-conference gaslighting. He acts like we—the fans—are crazy for being upset. Buddy, we’re not asking for Volpe to be perfect. We’re asking for competency. And when we don’t get it? We boo. That’s the Bronx. Deal with it.

Even MLB insider Joel Sherman had acknowledged the Volpe problem the ohter day. His recent report said, “No one should be surprised if they add one more bat before the deadline, preferably right-handed with the ability to play shortstop.” Translation: the Yankees know. The press knows. Everyone except Boone knows.

And it’s not like the team hasn’t made moves. They brought in Amed Rosario. They traded for Jose Caballero. Why? Because Volpe is a liability, plain and simple and I am positive they are "keeping an eye on it". If he keeps playing like he has—spoiler alert: he will—Joe Maddon’s suggestion makes perfect sense: send him down. Let Caballero, who actually has baseball instincts, take over. He's fast, smart, right-handed, and doesn’t look like a deer in headlights every time the ball is hit his way. And yes, Caballero can play, unlike Volpe. 

Bottom line: the Yankees made the wrong bet. Boone made it worse. And now, we’re all stuck watching Volpe flail and Boone spin the kind of nonsense that makes you wonder if he’s managing with a Magic 8-Ball.

And while we're on the subject: Boone isn’t a Yankee legend either. Let’s stop pretending. He hit one big home run in 2003. Great. Did we win the World Series that year? Nope. Yet the Yankees play that home run like it was Gettysburg. Boone was a moment, not a movement. And the only thing more tragic than his presence in Yankee lore is the fact that we now have to watch him protect Volpe like a bodyguard at a boy band concert.

Honestly, they should just bunk together at this point. Call it Camp Clueless.

I love the Yankees. I live and breathe this team. But this? This ain't it. This is some weird cosplay version of Yankee greatness where accountability died and mediocrity gets a standing ovation. And if this front office, this manager, and this shortstop are the future?

Then maybe the fans should start booing a little louder.

MICHAEL KAY WANTS TO TRADE A BIG BULLPEN PIECE?!

The trade deadline is looming. Everyone is wondering what the Yankees do. Do they even do anything at this point? Or is Ryan McMahon and Amed Rosario it? Maybe Brian Cashman has given up. He's certainly not what he once was, so maybe there will be no big splash.

At this point, I am not sure a big splash helps anyways. The Yankees need a lot more than just ONE big splash. They need fundamentals and a new roster to build around Aaron Judge and Gerrit Cole once he returns. Cashman rebuilt this team in 2016, but would he do it again? Or better question....CAN he do it again? That's a fair question.

Or, at least the Yankees trade away some guys that will be free agents at the end of the season for some guys with control to build towards the future. That is an idea that Michael Kay discussed on his show on Tuesday, you can check it out HERE if you want to hear for yourself. He also pitched the idea of trading Devin Williams away. The guy we've said can't handle New York, even though he has a ton of talent. He would succeed anywhere else....he did before.

I appreciate Gary Sheffield Jr's perspective on X, so I keep up to date with him. He even likes Kay's idea. As angry as I am about how this season has played out, I still have a hard time with this idea. I see both sides of the argument.

And here I am wishing and thinking as much as I would like the idea of gaining cost controlled assets, I want wins. We are the reigning American League champions and we have regressed just like Anthony Volpe has. On paper, we made some nice additions since last season....and we are still so flawed it's disgusting. If we blow everything up again there's no guarantee we don't end up right back where we are now, especially with no leadership Aaron Boone and Cashman running the show. 

So does trading Williams make a difference? There is a noticeable void of available closers this year. He could fetch a nice return. A contending team would love to have him even though he has struggled here. Honestly though, trading Williams isn't an addition by subtraction for us. Our bullpen is in shambles, so we would need MORE arms, and good ones at that. I just don't know that moving him changes enough. Not for this season. 

It's disgusting that we are even in this spot.....

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj

WILL DEFENSE IMPROVE WITH AMED ROSARIO?

Was this a good move? I can't tell.

The New York Yankees are spiraling, flailing, gasping for air — and finally, Brian Cashman is showing signs that he knows it. Saturday night, the Yankees made another move to try and salvage this slow-motion disaster of a season, acquiring infielder Amed Rosario from the Nationals in exchange for Clayton Beeter. It’s the kind of move you make not because you’re confident — but because you’re out of ideas and desperate for any spark. My opinion of course.

The timing of the trade raised eyebrows. New York just sent Allan Winans back to Triple-A and clearly needs arms, not more infielders. But instead of patching the bullpen or upgrading the rotation, they grabbed Rosario, a serviceable bat who’s mostly bounced around the diamond like a utility pinball. It’s almost like Cashman rolled the dice in the dark and hoped the ball landed somewhere near competence.

Let’s talk about the elephant in the clubhouse: Anthony Volpe. The kid is still in the lineup every day. Still the starting shortstop. Still struggling. This "Volpe Experiment" was supposed to be the next Derek Jeter. Instead, it’s closer to the next Pete Kozma. And yet Aaron Boone coddles him like he’s some sacred relic — or maybe a lost puppy he can’t bear to give up.

The signing of Ryan McMahon earlier this week was a proactive step, we’ll give them that. It was a real move. A legit player with a decent glove and some pop. But it didn’t solve the Volpe problem which I believe is a major one. Now, with Rosario in the mix, maybe — maybe — Volpe can actually ride the bench once in a while instead of trotting out there and giving Yankees fans indigestion four at-bats a night.

Rosario himself is no savior though. His bat is solid enough — hitting .270/.310/.426 with five homers over 158 plate appearances in Washington this season. But don’t get too excited. He’s mostly played second and third for the Nats, and his defense has always been... let’s call it "adventurous." At shortstop, his range is limited, and his instincts are suspect. So no, he’s not exactly a gold glove solution.

In other words, the Yankees just added another maybe to a roster already bursting with them.

This isn’t even the first time New York has gone after Rosario. Cashman’s had his eye on him before, which just tells you how long they’ve been running in place — chasing the same names, recycling old trade targets, and praying something clicks.

Let’s be clear: the Yankees should’ve handled third base back in the winter. But instead of doing their homework in December, they waited until July to do group project triage. And now, the damage is visible. There’s no rhythm, no consistency, and no plan. McMahon and Rosario might provide a slight offensive boost, but the real question is whether any of this matters if Boone keeps giving Volpe the royal treatment and the rotation continues to unravel.

When Cashman promised to "go to town," fans envisioned fireworks. Instead, we got... duct tape. And not even the heavy-duty kind — we’re talking off-brand stuff that peels up after a few hours.

So here we are: Rosario’s here, McMahon’s here, and Volpe is still here. The Yankees are frantically rearranging the furniture in a burning house, and Cashman’s trying everything — short of admitting the Volpe mistake.

Hope is not a strategy. Let’s see what happens next... but don’t hold your breath.

NOT REALLY AN UPGRADE AS IT IS JUST MORE OF THE SAME

Well, well, well… look who finally decided to do something about the infield. Too bad that “something” feels like tossing a wet sponge at a five-alarm fire. After months — months! — of Bleeding Yankee Blue screaming from the rooftops that this team’s infield was a house of cards held together with bubble gum and blind faith in Anthony Volpe’s “potential,” the Yankees, in true last-minute, panic-button fashion, have made a move.

Except, it’s the wrong move. Again.

Jeimer Candelario — yes, that Jeimer Candelario — has been scooped up on a minor league deal. Not exactly the cavalry riding in, huh? This is the same Candelario who just got kicked to the curb by the Cincinnati Reds, and for good reason. The man’s been battling injuries like it’s his second job and is hitting a not-so-glorious .207 over the last 134 games. If you're trying to plug a leak in your boat, maybe don’t grab the bucket with holes in it?

But hey, what else would we expect from Aaron Boone’s Yankees? This is the same guy who plays Volpe every day while Oswald Peraza collects dust on the bench. Newsflash: Peraza is probably the better all-around infielder, but Volpe gets the VIP treatment despite his .222 batting average — and we’re supposed to keep pretending that’s normal?

This has been the Bleeding Yankee Blue gripe since last December. We begged. We warned. We said, “Hey, Cashman, the infield is a mess, and you’re doing nothing.” Crickets. Now it’s July, and the "big move" is grabbing a guy off baseball’s clearance rack. Candelario isn’t an upgrade — he’s a Band-Aid with no adhesive. And just like always, Boone will blindly slot him into the mix, analytics will say it’s fine, and no one will actually stop to watch the game and realize it’s not working.

Meanwhile, trade season is heating up and actual options are out there — Eugenio Suárez, Luis Urías, Ryan McMahon, Amed Rosario — names that might actually contribute something meaningful. But instead of swinging for one of those, the Yankees went for Candelario, who has the excitement level of cold toast.

At this point, it’s painfully obvious: the Yankees have a leadership problem, an analytics addiction, and a manager who couldn’t lead a duck to water. Boone plays favorites, Cashman clings to broken strategies, and nobody seems to understand the value of grit, consistency, or letting talented guys like Peraza actually play.

This team doesn't need more spreadsheets. It needs guts. Hustle. A manager who makes decisions based on what he sees, not what a computer tells him. 

But until that day comes, fans like my buddy Joe are boycotting the Bronx. As Joe put it, sipping his beer on the 4th of July, “I’m not paying a dime to watch that loser team until Boone is gone and they stop running this franchise like a fantasy league.”

Amen, Joe. Amen.

And to the rest of you — we told you so.