WHY IN THE WORLD DOES JAMES ROWSON STILL HAVE A JOB?

It's more of the same. It's another hitting coach that holds a position while the Yankees habitually freefall offensively in June and July. It's the same episode that I am freaking tired of watching produced by Yankee brass.

Remember Dillon Lawson? He was the Yankees hitting coach in all of 2022 and part of 2023 before being fired, because he sucked. Then Sean Casey replaced him midway through the season, and he wasn't great either but in fairness, he wasn't around long enough to make long-lasting changes. Time just wasn't on his side in that dreadful 2023 season and when it was over he chose not to return. So the Yankees moved on.....

Moved on to James Rowson. At first, I was cautiously optimistic when we wrote DON'T LOOK NOW, BUT NEW YANKEES HITTING COACH IS DOING WHAT WE ASKED! It started off great. But it always does. The Yankees are red hot in April and May and then predictably free fall in June and July and then scramble to put it all back together in August. It just doesn't work and I'm tired of watching it.

To be fair, Rowson doesn't deserve all of the blame for the Yankees' 13-14 record in June, but you know what....I don't care at this point. I am tired of the same crap every season. NFL teams dismiss their coordinators when they have a slump. Granted, their season is a nanosecond compared to ours, but they don't keep coordinators around that aren't getting results. As stacked as this team is every season, with the payroll they carry and the star power the expectations are high. Hell, expectations are higher than ever now with Aaron Judge's prime being wasted and having a championship drought since 2009. 

The Yankees have no lead in the AL East. Instead, we are tied with the damn Blue Jays. That hurts my pride a little, but clearly not the Yankees. They can't figure out how to hit a damn beach ball with a bat right now. There has to be accountability here, and Rowson has said he's not worried about the Yankees offensive woes, read more HERE. Every year, same slump in summer, no one is worried and the Yankees underperform. It's wash, rinse and repeat. I am tired of it. This didn't fly back in the days we had real leadership....this team is soft.

And it will continue to be soft with this approach. The Yankees have lost 13 of 19 with last night's game and are batting .160 with RISP during that span! It's unacceptable. This is not how a team gets back to the World Series, it's how a team makes an early exit and golfs in the fall. 

Rowson needs to go. The Yankees current formula for batting coaches hasn't worked. It's time to burn that strategy book and actually recruit LEADERS who can mentor and manage this team.....because it's been missing for a (painfully) long time. Yankee brass may be content with mediocrity....but WE don't have to be.

Sorry Rowson - someone's gotta be the first to go and it should be you. That's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj

DILLON LAWSON JUST GOT A NEW "HITTING" GIG

Dillon Lawson must have a great personality or something, because lord knows he had no major league experience before coming to the New York Yankees and I was thrilled when the Yankees fired him.  But now, according to reports, Lawson has a new gig and it's as a hitting coordinator (whatever that is) and it's with the Boston Red Sox...

Sportskeeda writes:

" Lawson, the former big-league hitting coach for the New York Yankees, has found a new home with the Boston Red Sox as their hitting coordinator. Lawson, who was released by the Yankees midseason due to major offensive struggles, expressed his excitement about joining the Red Sox, emphasizing the team's positive direction.... Lawson's primary focus in his new role will be working with the upper-level minor leaguers within the Red Sox organization....Lawson expressed respect for the Red Sox's director of hitting development, Jason Ochart, and major league hitting coach Peter Fatse. He also highlighted his familiarity with the assistant hitting coaches, having worked with Ben Rosenthal in the Houston Astros organization and attempting to recruit Luis Ortiz during his time with the New York Yankees."

To be honest, it sounds like a paid internship to me. Whatever the case, it doesn't change the fact that Lawson is literally the worst major league coach out there, and that will never change for me.  

Good luck in Boston trying to tell those fans that the Sox are "hitting strikes hard".  Those fans are so incredibly passionate they will do much worse to you than Yankee fans!

YANKEES MAKE OFFER TO NEW HITTING COACH WHO MENTORED JUDGE!

If you wrote a letter to Santa asking for the Yankees to hire a hitting coach that can actually teach our guys how to hit and score runs, you may already have your Christmas wish.....maybe.

Several sources are reporting that the Yankees have made an offer for their next hitting coach, and are just waiting for it to be finalized, you can read more HERE. The Yankees may be reuniting with James Rowson. If you are scratching your head and asking, 'WHO IS THAT AND WHEN DID HE WORK FOR US?' you aren't the only one.

He may not be familiar to us, but he will definitely be familiar to Aaron Judge, who worked with him from 2014-2016 when Rowson was the Yankees minor league hitting coordinator. He spent time with the Yankees on two different assignments from 2008-2011 and again from 2014-2016, so he knows the Yankees organization well. Or, I should say he did know it well until it completely collapsed under Brian Cashman and Aaron Boone's watch.

Rowson also worked with the Cubs, Twins, Marlins and most recently the Tigers last season as their Assistant hitting coach. He's certainly not new to baseball, he's been a bench coach and MLB hitting coach but....can he fix the Yankees?

This will be the Yankees 4th hitting coach since Marcus Thames back in 2021. I don't think the Yankees would know how to identify a good hitting coach if one bit them in the butt. I like that Rowson was around during Aaron Judge's minor league days and maybe helped develop him into what he is today, but who really knows? Judge is the connection here that makes this a headline, and still a loose headline at that.

I think we can all agree that Dillon Lawson was a disaster. I was never completely sold on Sean Casey either, even in his short time with us. So now we wait and see what Rowson's philosophy is exactly. Then we also wait and see if he can really connect with the Yankees and help them. I think the Yankees are such a hot mess right now so I can't imagine why Rowson would even want to come back to this crazy train and while it is not official yet, it sounds like this may be a done deal.

I hope this move pays off but looking on paper it is not inspiring. The Tigers OPS, batting average and on base percentage were scarily similar to the Yankees this season. The Tigers were 28 out of 30 teams in OPS+, 27 out of 30 in batting average (2 better than the Yankees), and 26 out of 30 in on base percentage (Yankees were 27th). How is this guy the upgrade that will help the Yankees offense? I just don't see it.

So welcome back, Rowson. I hope you can fix this trainwreck of a team that can't hit. I am admittedly skeptical though and I am trying not to be. You certainly have your work cut out for you.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj

IT TOOK SOME TIME, BUT EXPERIENCE IS THE DIFFERENCE WHEN IT COMES TO YANKEE OFFENSE

Dillon Lawson wasn't a scapegoat. He was an inexperienced fan boy. That's why he was fired. And now we know why.  DJ LeMahieu is praising newest hitting coach Sean Casey for his recent surge.  You never, ever heard that kind of stuff about Dillon Lawson.  So while Lawson's somewhere flipping burgers, check this latest compliment out from DJ.  The New York Post writes:

"LeMahieu has been a different hitter after the All-Star break.

And in Friday’s 6-2 win over the Rays at Tropicana Field, LeMahieu provided a reminder of how dangerous he can be with his first multi-homer game in over two years.

He credited Casey with sparking the turnaround at the plate that’s resulted in three homers in his past three games after going deep just once over a 44-game span.

“I think Sean Casey has been a huge help for me,” LeMahieu said. “I relate to him really well. He has great, positive energy.”

It's a compliment to Casey and the organization for getting Sean, and a subliminal shot to the organization and a cry for help to the fans to signal that "Yeah, I can't talk out of turn, but you see what I'm telling you... Sean Casey IS HELPING. It was the right move!"

Of course, that's my own take on this, and hopefully for DJ, for more hitters on the Yankees it does help them down the stretch... if anything for confidence building going into the Fall, cause that's really all we got.  A long cold, troubling winter is coming to New York.  I am looking forward to the moves they soon will make.

Nice nugget Dan Martin.

THIS ANDY PETTITTE ANNOUCEMENT COMES AT THE RIGHT TIME FOR THE YANKEES!

Did the Yankees finally realize that you can't win games with stat geeks calling the shots from behind a computer screen? You need experience from those who also played the game. There's one Yankee great that defines that and he's a fan favorite.

The Yankees and Andy Pettitte have reunited, and I couldn't be happier! It's true, you can check out the news story that broke yesterday HERE. Pettitte is back as a special advisor so Matt Blake isn't losing his job to Andy, but his resume and experience should help give this staff the boost they need. I'd say a career with 256 wins over 18 years is very valuable. His determination and stone-cold stare should also help remind this team about the desire to win. I do miss that stare of his and his swag. There's never been anything like it since.

So I am excited about this move. It's unknown how often Andy will be around the pitching staff considering he and his family live in Houston and are rumored to want to stay there instead of relocating. Regardless, he was spotted with the team this weekend and the timing just couldn't be any better. The Yankees are 8.5 games back of the AL East and fighting for the third and final wild card spot. If they don't secure a wild card spot it will be the first time since 2016 that the Yankees would fail to make the postseason. Andy's 44 postseason games make him uniquely qualified to get the Yankees pitching staff fine-tuned to make that playoff push.

I understand analytics are here to stay, but there is something to be said for experience. Analytics probably won't fix fellow southpaw Nestor Cortes, who looks like a completely different pitcher from last year. However, I do think Andy may be able to get him back on the right track and we need that. Nestor has not been reliable at all, but if anyone can make that positive impact it has to be Andy....not Blake or a stat geek.

We are seeing the Yankees make a slight deviation away from heavy analytics. We saw it with the Yankees firing Dillon Lawson and now bringing in a well-respected Yankee. We all loved Andy Pettitte as a player, including the Yankees. Now the Yankees continue to respect him by bringing in his wisdom to rescue our season.

I love the move, I just hope this isn't too little too late. Welcome home AGAIN, Andy.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj

BOONE'S ANSWER TO RIZZO'S HOME RUN STRUGGLE IS "BASEBALL, IT'S HARD"

The Yankees were able to win last night, but one guy who just isn't really contributing is Anthony Rizzo.  In short, we have a solid leader on this club in a massive home run slump.  We gotta fix this guy.  Well, hopefully a guy like Sean Casey can because Aaron Boone is no help.  

Boone says things to the media just as badly as Dillon Lawson says them, almost like they are cut from the same cloth of stupidity. That's my take of course.

The New York Post writes:

“Baseball, it’s hard, even for guys that are really good,” manager Aaron Boone said before the game Saturday."

Everyone in the room understands this Aaron. Making statements like this are ridiculous. How about tell the media what is going on behind the scenes to help Rizzo get over the hump?  More from the Post:

"...This season, Rizzo hit 11 home runs in his first 46 games, through May 20.

Eight days later, he collided with Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres on a pickoff at first base, which knocked him out for three games with a stiff neck....

“I feel like right when he came back from the neck, he had two weeks where he really struggled, where he wasn’t swinging very good,” Boone said. “I do feel like the last three weeks or so, he’s been better, where he’s getting his hits a little bit, he’s getting on base a little bit. "

So enough from this Boone guy. What can be done about it? Sean Casey can hopefully come to the rescue.  He's got to be able to see something in Rizzo's swing, his movement. We all know that Rizzo is a veteran and maybe he's just needing some more time, or maybe he just needs to sit with a guy like Casey to see what can be done.  Or, maybe it's something more serious. Maybe Rizzo is actually hurt and working through it. It's an interesting situation.

Whatever the case, Yankee fans love Rizzo. We need him back.  Yes, this is a home run drought, but he will be back soon. I have no doubt. Rizzo does the little things even though he hasn't gotten over the hump, but he will and I believe it will be Casey to help him.  

Have faith. and most of all, we need to have patience.

INSERTING SEAN CASEY DOESN'T SUDDENLY MAKE AUTOMATIC WINS

Look, part of the problem with the Yankees leading into the All-Star break was that we didn't have a hitting coach that truly grasped what the job was. Dillon Lawson was in over his head, plain and simple.  But the players are equally responsible and much like in the film The Natural, the idea of losing sometimes creeps into player's heads.  You start to over think. You start to over tinker. You start to think that maybe you're terrible, OR you overdo it and don't find that balance to just relax.  And so, losing becomes a disease.

  

To cure that disease is not easy, but with tragedy, you need to have patience and things will turn itself around. Just. Don't. Panic.

The AP writes: “I know there is a lot of panic outside the clubhouse,” said Gleyber Torres, who singled before Stanton's homer and had three hits. “We just try to play better baseball, little by little. The energy is good. We have to figure out faster a way to get better at home plate. Everything is up to us."

This is true. Players have to play. Players have to get out from under their sorrows and try and fix their approach.  But what the AP did as well was take a shot at new hitting coach Sean Casey in their headline. A low blow for a guy that just showed up to his first game last night. Their headline reads:


"With a new hitting coach, the Yankees fizzle at the plate again in their 7-2 loss to the Rockies".

You need to be a real editorial prick and probably a Mets fan to take a shot like that in a headline. Sean Casey doesn't just show up, snap his fingers and everything is right with the Yankee offense. This is an uphill battle. Nothing is automatic. I wrote that inFIRING DILLON LAWSON WAS SYMBOLISM FOR YANKEELAND & A MESSAGE TO BOONE the following (a quote from the Athletic):

" 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."

This will take time... time we just don't have.

Can we do it? Yes.  How quickly... well... it's hard to say.  But one thing I do know is Sean Casey is not some God that can flick a switch and make it all better.  He needs to get into a groove with these players and figure it out... the tweaks, the approach, the adjustments and just bringing calm to these guys.  

I have faith.  You should too.

SEAN CASEY TO THE RESCUE

I find it amazing and refreshing that the guy who has the ideas, the vision and the confidence on how to turn this Yankee team around is from the newly hired hitting coach and not from within the Yankee organization itself. Don't you?

I also find it strange that we've been staring at this offense problem for months and guys like Aaron Boone and Dillon Lawson were bumbling idiots in front of the mic and this Casey guy shows up and drips with confidence that makes me want to buy a Reds, Casey jersey and wear it to Yankee stadium as a symbol of change.  Right now... before anything has even happened, I feel like this fit could be amazing for this Yankees club.

Bryan Hoch has been working his tail off bringing us some pretty significant nuggets in regard to Sean Casey's plan... and they're coming from Casey's mouth. He's even going to include an upcoming zoom press conference.  But the biggest, most significant nugget comes with the subliminal offering of why he's sporting a new mustache.

Sean Casey is holding a Zoom press conference. He said that he is sporting a mustache for the first time in his life to honor his boyhood idol, Don Mattingly. pic.twitter.com/yLqzbkRsvF

— Bryan Hoch ⚾️ (@BryanHoch) July 12, 2023

Here's the thing; many of you will not see it like I see it and that's perfectly fine. I find the ideas, the energy very refreshing, and I know that Sean Casey can be the difference in helping turn the Yankees hitting around.  

We have no idea if it will work yet. But put it in perspective with your own life in your own company and your job... a new manager comes in with a new vision, new ideas and high energy... and most of all, he's willing to work with all of you in the office to make that vision become reality.  

Are you going to poo poo that? Or are you going to be one of those team members that buys into it because every voice is heard, and the leader can bring you all together?  For me, I buy in... and that is what I feel like is happening here.  

There are 2 things happening right now with the great Sean Casey. For one, he's extending some comfort to the Yankee audience.  

"Here's my mustache, you love Mattingly, I loved Mattingly growing up. Let's connect." I'm paraphrasing here but a subtle moment like that is a definite buy-in for any fan.  

Second, we want to make sure our hitting coach is going to work hard to fix our offense. Dillon Lawson didn't work, like literally.  It's now being reported that the Yankees wanted him out last winter... but they couldn't get it together.  But now we have a new guy, and Casey is already talking with the players, sharing ideas, listening to player ideas and approaches and not only that, he's using the reporters like Bryan Hoch and other New York media to keep us updated.

New #Yankees hitting coach Sean Casey said that he has had lengthy chats with Aaron Judge, Josh Donaldson, Anthony Rizzo, Harrison Bader & Anthony Volpe already. Casey said that he senses there has been "tension" among the Yanks' hitters.

— Bryan Hoch ⚾️ (@BryanHoch) July 12, 2023

 Again... a reach to the fans, but also to the team as if to say, "I do my job 100% and I'm gonna prove it to you."  Again... paraphrasing, but there's no doubt this guy's about turning this team around. It's very noble and trust me... the energy is contagious.

Look, I have no idea what will happen with Sean Casey. In a perfect world he is the perfect leader in the Bronx so much so that they ditch Boone for this guy eventually.  But right now the fix is to get the Yankees hitting, and I feel good going into the second half.  

Let's hope this is a good marriage... to me, it's exciting.

THE YANKS JUST SNAGGED ANOTHER PITCHER!

Stock piling arms can be good!

With all the commotion of Dillon Lawson getting axed and Sean Casey coming in as the new Yankees hitting coach, there was another move that was made.  The Yankees picked up a pitcher a few days ago and no one really knew about it.

CBS Sports writes:

"The Yankees claimed (Anthony) Misiewicz off waivers from the Tigers on Thursday and assigned him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre...The 28-year-old southpaw hasn't fared well in the majors or minors this season, but the slew of injuries within the Yankees' pitching staff could allow Misiewicz to join New York's bullpen at some point as a depth piece."

This is what you call trying to catch lightning in a bottle.  Let's see what this guy can do.  

Welcome Anthony!

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.

DILLON LAWSON GONZO & IT'S ABOUT TIME!

It's about damn time! FINALLY, after the Yankees lose a series to the Chicago Cubs of all teams - the Yankees finally make a move heading into the All-Star break. It's overdue but I guess it is better late than never.....Dillon Lawson has been fired!

I am sure Brian Cashman tossed and turned before finally making the move because Cashman doesn't make midseason moves. This is his 26th year as a GM and the first time he has ever fired a coach midseason. "It has been well documented that I have been reluctant in the past to make changes to our coaching staff in 'the middle of a season,' " Cashman said in a statement. 

"I am a big believer that successes and failures are collective efforts. However, I ultimately felt that a change was needed and that a new voice overseeing our hitting operations would give us the best chance to perform closer to our capabilities as we move forward into the second half of our season." You can read more HERE.

Cashman's reluctance to make moves before the end of the season is well documented, but so are the Yankees stats. The Yankees finish the first half of the season fourth place in the division and on the outside looking in for a playoff spot. The Yankees have massively underperformed this season and are tied with the Detroit Tigers for the second-worst batting average in all of MLB (.231) this year. Their on base percentage (.300) and OPS (.710) are ranked near the bottom of MLB. Something had to happen.

So NOW can we finally ask Hal Steinbrenner if he understand why we are so frustrated now? Has it sunk in yet, Hal? Or maybe you are still confused. I know I am when I watch this team play every night and implode without Aaron Judge. One guy can't carry the team, but we can all see how different this team is without him on the field every night. Someone had to take the fall here.

I admit I was never a fan of the Lawson hiring. Cashman considers him a "bright baseball mind" but the more I heard him talk the less I liked him. The whole "hit strikes hard" philosophy with no real context or strategy behind it bothered me. His lack of MLB or even minor league experience showed, in my opinion. Then when he was "flipping over all the rocks" last month to try and figure out how to get the guys to hit better.....it was just obvious to me that he was in way over his head. He never struck me as a man that knew how to get inside a struggling hitters mind and motivate him and help him work out the kinks. This just wasn't a fit and the Yankees needed to stop the insanity.

A replacement is yet to be named and we do not know the fate yet of assistant hitting coach Casey Dykes or first-year hitting assistant Brad Wilkerson. It will be interesting to see where the Yankees go from here. I do not think firing Lawson is going to do much (if anything) for this offense, but he had zero impact on team performance, so this is just an optics move. All I know is, losing Lawson can't make this team any worse offensively.

SEE YA Lawson! No hard feelings, but this is business. You can start "flipping over all the rocks" to find a job elsewhere but your services are not wanted here. Thank goodness the Yankees finally did SOMETHING right.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj

BREAKING: LAWSON FIRED

 

Breaking right now, the Yankees have fired hitting coach Dillon Lawson.  From Bryan Hoch:

The Yankees have officially dismissed hitting coach Dillon Lawson.

Brian Cashman has never fired a coach in-season. He once told me that he doesn't believe in doing so, and that you need to evaluate each season in full. Clearly, he'd seen enough.

— Bryan Hoch ⚾️ (@BryanHoch) July 9, 2023

We at BYB have been calling for this for weeks.  It just makes sense. Listen, we will have plenty more on this development from Jeana Bellezza-Ocha late tonight! Look for it!

Buy that shirt at TeePublic HERE!

I'D LOVE TO BLAME RODON FOR THE LOSS TO THE CUBS, BUT I CAN'T

 Suggest Carlos Rodon sucks.  Go try.  You'd be wrong.

While Rodon was the face of the 3-0 loss to the Cubs last night, did you notice that we didn't score a run? Did you notice we only had 2 hits?  I mean Jameson Taillon is a good pitcher, but the dude's no Cy Young.  

And so, I ask you... what are we doing about our offense? Why do we continue to flounder? Why can't we hit?  Twitter lit up last night, much of it attacking this man...

A hitting coach names Dillon Lawson that's no doubt proud to wear the Yankee pinstripes and yet unable to actually do his job.  He's there for the team name, the clout, a job to say "yes, I did that, it's a resume builder", nut he's not at all interested in doing the work.

And then there is Aaron Boone that likes to present theater to the Yankee fans, arguing with the umpires in front of us to make it appear that he has control, but he does not.  You can't go into a press conference talking about how the Yankees have to do better, BUT they are "hitting the ball on the nose".

"We've gotta do better. We hit some balls on the nose, I thought Volpe had a couple good at-bats at the top or the order, nothing to show for it. Higgy hit the ball well a couple times and we had some good at-bats mixed in there, but not enough."

- Aaron Boone pic.twitter.com/zZ2mzQDyeW

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) July 8, 2023

First of all, the Yankee fans know this already and secondly, the Yankees know it.  Mr. Boone, you're not adding information none of us already know... in fact, how about show some urgency, concern... stop being a robot. Get mad, make some drastic changes, some significant switches to wake this team up?

Rodon's loss wasn't on Rodon. Honestly, I can stay that and be confident about it. A pitcher pitching for a new team, a debut, you expect nerves, you expect him working through his debut. You cannot fault Rodon at all. The offense left his high and dry.  No... this loss was on the Yankees leadership.  Sure, the pro players that make up our lineup are professionals, and sure they are responsible for hitting a baseball, and sure Taillon may have just happened to have a great performance last night.  But the idea that we as Lawson and Boone don't get more hands-on and tweak and adjust and literally watch our team flop day in and day out only means one thing to me... it's the end of a really good run for the Yankees.  Call me dramatic all you want, I'm right.

We are sputtering. Also... and this is serious... I don't see this team making the playoffs and I'm going to be honest with you, maybe that's what we need for change to happen.  

If you want change... if you want guys like Lawson or Boone or even Cashman gone... we may need to suffer through not having a playoff run to make those changes.  Get ready folks... 'cause it won't be pretty.