THE YANKEES AREN'T GIVING UP ON STANTON YET!

 

Is that a visual of what Giancarlo Stanton has left in his tank? Or is that a running meter for fans patience? Pick one. You can make an argument either way.

Maybe the Yankees are trending closer to that "empty" mark, but I am not gonna hold my breath just yet. They don't exactly have a good track record for doing what is best for the team. If they did, we wouldn't have to deal with Austin Wells as our everyday catcher, Anthony Volpe back in the majors again potentially OR my personal favorite dumbass Jazz Chisholm with a lollipop in his mouth or useless Aaron Boone as manager.

For now, the Yankees are going to gamble and give Stanton a chance in Spring Training.....whenever that is and whatever that looks like once this lockout finally ends, read more HERE. Supposedly, Stanton isn't promised anything so if he shows up and hasn't done enough to keep a spot on this team the Yankees could cut him before the end of Spring Training.

But I'm not gonna hold my breath. It's not like the Yankees haven't cut guys before, we've seen it but this is a very different Yankees. It's run by a very different regime that is soft and incapable of making decisions that are best for the team to help them win. Hal Steinbrenner only thinks about money and precious profitability. If Stanton's still potent bat can drive in more cash by selling tickets he's gonna keep him, period.

I acknowledge that Stanton has a very potent bat. He can still hit, but he can't stay healthy so if he can't stay healthy that bat does us no good on the Injured List. That and it creates such a log jam on the roster because on the rare occasions that he is healthy he is a DH all day. At this point, his legs are not going to handle outfield duties. It just limits the Yankees abilities to run a well balanced and functional team.

His best days are behind him. The Yankees need to blow everything up and just create a new roster. We tried "run it back" and it doesn't work. We don't need to add Stanton back for yet another longshot that is never going to happen. We know how it ends, let's just cut the dead weight and skip the drama.

So based on the current state of the Yankees.....I guess that meter is just my patience level. It's on empty. I'm over it. NEXT!

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj

UNSENTIMENTAL PINSTRIPES: JORGE POSADA FEELS THE COLD SHOULDER

I'm that Yankee fan that sees any story surrounding the Core Four and I have to read it. It can be complete click bait, and I still have to read it. It brings me back to that time of greatness. That feeling that we truly had something special. I know I have lost that loving feeling, and it appears that one of the greats has lost that loving feeling too.

They don't make'em like Jorge Posada anymore. Nope, most of these guys these days are what I call "soft." They don't have that fire inside their bellies that makes them great. They aren't hungry and driven. Instead you get dopes like Jazz Chisholm that don't understand baseball fundamentals you learn in little league. Or a guy like Anthony Volpe that just makes error after error and sucks so bad but the Yankees refuse to give up on him. Or, you have weak "leaders" like Aaron Boone that have 15 minutes of fame, then call games and eventually become the "manager" of a storied franchise that can't win a championship but players really like him. He's a players manager....and a failed one at that.

That is nothing like the world Posada played in. That was competitive baseball with high expectations and accountability. Today it is coddling, hand holding and infinite chances. He says he doesn't fit in this new baseball world now. In fact, he feels like the Yankees just don't want him around anymore, read more HERE.

And his former teammate Joba Chamberlain of five years seems to share Posada's sentiments too, based on his posts on X anyway.

It is saying a lot coming from him. A statement like "I don't feel welcome when I go there, you know? Even in spring training, I don't feel like — I'm just like, I don't know, like, I don't feel welcome. I don't feel like they want me there, so I don't go" is not eloquent but it reads raw and real, to me. Jorge's last year was not a storybook ending at all, but that's certainly not how I choose to remember him. He was so much more than just one rough season.

So why would he feel this way? Serious question. He is one of the last pieces of a legacy. The Yankees we know now is not even a microscopic fraction of this. The Yankees should be BEGGING for him to share that passion and energy. He was a real player, not like these pansies we see today. He was a winner. He's nothing like this current culture of the game. He doesn't understand or relate to the mediocrity of Hal Steinbrenner's Yankees. Jorge is the guy that can change the culture from a "we won 93 games int he regular season, let's celebrate" to "we are World Series Champions again, let's celebrate!" He is the mindset Hal needs to fix this failing franchise.

Jorge and the Core Four have credentials that no one else on this team has, period. He knows what it takes to win. He has the knowledge, the Yankees should be soaking that up. There's a lot of 2011 wounds that need to heal here. It's sickening.

The Yankees can't afford to alienate such an important part of their history. We need more Posada influence. It worked. Just more proof of a screwed up Yankees franchise and decision makers that can't lead or win. What a disgrace.

This girl still loves Posada....and wants to see him in the Bronx. 

By the way, Casey's gonna go off on this topic over the next few days.  Stay tuned.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj

RUMOR: YANKEES HAVE THEIR EYE ON A SECOND BASEMAN

The Yankees have a mess on their hands and it is going to hard for the Yankees to fix. I say it will be hard to fix because the Yankees are better at creating problems than they are at solving them. The Yankees have a big problem in the infield and lots of variables to consider. Good thing this lockout is going to give them lots of time to weigh all of their pros and cons.

Second base is going to be the hot spot for the Yankees. The Jazz Chisholm experiment didn't work. The Anthony Volpe experiment at shortstop failed so it shouldn't be reborn at second base so that leaves the questions of what are the Yankees going to do?

Well, they are kicking the tires on a reunion with Gleyber Torres, read more HERE. The Yankees have no good internal options that are ready for a promotion, so if you are looking for more young blood from the minors, it's not imminent. The Yankees need someone else with experience, who can handle the position and provide some stability. Gleyber at least has the experience part down.

I wouldn't say he has the stability part, either. It is hard to forget about all of the mistakes and booted balls. They are burned in my memory because he in fact, drove me crazy. He'd do something good and then minutes later erase it by doing something stupid. It's who he was....and probably still is. However, he did one thing that most of the roster didn't, he was a consistent hitter. He hit for average, and above his weight unlike Austin Wells.

The consistency piece is what the Yankees are desperate to find. Hal Steinbrenner just ripped the Yankees in his press conference last week. He blamed the offense for failing to hit in the absence of Aaron Judge this season. The Yankees need hitters for sure, but they need more than one and hitters more well rounded than Torres.

Torres has spent the last two seasons in Detroit, and if the Yankees can't land an upgrade by free agency or trade we could see a reunion. We've had our fair share of inconsistencies and bobbles already. If the Yankees want to fix what ails them, they need a new approach. I don't think the Yankees need a reunion with the guy that lacked versatility and refused to move to third base when the Yankees acquired Chisholm.

The Yankees need new and upgraded, not older, worn down and mediocre. Next, please!

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj

JUDGEMENT CALL: JUDGE'S LOYALTY TO VOLPE IS NOT THE ACT OF A TRUE LEADER

 "If we were gonna go win a World Series, we needed Anthony Volpe on the team," Aaron Judge said after the Yankees were eliminated from the playoffs.

That's your captain speaking ladies and gentlemen, read more HERE. I've been sitting on this one for a few days and shaking my head repeatedly. We all know he can't handle shortstop. We watched him struggle for five seasons. Finally this season the Yankees figured out they couldn't ignore it anymore and George Lombard Jr took over but the Yankees gave Volpe a shot at second base also. Things are about to get interesting....

The Yankees are not expected to give Jazz Chisholm a qualifying offer, so he should be playing for another team next season (please!) so that leaves a hole at second base. The Yankees have no one waiting in the wings as a logical person to promote and there are few enticing free agents to target. So here we go again, after Aaron Judge gave his vote of confidence, does that mean the Yankees try a Volpe refresh at second?

It could be. If there is anyone on this team Yankees leadership is going to take feedback from seriously, it Judge. He's pulling for Volpe big time, and while I admire a leader standing up for his guys there's a line. You can still be supportive without putting both feet in, especially if it isn't best for the team. But he's going all in and might not be asking the questions a leader should.

"To handle that type of adversity, not only from the game, not playing your best, and then hearing it from fans, hearing from everybody and then for him to go down to Triple A, work on what he needed to and then come up here with a bang like he did, it just speaks volumes to his character," Judge said.

I can appreciate how Judge stands up for Volpe and speaks to his adversity. New York is not an easy place to play and he's right fans have been brutally honest about Volpe. But it is just that....honest. We've seen four full seasons of mess ups at shortstop. He had a short trip down to Triple-A and you know what, he should've busted his butt to get back to the big leagues. Someone is always waiting to take your place. Just because you want something bad enough doesn't mean it's just handed to you. It should be no different here. Earn the spot you want and continue to perform at a high level to keep it. That is what he has failed to do.

I will say character is important. Clubhouse chemistry is important. Everyone is going to root for the guy that everyone likes and gets along with. People rally around the guy with the good attitude as opposed to the arrogant guy who thinks he is better than everyone else. Character is important, but a spot on a team is not earned with just good character without consistency and productivity. It can't be one or the other. If it was just character everyone reading this blog could be a candidate for the Yankees, but we're not.

So I'm sorry Judge, but a player on this team needs to have a complete package. Character is cute, five years of errors with failures isn't. This is a business with a legacy, not a charity. It's time to move on.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj

CLEAN HOUSE. LOSER CASHMAN’S YANKEES ARE A FAILURE.

AI Generated

Brian Cashman built this mess. Aaron Boone keeps explaining it. And Yankees fans keep getting charged championship prices to watch an organization congratulate itself for coming up short.

Enough.

The 2027 Yankees need a demolition crew. Start with the front office’s arrogance, work through the manager’s office, and stop treating disappointing players like priceless family heirlooms.

Austin Wells needs to be a backup catcher. Period.

A .186 batting average. A .624 OPS. Fourteen home runs and 32 RBIs. Those were his 2026 numbers. Somewhere along the way, the Yankees apparently decided an everyday catcher’s bat was an optional accessory.

Nobody is watching those at-bats and seeing Thurman Munson. They’re watching another Yankees development project whose reputation keeps arriving at the ballpark before his production does.

His defense has value. Fine. Make him the backup. A good glove should earn consideration; it shouldn’t grant lifetime immunity from hitting .186.

Cashman needs to find a starting catcher who can contribute offensively without requiring a presentation explaining why the contribution is secretly happening.

Anthony Volpe? Trade him. Immediately.

The Yankees sold fans a cornerstone. Four seasons into his major league career, the offensive foundation still looks like wet cardboard.

A career 83 OPS+ through 542 regular-season games is a substantial body of evidence. League average is 100. How much longer are we supposed to applaud the possibility that he eventually gets there?

The hometown story was lovely. The marketing department must have loved it. Unfortunately, the opposing pitcher doesn’t care where you went to high school.

My assessment of Volpe now? A reserve infielder. A guy backing up second base in Cincinnati. That’s an opinion about his role, not a report about a Reds trade.

The Yankees presented him like a destination when he was still a question. Then they made questioning him feel like a violation of team policy.

Fans deserved an honest evaluation. Instead, they got a sales pitch with pinstripes.

Trade him while another organization still believes it can unlock what the Yankees keep insisting is in there.

Then fire Aaron Boone.

No farewell tour. No discussion about how much the players love him. No more treating clubhouse approval like the final score.

A manager can have good relationships with his players and still demand excellence. With Boone, the reassurance is easy to find. The consequences are considerably harder.

From the outside, he looks like Cashman’s preferred spokesman wearing a uniform. The puppet criticism survives because the arrangement keeps producing the same spectacle: the roster fails, Boone explains, Cashman remains above the wreckage.

What, exactly, would constitute failure serious enough to change this?

The Yankees dismissed Joe Girardi on October 26, 2017, after an ALCS Game 7 loss. Cashman cited problems connecting and communicating with players.

Apparently, the organization solved the communication problem by hiring someone who can explain disappointment indefinitely.

Chicago moved on from Joe Maddon in September 2019 after a collapse cost the Cubs a playoff berth.

Accomplished managers lose jobs. Boone keeps getting another opportunity to tell us how close this group is.

Fire him. The Yankees need leadership with enough authority to make standards matter.

Jazz? Gone. We're done with the antics. We're done with the BS.

Trent Grisham? Pack up.

His 2026 salary was $22.025 million. His production: .211, 18 homers and a .703 OPS.

Twenty-two million dollars bought the Yankees another hitter fans needed to be talked into appreciating.

Cashman’s ability to spend enormous money and still leave obvious holes should be studied. Every winter brings another complicated explanation for why something underwhelming was actually clever.

Let Grisham walk. Stop paying for the memory of a better season.

David Bednar? I’d move on—but the numbers deserve an honest hearing.

He recorded 35 saves in 39 chances with a 2.47 ERA. That’s good pitching.

It also doesn’t obligate the Yankees to make him another expensive attachment while the lineup needs repairs.

My preference is to spend elsewhere and build a replacement plan. A good closer can protect a lead. He cannot manufacture a functional offense or repair Cashman’s judgment.

The closer’s entrance music should not be the most dependable part of the organizational plan.

Giancarlo Stanton? Confront reality already.

The healthy version of Stanton has been tremendous entertainment. The problem is that the healthy version has become somebody the Yankees keep expecting to visit.

Three calf strains cost him more than five months in 2026.

You cannot keep reserving a central place in the offense for a player whose availability requires crossed fingers and a medical briefing.

His contract makes an exit difficult. Releasing him would still leave money owed. Cashman has to deal with that reality instead of using it as permission to repeat the same gamble.

Stanton’s body has repeatedly failed him. The front office fails the roster when it keeps budgeting for a version of him it cannot reliably put on the field.

And that brings us to the man who should be answering for every inch of this:

Brian Cashman.

He evaluates the talent. He constructs the roster. He chooses the manager. He oversees the system that is supposed to develop the players.

Yet somehow, whenever the finished product disappoints, responsibility gets scattered until nobody can find it.

A player didn’t develop. Somebody got hurt. October is unpredictable. The roster looked good on paper.

Who keeps buying the paper?

Cashman cannot claim credit for the organization’s sophistication and then act like its recurring flaws are unfortunate weather.

If the same weaknesses keep surviving different rosters, examine the person assembling them. If the same excuses keep surviving different seasons, examine the people accepting them.

That includes Hal Steinbrenner. Ownership enables this comfort. Cashman has room to keep defending the process because the man above him keeps accepting the explanation.

Meanwhile, Aaron Judge keeps getting older.

That is the unforgivable part.

The Yankees have a player whose greatness should define an era. They are burning through his championship opportunities while debating whether another disappointing season really warrants an uncomfortable decision.

Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez have publicly questioned the organization’s approach. CC Sabathia has joined the criticism of its leadership and direction.

These are men who understand what winning here requires. The Yankees would be wise to spend less time defending themselves and more time considering why those voices are dissatisfied.

This franchise should be embarrassed.

Embarrassed by the excuses. Embarrassed by the complacency. Embarrassed that fans can identify the problems and still expect the offseason press conference to explain why most of them are coming back.

Change Wells’ role. Trade Volpe. Let Grisham leave. Make hard decisions about Bednar and Stanton.

Fire Boone.

And stop pretending Cashman deserves permanent protection from the results of his own work.

Because if Judge finishes his Yankees career without a championship, the organization will have plenty of time to celebrate his individual achievements.

It will also have to live with the fact that he gave them greatness—and they kept handing him this.

GIRARDI STEPS INTO THE BATTER'S BOX TO DEFEND BOONE & STRIKES OUT LOOKING!

File this story under "you just can't make this sh*t up!" Seriously. It's bananas. It's hard to find Aaron Boone defenders (especially on this site), but at least one does exist! It's a unicorn ladies and gentlemen!

Yankee fans are sick of Baboonie. He sucks, there is no sugar-coating this one. He's soft, can't manage a team and is the exact opposite of a leader but Joe Girardi defends him. There's no logical explanation to this but, Girardi says this was this was Baboonie's "best year of managing" and he's serious while the rest of us are laughing our asses off, you can read more HERE.

Maybe it was his best year of managing failure and chaos. I'll give him that. He had a lot of adversity to deal with but you know what....so does every manager! He doesn't get a high five for that. Injuries are a part of the game and they've been an obstacle since the beginning of baseball as we know it. Injuries are not the reason for the Yankees failure.

The lack of fundamentals and playing smart baseball is the reason for the Yankees failures. They do the same thing year after year. We've had nine years of this team living and dying by the long ball. They lack fundamentals. They can't play small ball, and they can't play smart baseball. How many stupid Jazz Chisholm quotes did we have to listen to after he botched a play that little leaguers can do? He was a disaster all season. Did Baboonie fix that? NO. He may have talked to Chisholm about it, but it certainly didn't work. It's a lack of accountability no matter how you slice it.

So this is my problem. Look at the pattern with Chisholm this season, how the hell is that his best year of managing? This failure falls on Baboonie. He's not solving the problem, he's trying to cover it up in hopes it won't show up again. Interestingly enough, Girardi does say that the Yankees have a culture problem, read more HERE. So who exactly is the one that cultivates culture? It's not the bat boy, it's the manager! How can you possibly be a good manager when you have a culture that lacks accountability? You can't! A good manager knows how to help their team thrive. That's not what Baboonie is doing. If he is going to argue the Yankees need a culture change, no one is going to disagree with him there. However, arguing for a culture change that includes keeping Baboonie is the dumbest thing he could ever say.

So basically Girardi is talking out of both sides of his mouth. He stepped up to the plate, tried to make a case for Baboonie and boy did he swing and miss. Epic failure.....just like another Yankees season.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj

HOW ABOUT WE BRING BACK GLEYBER?

The Yankees MUST bring back Gleyber Torres. Put him at second base, let Jazz Chisholm leave and find a new home for Anthony Volpe. I think it’s a brilliant idea. And yes, Brian Cashman, you’re allowed to make one of those without first shopping for an injured pitcher.

Enough already. I want Gleyber back in pinstripes.

Now, I remember the mistakes. Please don’t send me a seventeen-minute video of every ball he booted. I watched them live. Some of those games aged me in dog years.

Gleyber could drive you crazy. You’d cheer his double, then watch him do something on the bases that made you wonder whether his controller had disconnected.

But I liked the player. I still do. And I believe bringing him back to play second base would be a smart move for a team that needs to rethink its infield.

Jazz? Talented guy. Plenty of ability. But I’m ready to turn the page. The Yankees need to decide what they want from that position, and my vote is Gleyber with a glove, a bat and a clearly marked parking space.

Volpe can go, too. Find a trade. Give him a fresh start somewhere else. Being a Yankees prospect should earn you an opportunity, not a deed to the property.

We’ve spent enough time waiting for the organization’s plans to come together. At some point, fans are allowed to ask whether the cake is ever coming out of the oven.

Cashman would probably tell us it needs another three years and a waiver claim.

Here’s what appeals to me about Gleyber: we know him. We know the good, we know the frustrating, and we know he understands what comes with playing in the Bronx. He wouldn’t need an orientation explaining that a Tuesday groundout can become a Wednesday radio segment.

And there’s something refreshing about the Yankees admitting they might want a player back. Imagine that meeting.

“Brian, perhaps we should reconsider.”

Security would be there in seconds.

But reconsidering is part of running a baseball team. You’re supposed to evaluate the roster, recognize what isn’t working and make changes. You don’t get bonus wins for remaining loyal to your own PowerPoint.

Bring Gleyber back and make him the second baseman. Give him clear expectations and hold him to them.

Nobody is asking for a lifetime contract or a monument. We’re asking for a reunion that I believe could make this team better—and would certainly make me interested in watching that infield again.

Let Jazz walk. Trade Volpe. Bring back Gleyber.

And if it works, Brian, you can tell everybody it was your idea.

We know how much you enjoy that.

ANTHONY RIZZO HAS A BACKBONE. YET THE YANKEES STILL DON'T HAVE ONE

Back in February 2025, I suggested that Anthony Rizzo could return to the Yankees in a player-coach role. The idea was simple: keep a respected veteran in the clubhouse, use his experience to teach younger players, call out bad attitudes and preserve something this organization too often treats as expendable—leadership. Read: COULD RIZZO EVOLVE INTO A PLAYER-COACH ROLE WITH THE YANKEES?

Newsweek picked up our article, as we documented at Bleeding Yankee Blue. Why did it deserve attention? My answer remains the same: because it made baseball sense. Rizzo’s value extended beyond whatever production remained in his bat. There was knowledge there. Credibility. An understanding of what winning requires and what wearing that uniform demands. Oh yea, and his presence provides leadership.

Now, after another miserable October ending, that argument looks pretty damn relevant.

The Rays swept the Yankees out of the ALDS, finishing them with a 4–3 loss. Another season ended with the other team celebrating and Yankee fans wondering when the people running this operation will stop confusing expectations with accomplishments.

Then came Jazz Chisholm’s confusion about getting booed. Apparently, amid the disappointment of a playoff elimination, we needed to stop everything and discuss whether the paying customers had been sufficiently encouraging. Jazz, read the room. Preferably before explaining it to everybody else.

On Ross and Rizzo, Anthony Rizzo slammed Jazz. He questioned how Chisholm could be surprised by boos after seeing established Yankees stars receive the same treatment. Rizzo described him as looking like “a player that’s lost.” He also challenged the organization’s annual championship declarations: the Yankees cannot keep announcing the highest standard without producing results that justify the talk.

"Jazz Chisholm's comments after the game just looks like a player who is lost,"

"He says after the game about being booed, 'I don't understand, I was confused why I was being booed.' It surprises you that you were booed? What do you mean?"

"You've played there for three-plus years now, you've seen [Anthony] Volpe get run out of town. You've seen Judgey get booed. You've seen Stanton get booed.

"It surprises you that you got booed? That's just not the right way to answer questions...You just have to be smarter there… it shows a little bit of immaturity there."

That is accountability.

No soothing soundtrack. No lengthy explanation of why disappointment is secretly encouraging. A former teammate heard something that needed challenging and challenged it.

That is the voice I wanted inside the Yankees’ clubhouse in February 2025. But more importantly its the voice I wanted there since Girardi left. Boone's a pushover. He's a fanboy. He wants to be friends with all his players. He is a poor leader. 

You can debate whether booing helps a player. Fine. Have that conversation. But the first response after failure should concern the failure. What went wrong? What needs to improve? What responsibility do you bear?

Fans did not strike out for you. They did not throw the ball away. They did not assemble the roster or write the lineup. They bought the tickets.

The Yankees seem awfully comfortable accepting championship prices while asking their customers to practice developmental patience. And that brings us to Aaron Boone. My problem with Boone is that his public leadership too often sounds like an effort to cushion every uncomfortable landing. There is always another explanation, another encouraging interpretation, another reason to believe the breakthrough is approaching.

At some point, the breakthrough needs to show up wearing a uniform. A manager should support his players. Absolutely. But support must include correction. When protection becomes the default response to repeated failure, you risk teaching players that the explanation matters more than the improvement.

From where I sit, Boone babies this team. His public posture too often shows no backbone when the moment calls for a firm standard. He can defend a player’s dignity and still say the player’s performance was unacceptable. These are professional athletes. They can survive a sentence without a pillow under it.

I want a manager who can say: we prepared poorly, we executed poorly, and we are going to fix it.

BUT THEN THEY ACTUALLY FIX IT.  

Rizzo’s history gives me reason to believe he understands that responsibility.

Consider October 2024. With fractured fingers keeping him out of the Division Series, Rizzo helped Jon Berti and Oswaldo Cabrera with positioning at first base. He remained useful while somebody else occupied his position. That is a concrete example of a veteran transferring knowledge under postseason pressure.

Think about what that tells you.

His contribution did not end when he came off the lineup card. He recognized what teammates needed and helped them prepare. Teaching the details of a position is coaching work, whether the organization prints the title next to your name or not. That was the foundation of my player-coach argument back then and it's what I would expect from a leader in the Yankees clubhouse now. I was proposing that the Yankees give structure to something Rizzo was already demonstrating.

He subsequently returned for the 2024 ALCS, starting at first base just 16 days after fracturing two fingers. He spoke about the opportunity to compete for a pennant and the importance of appreciating it while it was there. That matters because opportunities expire. A talented roster does not come with a reservation for next October.

Rizzo had already helped the Cubs win the 2016 World Series, ending their 108-year championship drought. He experienced the pressure of playing for a franchise whose history could feel like an extra opponent. He was part of a team that finally delivered. That experience gives weight to his criticism of empty championship language. And his leadership record extends beyond baseball. A cancer survivor, Rizzo established his family foundation in 2012; he received the Roberto Clemente Award in 2017.

In 2018, he returned to Parkland after the school shooting and spoke at a vigil for the victims.

Those actions show someone willing to accept responsibility when there is no easy thing to say. Someone who shows up for other people.

That quality matters in a clubhouse. Players need to believe that a leader cares about them before criticism carries its full weight. Rizzo’s case is compelling because compassion and directness can coexist in the same person.

You can care about a teammate and tell him his answer was lousy. You can believe in a young player and tell him his preparation needs work. You can build confidence while demanding competence.

The Yankees need considerably more of that.

Instead, this organization keeps inviting questions about whether its development process produces improvement or simply produces more reasons to wait.

Anthony Volpe is the obvious example.

Through his first three seasons, Volpe had a .662 OPS and an 84 OPS+, below league average. By the end of his fourth year, I want answers from the people who scouted him, projected him, promoted him and were responsible for developing him. This kid sucks.

What did you believe his offensive ceiling would be? Which weaknesses did you identify? What was the plan to address them? And how long does the organization get to keep selling potential before somebody evaluates the return?

Calling the results a dud isn't harsh. The Yankees helped create the expectations, and they should have to answer for the gap between the projection and the product. Volpe’s effort does not absolve the organization. Neither does his prospect pedigree.

Scouting is supposed to identify ability. Development is supposed to help turn that ability into reliable major league performance. If the results disappoint year after year, examine both. A framed scouting report cannot take an at-bat. And a manager repeating his belief in a player cannot substitute for a coaching plan that works.  Boone is in love with Volpe still looking for a moment. Rizzo would have benched this dude in June.

This is why the Yankees’ training and preparation deserve scrutiny. What are they emphasizing? How are they measuring progress? What happens when an approach keeps failing? Where are the consequences for poor execution?

I am tired of the franchise treating those questions as an attack. Show us the improvement and the questions become easier to answer.

Complacency is comfortable. You can keep the same voices, repeat the same reassurances and tell yourself continuity is a virtue.

But continuity without correction is how you preserve a problem.

Would Rizzo make a terrific manager? I believe he has the qualities to become one. On paper, he's better than Boone already.

His case starts with credibility earned as a player, experience under championship pressure, demonstrated willingness to teach and the ability to deliver an uncomfortable message. Those are substantial foundations for managing people. Boone hit a homerun against the Red Sox that really doesn't matter because the Yankees lost in the World Series anyway.

Sure, Rizzo would still have to prove his ability to run a pitching staff, construct lineups, manage workloads and make decisions over 162 games. Being a respected player does not automatically qualify someone for every responsibility in the dugout.

But the Yankees should take his leadership potential seriously because clearly they don't.  Someone like Rizzo would challenge people and not roll over.  My February 2025 proposal was about recognizing an asset before it disappeared from the room.

Now Rizzo is speaking into a microphone in a new role, delivering the kind of blunt assessment I know he would deliver if he were the Yankees manager, and that should bother the Yankees. You know, the fact that there are better managerial options out there rather than the one they have.

This is now a former teammate publicly reminding them that accountability belongs at the center of a winning organization, while fans are left wondering who delivers that message inside the building.

Rizzo would not magically fix every flaw. But I believe he could help steer the ship because he understands that leadership includes telling people when they are heading in the wrong direction.

The Yankees need that. They need alot, but they definitely need leadership.

They need better teaching, firmer standards and an honest review of the people responsible for the results. They need to stop protecting their preferred narrative and start correcting the baseball.

I saw the value in Rizzo in February 2025. After this October, the Yankees should be asking why that voice is outside their clubhouse.

BURN IT DOWN. THE YANKEES HAVE TO REBUILD.

The Rays swept the Yankees, celebrated in their ballpark, and blasted “New York, New York” in the visiting clubhouse.

They took the series. Then they took the soundtrack.

Want to stop another team from turning your stadium into a punchline? Beat them. Tampa Bay earned its celebration. The Yankees earned another winter of uncomfortable questions that somehow never seem to produce meaningful consequences.

Start with Brian Cashman. Then Aaron Boone. This operation needs a complete overhaul, and another offseason of rearranging the same furniture isn’t going to cut it.

Fire Boone. Move on from Cashman. Burn down this approach and build something that actually works in October.

Look at the offense against Tampa Bay:

• Game 1: One hit. Zero runs. A 1–0 loss.

• Game 2: Two runs, both on solo homers by Ben Rice. A 5–2 loss.

• Game 3: Three runs. A 4–3 loss that ended the season.

Five runs in three games. That’s 1.67 runs per game, calculated from those scores. Gerrit Cole gave them a chance in the opener, and the lineup responded by practically disappearing. Austin Wells finally broke up the no-hitter, then got thrown out trying to stretch his double into a triple. Their only hit became another mistake.

This wasn’t merely an offense going cold. It was a team failing to execute when every out mattered.

Four errors in Game 2. Then, with elimination staring them in the face, Boone moved Wells up to sixth. Wells went 0-for-3 before being lifted for a pinch hitter. Trent Grisham went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts in the finale. Those are the results of the lineup Boone trusted to save the season.

And Boone’s Game 2 decisions deserve scrutiny.

Against left-hander Ian Seymour, he let Luis García Jr. and Spencer Jones hit in the sixth, then stayed with Jazz Chisholm, Grisham and Wells in the seventh. Seymour retired all five. Boone had right-handed alternatives sitting on the bench. His explanation was that Seymour’s numbers made him a relatively neutral matchup, and that he was waiting for baserunners before deploying those alternatives.

Waiting for somebody to reach base while the offense keeps making outs is a hell of a rescue plan.

Yes, there was a statistical argument for staying with the lefties. That doesn’t make the decision untouchable. A manager has to recognize when his plan is producing nothing and decide whether another approach gives his team a better chance.

Boone watched the outs accumulate.

Then came the elimination-game shuffle. Jazz and Ryan McMahon sat. Anthony Volpe and José Caballero started. Asked about choosing Volpe, Boone offered: “Just felt like it.”

Volpe actually contributed in Game 3. Give him that. But the Boone’s explanation still deserves more than a shrug. With the season on the line, fans are entitled to hear a coherent baseball reason.

That’s my problem with Boone’s constant tinkering: What is the governing principle? Matchups? A hot hand? Defense? A feeling? Players need defined responsibilities, and fans need some evidence that all this movement serves a purpose. We cannot prove that lineup changes caused the offensive collapse. We can absolutely judge Boone by the collapse he failed to stop.

He is a failed championship leader. Fire him.

And Cashman doesn’t get to hide behind the manager he keeps endorsing. He built the roster. If the available choices keep leaving Boone searching for a spark, the person assembling those choices belongs in the firing line, too.

Then there’s Jazz, questioning the boos:

“So you’re booing a guy that’s playing, trying to help the team win, and you’re hearing boos instead of trying to hype guys up.”

Jazz, nobody owes you a standing ovation for trying.

You finished the regular season with 19 homers, 41 steals, a .231 average and a .711 OPS. The 19/41 club. Not the 50/50 club. Those steals have value. Your athletic ability has value. But the swagger needs more consistent production behind it. Play cleaner. Play better. Give the fans something to cheer about.

Fans paying real money to watch another October collapse are allowed to express disgust. Millionaire players treating the crowd’s frustration like the central problem is pathetic. The boos didn’t construct this roster or make those errors.

Do not bring back Jazz. Do not bring back Grisham. Get a dependable everyday catcher. Shop Volpe and make a trade that improves this team.

That doesn’t mean giving Volpe away for nothing. It means ending the attachment to what everybody was supposed to become. Evaluate what they are, what they can realistically become, and whether someone else makes the Yankees better.

Judge is asking the front office to address the holes and go all in. He’s right. His message is especially pointed because he also acknowledged that a winning team alone isn’t enough in New York. For accuracy, he backed Boone’s return; the demand to fire Boone is mine.

Build a complete roster around your captain. Stop asking one superstar to cover every organizational weakness.

Get hitters who put together competitive at-bats. Get defenders who finish routine plays. Establish roles. Hire a manager who communicates clearly and demands execution. Make every department answer for whether its work produces a better baseball team.

The greatest franchise in baseball history cannot keep selling its past as an excuse for its present.

I haven’t paid for a ticket to that ballpark in four years because I’m done financing the same bad movie. Be a fan however you want. But ask yourself what incentive this organization has to change if disappointment keeps selling just as well as ambition.

The fans want a championship.

Stop asking us to accept less while charging us more.

Fire Boone. Move on from Cashman. Revamp the roster.

Burn it down and build it back up—because this version of the Yankees has exhausted its excuses.

It is absolutely pathetic.

ONCE IS A MISTAKE, BUT TWICE AND BEYOND IS A PATTERN

It sucks to suck, and that's exactly what the Yankees have established. It's dejavu all over again and it doesn't have to be. But the Yankees choose it because they like to suck more than they like to win, apparently. I just twitched violently as I typed that.

Year after year this team is plagued by awful fundamentals. The Yankees manage to lose. Keeping Aaron Boone and the front office in place is a losing strategy. The official box score says the Yankees were charged with four errors but let's be real that was six. One of those errors was miraculously called a hit by the official scorer and the other was saved by George Lombard Jr and Jazz Chisholm should bow down and praise him for saving his butt. This organization does not teach good fundamentals, and they certainly don't expect it out on the field. It's an afterthought for the Yankees as long as they can smash homeruns out of the park.

But that's not serving us well at all. We saw it against the Dodgers in the World Series two years ago and we haven't learned anything from it. Here we are two years later still beating ourselves and we did it against a very fundamentally sound team. That's what makes it worse. It's also what gives us another dose of harsh reality.

Good teams don't just ride a hot streak, they literally outplay everyone else and make inferior teams look stupid. That's everything we see with this Rays team. I've always said Kevin Cash is a good manager, and he is smart. The Rays play fundamental baseball and what makes it worse, they know how to create those pressure situations that make bad teams like the Yankees crumble. The Rays have created chaos, and the Yankees haven't overcome it. The Rays have a manager that knows what he is doing, and what other teams are not doing. He is the opposite of Aaron Boone and we are reminded of it yet again.

In MLB postseason history, only 10 out of 91 teams have ever come back to win a best-of-five series after losing the first two games. Coincidentally, the Yankees are the last team to do that back in 2017 but this isn't even a shadow of what that team was. Saying that really makes me miss "the good old days" because at least we weren't THIS tragically pathetic. Anything is possible but it is hard to have faith in this team with no Aaron Judge and weak players like Ryan McMahon, Chisholm and Austin Wells unnecessarily filling in the roster.

The Yankees need to change everything they do and think. It's time to turn things upside down. We've already endured 16 seasons of losses with no championships but Hal Steinbrenner hasn't understood our frustration. I wonder if this is the year it finally clicks and he gets it.....but I'm not going to hold my breath.

Please boys....show us something today. Don't just rollover and get eliminated at home. Please.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj