BREAKING REPORT: BIG FIRING COMING IN THE BRONX!

I have my own prediction and I have no idea if I'm right about it, but if you know anything about major league baseball... when things don't go well for a team, historically it's the manager that gets the axe.  Now you can sit there and say, "But Casey, it's not Boone's fault!" 

You might be right, but I think it is and I think that Cashman set this team up to fail as well.  Jeff Passan is right. When he was on Michael Kay, he said that Cashman and the Yankees draft poorly and have for years and when Cashman comes out and says the season for the Yankees is a disaster, it is for sure.  But that disaster happened because of Brian Cashman with the help of fan boy Aaron Boone who wants to hang out with his buddies on the Yankee clubhouse and make excuses for them playing poorly rather than managing.  Look, say what you will about a guy like Joe Girardi. I was never a huge fan of him as a manager, but one thing I really respected was the fact that he'd ride his players if they sucked.  Aaron Boone holds their hand and then goes out to the press reminding everyone that "It's right in front of them".  We all know that, TELL YOUR PLAYERS, BUDDY!"

Well, the latest reveal comes from legend Bob Klapisch with the help of Inside the Pinstripes:  Check this out:

"Sources within the organization have indicated someone has to be sacrificed for the debacle," wrote Klapisch. "And it won’t be (general manager Brian) Cashman."

If not Cashman, it seems that manager Aaron Boone would be the one to lose his job. Klapisch says this is a possibility, and although Boone has been more at-ease as of late, Klapisch says It's "highly unlikely" that he has been assured of his job next season. There is a chance that he has already been told he won't be back next year."

Now there are people out there that are not baseball purists when it comes to bad managers.  These days there are people that are like "Well if you fire Boone, he is just the Scapegoat." Whatever.  The bottom line is bad leaders have to be fired.  I want Cashman gone too, but guys like Cashman can surround himself with better baseball people than Brian Sebean and Omar Minaya who TOTALLY sucked at their job this year.  Those guys should not be back either.  But back to the stupid "scapegoat theory" when it comes to Boone.  It's BS. He needs to be fired.  Think about it. Think about 1995. Think about Buck Showalter, a guy that managed well and yes, he was getting his team to the playoffs. But one thing that didn't happen that year is we lost to the Mariners.  And then what happened? Buck got fired.  For the record, Buck Showalter is a hell of a lot of a better manager then than Boone will ever be now.  

Great nugget from Klapisch.  Love it.  I wonder how it will all go down.  Oh, and by the way, if they do fire Boone, they really need to think about firing some of those non-experienced coaches too.  This whole coaching staff is an absolute disaster.

A disaster of a season that didn't start in 2023, but started after Stick Michael left.  It was a slow burn.

DESPITE THE ORANGE HAZE PANIC, ONE LEFTY HORSE WAS GRINDING YESTERDAY

You have not entered the Twilight Zone. Yes, New York City looks more like Mars in all of this crazy haze, but that's not the only craziness in this post. Hold on to your hats....Carlos Rodon has risen from the smoke and ashes and he has pitched!

Yes, it's true...Rodon is one small step closer to a return. While as many of us were trying to stay out of the hazardous haze, Rodon made a brief appearance on the field and pitched to live hitters, read more HERE. It was only 20 pitches, but he threw "everything" in his pitching repertoire to Jake Bauers and Oswaldo Cabrera. I'll take it!

Its a start. Sure, 20 pitches isn't a lot and certainly not a big sample size to see how effective he is when he is throwing "everything" but if he is throwing between 92-94 mph with no back or elbow discomfort now and has no soreness in the next coming days it is a small victory and a step in the right direction....game day action!

Early takeaways from Rodon's brief pitching appearance at the stadium sound promising. I'd say it's a pretty big deal when you have Hal Steinbrenner, Brian Cashman, adviser Omar Minaya and Yankee fan favorite, CC Sabathia observing everything. Hopefully, when all of the smoke clears (no pun intended) we can see more from Rodon.

I am anxious to see Rodon back in action. The Yankees made a big commitment to Rodon in the offseason and if and when the Yankee rotation is back to healthy, it could be lethal. We've waited a long time, but hopefully a rehab assignment is in the near future.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj

DO WE NEED OMAR MINAYA?

I was never a fan of him when he was with the Mets. In fact, I think that Omar Minaya actually made the Mets worse when he was there.  Now, years later it looks like the Yankees are stock piling executives and adding Omar Minaya? I mean, is this necessary?

The New York Daily News writes:

"The Yankees continued their efforts to bulk up the front office Thursday bringing in Omar Minaya, the former Mets general manager to work as a senior advisor to baseball operations...

Cashman asked for permission to interview Minaya last March but at the time, the executive was working on various international projects with the league, including an international draft, and wanted to see some projects through. Now, he’s ready to join Cashman and bring his experiences to the Yankees.

“There’s a lot of connectivity, a lot of people and I’m a big believer that it’s about people,” Minaya said on a Zoom call with reporters Thursday afternoon. This game is about the human element.”

We shall soon see what this really adds to the Yankees team. I say nothing really. It makes no sense to me.

BYB: THE GIVE & TAKE OF SUPPORT & RESPECT

One thing I like to do here at BYB is let our supporters, our friends and my writers know that I support them because they support me and the product of Bleeding Yankee Blue.  We've been having a solid give and take here a lot at BYB.  It's what we're literally founded on... especially when you strip away the New York Yankees overtone.  When you do... you see a family; individuals that have come together to have conversation, give support and just plain say "Hey", be it in a Yankee forum or on Twitter as a friend.

Over the past 4 years, great things have happened at BYB.  We've met incredible people, players, celebrities and non-Yankee fans, and with that have become bigger in the Yankee and baseball world.  We're more relevant these days. Yup... people turn to us in the morning even with other outlets out there. We appreciate that. I personally thank you for that.

It was an interesting week.  Gatorade did something quite special sending out Commemorative Derek Jeter #2 water bottles to some of the BYB faithful and that was very nice of them. Check out this shot from @CanIPettitte! You gotta love the loyalty.

Thank you @Gatorade and @BleednYankeeBlu for helping me get through the the #Yankees off season! I'm a lucky girl!! pic.twitter.com/plko8h2aGX
— Can I Pettitte? (@CANiPETTITTE) October 16, 2014

In addition, we usually have a weekly hate fest and when that happens I call people out. I don't like when my writers who work hard to put words on a page get harrassed for no reason. It bothers me. Sure, you may disagree with us all you want, YOU'RE ALLOWED TO, but what happened to a spirited disagreement? If you are the type of person that has no motivation and is always critical of others because you may have a miserable life youself, Please don't read BYB. It's the wrong forum for you... I'll go Don Corleone on you...

In the end, I protect my writers...always.  In the end, I support the people that mean the most to me.  Bottom line... my writers are the hardest working people on the web.  Not because they write for me, but because they raise families, maintain full time jobs, AND write for me.  This is not a business... this is a passion and the sooner people will figure that out... we can all get along.

Support comes in many forms, but the form I like the most is just that subtle love and support we get through "retweets" and "favorites" on Twitter and the occasional comment on Facebook like, "I disagree with you, but nice work putting that together."  Disagreements happen, but it's when we get hate mail because we put our a report about Alex Rodriguez.... that I just don't get.

When I posted I DON'T CARE IF YOU HATE AROD. IT'S JUST BASEBALL a few weeks ago, and merely suggested that ARod fans shouldn't be getting attacked for liking ARod, I didn't expect the backlash I received.  It was clear that BYB reached a new level at that point. Hate is widespread, and why? Because people just like being cruel?  All I was suggesting was that the hate was so ridiculous because it was an extension of a player to his fans and it's unwarranted. Some haters went away... many just continued for no real reason.

I was touched by Laura Posada's tweet last night.  It hit home and literally inspired me to write this post this morning. She tweeted this:

It’s important to remind the ones you love that you will always support them. 💙 #Yankees #JorgePosada #TBT pic.twitter.com/JEw3aVbOFZ
— Laura Posada (@Laura4change) October 16, 2014

It rings true in many ways. I'm a mush. I like to give compliments and I hope when you read us, you have the courage to reach out and return it as well.  There is nothing better than seeing that you read something on the pages of BYB and wanted to let the writer know it touched you.... or you agreed, or even disagreed, but "supported the piece" or "respected" us for writing it.  That's important.  In the end, sure, we're all Yankee fans, but we're human beings.  Respect each other. Support each other.

Some of us like one player more than another and that's OK, in fact, it's healthy.  Writer Mike O'Hara and I are not big Mark Teixeira fans. But it doesn't mean we hate the dude or the people that support him.  Jeana Bellezza, another one of our writers loves Tex.  Hey, hats off to her... but we don't agree.  We also don't write each other hate mail and threaten.  We happen to understand that it's only baseball ladies and gentlemen... it's just a game. This is not a life or death article, life goes on... so stop the disrespect.  

"Remind the ones you love that you will always support them." That's Laura Posada's words and it resonates and it should with everyone here who reads this, this morning.

So I say to the BYB audience... the audience that wakes up with us every morning. The audience that bookmarks BYB and who shares us daily.... Thank you. And I want to tell you something else... Anything you do, BYB has your back.  You have a fundraiser you need help with? You let us know.  You need help with a survey? (Read FROM THE YANKEES, TO CATS, TO PIZZA), BYB can help with that.  And if you need alittle pick me up?  Tell us. We're easy, especially if you love us back.

I'm not looking for 100% praise at BYB.  I'm looking for respect.  It's not easy for our writers to get up after dealing with kids and sports, and volunteerism and work and dinners and second jobs and activities to then sit down at a computer and bang out something worth reading. But we do it, because we love it.  We also love you reading it.  4 years later, there's a respect. It's a beautiful give and take and I personally love what we've built.  Bleeding Yankee Blue is a community... we're family here.  All I ask is that you respect us, because we respect you guys a helluva lot.

I leave you with Laura Posada's words again.  Take it in... it's significant:

"It’s important to remind the ones you love that you will always support them."

Pass it on...



You've made BYB the fastest growing Yankees fan site in history. Now shop at the Bleeding Yankee Blue store!  Follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and LIKE Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook!