THE BRONX IS DEAD

There comes a time when enough is enough. For me, that time is now. This isn't about losing a baseball game. This isn't about one bad trade deadline.

This is about watching the greatest franchise in American sports become a corporate shell of itself, run by executives who seem perfectly content selling yesterday's championships while refusing to build tomorrows.

The New York Yankees are no longer the Evil Empire. The Bronx is Dead. They're lifeless. They're predictable. They're stale. And worst of all, they've accepted it.

The 2026 trade deadline wasn't just disappointing. It was insulting. Insulting to every fan who shells out hundreds of dollars to sit in Yankee Stadium. Insulting to every parent buying $50 hats and $300 jerseys for their kids.

Insulting to every fan who still believes the words "World Series or Bust" actually mean something. Instead, Brian Cashman did what Brian Cashman has become famous for doing. He admired talent from a distance. 

Adley Rutschman? Rumored. Luis Arráez? Rumored. Ryan Jeffers? Made too much sense. Tarik Skubal? Dream on. The Yankees "checked in."

That's become Cashman's championship parade. Checking in. Making calls. Having conversations. Congratulations. Someone get the man a participation trophy. The rest of baseball is making blockbuster deals while Brian Cashman is apparently collecting frequent flyer miles from traveling to the land of "almost."

At some point, Yankees fans have to stop applauding effort and start demanding results. And don't give me the tired excuses. 

"The asking price was too high."

"The market wasn't favorable."

"We like our depth."

Spare me.

You're the New York Yankees. Act like it.

This is the same franchise that once made the rest of baseball lose sleep because if there was a superstar available, the Yankees were getting him. Now they're the team explaining why they couldn't. That's not the Yankees. That's a business pretending to be a baseball team.

Meanwhile, Aaron Judge is putting together one of the greatest careers we've ever witnessed in pinstripes. And what are the Yankees doing with that gift? Wasting it. Flat-out wasting it.

Championship windows don't stay open forever. Every season that passes without putting the absolute best roster around Aaron Judge is organizational malpractice. And don't tell me Luis Garcia Jr. is supposed to change that. Heliot Ramos is nice. Garcia is a nice addition. They are not a savior. They don't fix catcher. They don't solve shortstop. Pathetic.

He doesn't magically turn an inconsistent offense into a championship lineup. Putting a Band-Aid on a broken leg doesn't heal the fracture. Then there's Aaron Boone. Let's stop pretending this guy is the answer. In my opinion, Aaron Boone has been a bad manager for years.

Not because he's a bad person. Because the results speak for themselves. Every October ends with another excuse. Every press conference sounds exactly the same.

"We battled."

"We competed."

"We'll be ready tomorrow." Tomorrow?

Yankees fans have been hearing about tomorrow for seven years. Boone has become baseball's most predictable postgame interview. Every loss is wrapped in the same neatly packaged clichés while the same mistakes continue to happen. Poor fundamentals. Questionable in-game decisions. An offense that disappears in October. A clubhouse that too often looks flat when the moment gets big.

Enough already. But here's the twist.

Aaron Boone is also a pawn.

He's the lightning rod. The shield. The guy sent downstairs to answer for decisions made upstairs. Because the biggest problem isn't sitting in the dugout. It's sitting in the executive offices. Brian Cashman has become comfortable. Comfortable selling hope instead of championships. Comfortable reminding everyone about the dynasty he helped build nearly three decades ago.

Here's the problem. It's not 1998 anymore.

Nobody gets lifetime tenure because they were great a generation ago. The Yankees are supposed to be in the business of winning championships—not celebrating memories. Which brings me to two men who seem to have disappeared completely.

Where the hell are Hal Steinbrenner and Randy Levine?

Seriously. Where are they? Are they hiding under their desks? Did someone confiscate their microphones?

Their fans are furious. The media is asking questions. The trade deadline came and went with more disappointment than direction. And ownership?

Nothing. Silence. No accountability. No explanation. No fire. George Steinbrenner would've been pacing the hallways demanding answers before the ink dried on the trade paperwork.

Today's Yankees?

They'll probably release another carefully worded statement about believing in the roster. Enough. The public backlash against Brian Cashman isn't some overreaction. It's years in the making.

Fans are sick of hearing about prospects that never become stars while established stars wear someone else's uniform. Fans are sick of hearing that the Yankees "liked" this player or "explored" that trade. Fans are sick of being told patience is a strategy. The Yankees don't have a catcher that strikes fear into anyone. They have glaring questions at shortstop. And no amount of spin changes that reality.

Pitching wins championships? Sure. But pitchers don't score runs. You still have to hit. And the Yankees have ignored offensive flaws for far too long.

Meanwhile, Aaron Judge keeps carrying this franchise on his back while the people responsible for helping him continue to come up short. So, here's my message.

Not to Aaron Judge. Not to the players wearing the uniform.

To Brian Cashman. To Aaron Boone. To Hal Steinbrenner. To Randy Levine.

You have taken the most recognizable franchise in baseball and turned it into an organization that celebrates almost. Almost making trades. Almost winning. Almost fixing obvious problems. Almost isn't good enough in the Bronx.

It never was.

And it never should be.

So yes...

Boycott this team.

Don't buy the tickets. Don't buy the jerseys. Don't reward complacency with your hard-earned money. Because the only language ownership understands isn't boos. It's empty seats. The New York Yankees were once the Evil Empire. Today the Bronx is Dead—the Yankees are a franchise living off ghosts while the executives who built this mess hide from the people who pay for it.

Until Brian Cashman is held accountable. Until Aaron Boone is no longer the manager. Until Hal Steinbrenner and Randy Levine stop hiding and explain to the fans why this has become acceptable, nothing changes.

And that's why I say it again.

BOYCOTT.

BOYCOTT.

BOYCOTT.

ENOUGH! LET'S BOYCOTT THE YANKEES TO CHANGE THIS TEAM'S FUTURE

Let’s stop pretending the Yankees are “a tweak away.” This isn’t a tweak situation. This is a teardown-from-the-top situation. The front office, the GM, the manager—all of it. The entire operation has gone stale, soft, and shockingly satisfied with mediocrity. And while the team keeps trying to convince us that “stability” is a strength, it’s really just a euphemism for “we’ve given up.”

Brian Cashman has been the general manager since 1998. Aaron Boone has been the manager since 2018. The Yankees haven’t won a World Series since 2009. That’s sixteen years without a championship in the Bronx—longer than most Yankee fans’ kids have been alive. Yet every October, we get the same smug postmortem: “The players didn’t perform.”

No, Brian. You didn’t lead. You didn’t build. You didn’t adapt. You’ve become the guy who keeps slapping duct tape on a leaking ship and calling it a “rebuild.”

Boone? He’s not a manager; he’s a dugout buddy with a laminated analytics chart. Players might like him because he’s “chill,” but they sure as hell don’t respect him. This team plays like it knows the teacher won’t fail them no matter what. Boone’s not commanding a locker room—he’s hosting a summer camp. He’s a nice guy, sure. But nice guys don’t win in New York. They get run over.

If Boone wants to keep smiling and shrugging off accountability, let him do it in Miami. Go manage the Marlins, Aaron. You’re not cut out for the Bronx.

And then there’s the invisible man, Hal Steinbrenner. The son of the Boss has somehow mastered the art of being rich and irrelevant at the same time. George Steinbrenner built empires out of outrage. He spent recklessly, yelled publicly, and cared deeply. Hal? He’s MIA—vanishing after another wasted October while fans stew in silence. Not a press conference, not a statement, not even a token apology for the mess he bankrolls. The man is allergic to accountability.

Randy Levine? Another ghost. The Yankees' front office has turned into a bunker of bureaucrats who think spreadsheets win titles. They’ve replaced instinct with iPads, guts with graphs. Baseball has always been a blend of numbers and feel—but this “analytics army” has tipped it so far toward the data that the soul of the game’s gone missing.

Every decision feels preprogrammed. Every bullpen move feels like a computer simulation. Every lineup card feels like it was spit out by a Roomba. And yet, year after year, they act stunned when the “process” fails.

Newsflash: analytics don’t lead. People do... the game has a heartbeat. And right now, the people in charge of the Yankees are cowards.

So, what should fans do? Stop feeding the beast. Don’t buy the tickets. Don’t buy the jerseys. Don’t give them a dime until they give us a reason to believe again. I stopped going two years ago, and I don’t miss dropping $1,000 for a game at a ballpark run by people who couldn’t care less about winning.

You can still love the Yankees. You can still cheer for Judge, Cole, and the pinstripes. But stop financially rewarding the clowns running the circus. Because as long as the seats stay full, Hal Steinbrenner will keep thinking everything’s fine.

Money is the only language ownership understands. If they feel the financial pinch, they’ll finally panic. And maybe—just maybe—that panic will spark the fire that George once lit under this franchise.

Until then, it’s all smoke and mirrors. Boone will be back in 2026 because he’s under contract. Cashman will still be around because Hal values his “institutional knowledge” (translation: he’s too lazy to fire him). Randy Levine will pop up for one photo op, then disappear again. And we’ll all sit through another season of analytics-driven nothingness.

ARod called it out—Cashman’s roster construction is one of the worst in the sport. And he’s right. It’s unbalanced, predictable, and dependent on the long ball. There’s no small ball, no strategy, no adaptability. Boone can’t manage a bullpen, can’t construct a lineup, and can’t think on his feet without his analytics binder telling him what to do.

It’s robotic baseball run by men who’ve forgotten that emotion and instinct still win in October.

So what’s next? Simple:
Boycott. Boycott. Boycott.

Cancel your ticket plans. Stop going. Stop pretending it’s going to fix itself. Because it won’t—not until Hal, Randy, Cashman, Boone, and their overpaid analytics department feel what fans have been feeling for years: fear.

Let them panic. Let them squirm. Let them finally realize that Yankee fans aren’t loyal to mediocrity—we’re loyal to greatness.

And greatness doesn’t live here anymore.

By the way, I'm right.

JUDGE CUTS TIES SOCIALLY WITH THE YANKEES

It's a ballsy move, but Aaron Judge is a free agent, so it makes perfect sense. 

It's just a shame it's so public. What we are about to see ladies and gentlemen is a top player, American League all-time Home Run leader and all-around nice guy, not to mention terrific clubhouse guy, enter a drag out fight for respect with the New York Yankees as he enters the open market. This will not be fun.

According to The Big Lead, but really, all you need to do is see it for yourself, Judge has unfollowed the Yankees on Instagram and Twitter. Game. On.

"Aaron Judge is now a free agent. While the Yankees would love to retain the 30-year-old slugger, they will have competition for his services. It appears Judge has begun the breakup, as he unfollowed the Yankees on Twitter and Instagram.

New York made several lowball offers to Judge earlier in the year, then executives spoke about them publicly. The Yankees screwed themselves by not locking up Judge a long time ago."

Let's call this what it is. Based on Judge's track record, the Yankees were not about to pay Judge the enormous amount he wanted before the season began. He got hurt alot, he wasn't hitting a TON of home runs. Makes sense. So they bet they'd have a nice negoiation at the end of the season with a good player... not a great one, a good one.

And then Judge went ham! 

Suddenly guys like Randy Levine and Hal Steinbrenner couldn't get ahead of it.  And so they made some offers, thinking "this guy's going To break down at some point" but he never did, capturing the home run crown.

In the end, the Yankees are going to have to pay up. But the problem is, and I firmly believe this, the Yankees are going to lose him. 

I wrote about this a few weeks ago. People were so focused on the playoffs it was probably forgotten, but the Giants are real competition with the Yankees, and they WILL do whatever it takes to get Aaron Judge.

Read MY SOURCE SAYS "JUDGE WILL BE A SAN FRANCISCO GIANT NEXT YEAR..."

"I have a source, a friend, that works for the San Francisco Giants. I will not reveal his name. I will only reveal what the buzz is and what he's hearing on the ground out there. He is not privy to private meetings. This is water cooler rumor, but still a pretty big one I want to share. The phrase he used with me is this:

"It's very real. Judge will be a San Francisco Giant next year."

I asked him why. He would not tell me. I asked him to give me more. He said he didn't have anything more. He told me to "trust him" and said it will come down to the contract, something Judge "could not walk away from."

And the truth is the Yankees will need to pony up or the already unhappy fan base will dwindle as well. 

Here's the bottom line; we have a manager that no one likes. We have a ballpark that costs a family of 4 nearly $1200 a visit for 1 game. You have no championship in recent years and if you lose Aaron Judge, a guy that should be captain and should be locked in till the end of his career, THERE IS NOTHING WORTH ROOTING FOR. 

Yankee brass needs to think long and hard about what they want, because what we have right now? It ain't working.

IS RANDY LEVINE MAKING A PROMISE HE CAN'T KEEP?

As frustrating as it has been to watch the Yankees this season there is one part that I have really enjoyed. It's been fun to watch Aaron Judge slug his way through a historic season, it's been the bright spot we've all needed. He bet on himself in his walk year and he will end up winning a big jackpot....but will the Yankees come out as winners on the other side?

I hope so, and Yankee President Randy Levine said that the Yankees "will be extraordinarily competitive" in their quest to keep Judge in pinstripes, you can listen to more of what he said HERE. But just how competitive remains to be seen and I certainly hope the Yankees handle talks with Judge much better than they did with Dellin Betances, who had his name completely butchered by the one and only Randy Levine.

I don't think I will ever be able to forget the arbitration hearing between Betances and the Yankees which Levine said some really stupid things, you can refresh your memory HERE. He didn't value Betances at the height of his career with us....so can we really be confident he values Judge enough? He says the Yankees do. "we know his worth and what he means. All we can do is show him how much we'd like him to remain a Yankee," Levine said.

"There's no issue about, 'Do we want Aaron Judge back?'" Levine said. "There's no issue [with] 'how much we value him.' It's a negotiation. What we'll talk about with him and his representatives in the offseason is, 'How do we keep him?' And then it will be up to him to see, does he want to stay here [or] does he want to go someplace else? Is somebody offering him a better deal?"

So hopefully that means the Yankees are ready to open their wallets if Levine meant what he said when he called Judge "an all-time Yankee." I trust the Yankees more without Levine's comments. I guess we will have to wait and see what dollar amount they feel is appropriate for an "all-time Yankee."

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj 

BETANCES HANGS UP HIS CLEATS

All good things must come to an end, eventually. Sooner or later every baseball player will exit the big league stage and move along to something else and that time has come for Dellin Betances.

Yup, yesterday Betances decided to hang up his cleats after he pitched in parts of 10 seasons with the Yankees and the Mets. It feels like just yesterday, I remember when the Yankees picked in him in the eighth round in the 2006 draft and how excited I was. I remember all the hype surrounding him as a promising young starter and watching him eagerly as part of the "Killer B's" trio. Now here we are, coming to the end of the 2022 season and the end of his career.

His hype as a starting pitcher never came to fruition due to his control issue and various injuries but in his best years as a Yankee he was a consistent, reliable closer that I loved to watch. I'm going to remember him as the four-time All-Star who finished third in voting for the American League Rookie of the Year behind Jose Abreu and Matt Shoemaker. He was a favorite of mine to watch in his earlier years, I felt confident when he was on the mound. I definitely miss that feeling right now.

But I am also not going to forget his ugly arbitration case back in 2017 where Betances and the Yankees were $2 million apart and the Yankees won their case, paying him $3 million as opposed to the $5 million Betances wanted. I remember the aftermath and how bad it made the Yankees look when Randy Levine had to go gloat and look like an a-hole. Do you remember this?

"It's like me saying, 'I'm not the president of the Yankees, I'm an astronaut," Levine told reporters, stating that Betances didn't get more money because he was only a set up man. "I'm not an astronaut and Dellin Betances is not a closer." 

Looking back at this it is no wonder why Aaron Judge had preconceived notions heading into his own hearing this season. He got a front row seat to Levine the douchebag back then. Unfortunately, once the 2019 season came Betances made one short appearance for the Yankees before he got injured and then spent the remainder of his big league career with the Mets. He tried to bounce back this season with the Dodgers in the minors but it didn't go his way. He was released by the Dodgers yesterday and then announced his retirement.

Dellin, I wish you luck in the next chapter of your life. As far as Randy Levine goes, I wish we could send him up in outer space as an astronaut and then leave him stranded out there. 

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj

FORGET MLB! SUPPORT YOUR MINOR & INDEPENDENT LEAGUES!

The world is going to hell in a hand basket and we all want to hear some good news....but sadly I have none. Neither do the Yankees or team president Randy Levine, it's all infuriating.

Oh and this lockout is "embarrassing" and it's nothing we didn't already know but this is a direct quote from Randy Levine HERE. If you were looking for something eloquent and thought provoking there was zero chance of that happening from him.

But yes, this is embarrassing. MLB canceled another week of games last night so now the earliest the season will start is April 14h. What did that do to the schedule? Well, that canceled four games at the Rangers, three games at the ASSTROS, three at home against the Red Sox and four at home against the Blue Jays. That sucks but you know what else is now in jeopardy? Jackie Robinson day that happens every year on April 15th. Yup, pray for a miracle otherwise a time honored tradition could be sacrificed all thanks to this nonsense. Some may not care but I look forward to Jackie Robinson day EVERY YEAR.

It's a sad day for baseball as this lockout continues and for once I agree with Levine that this lockout IS embarrassing but I hope he is also embarrassed for over paying players year after year and losing in the playoffs! What about the roster and performance his pitiful GM Brian Cashman has put together the last 13 years while outspending every other team? There's just so much to be embarrassed by but Levine probably isn't smart enough to understand that.

If he was smart enough he may also realize people like me have an increased interest in minor league baseball. There is one comforting thought for me in all of this madness. If millionaires and billionaires continue to argue and not play there are minor league AND independent leagues all across the country that will PLAY BALL.

As long as they continue to play I will continue to support them. So GO FIND those teams. Bring your significant other and your family. While you are there buy a hot dog, a soda, some popcorn or ice cream and find a new young kid that catches your interest. Follow him like you do your favorite big leaguers and support them. Spend your money in your local baseball communities because that makes a difference. I know because there are over 6000 people where I live that should be working at a Spring Training facility RIGHT NOW and they aren't. THAT is embarrassing!

In the current world climate this behavior is beyond tone deaf. I hope both owners and players wake up because this is a BAD look for both sides and the sport we all love.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj

THE DEATH KNELL FOR BASEBALL IN 2020

The death knell is tolling for baseball. Could that be true? Well, according to Yankees president, Randy Levine, not yet. Levine is trying to get the pulse going again by breathing some life back into America's pastime 2020.

Source: NY Post

"Everyone here wants to get down to business as soon as possible and play games. From what I’ve discovered, the holdup is not about the number of games or money at this time," Levine said Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. "The commissioner has the right under the March agreement to schedule the games as long as the players are paid 100% prorated. The holdup, as I understand it, is about resolving the other items in the March 26 agreement," reported the Daily News on Tuesday evening.

I appreciate Levine calling the player's union to discuss safety concerns but honestly, calling the players patriots is just overkill.

"We all recognize that the players are the heart and soul of the game. I’ve called them patriots in the past and I believe that today," said Levine as reported by the News. That is a stretch.

Look this comes down to greed. As much as I appreciate Levine who represents our Yankees calling the commissioner everyday and trying to appease the player's union, this is about money.  It is frustrating.  What happened to for the love of the game? What happened to playing because it feels good? What happened to America's pastime?

Source: CBS Sports

Unfortunately, it appears that the sound of the death knell is tolling for the 2020 season.  Call it and put us out of misery.  It is hard to remain hopeful when two sides just can't agree. I wish I could spin this some other way, but it appears that the writing is on the wall.

--Suzie Pinstripe
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @suzieprof

PUMP THE BRAKES ON THE 2020 SEASON - THE PLAYERS AREN'T HAPPY!

I may have Twitter induced whiplash. I jump from feed to feed and see one argument only to be sucked into a new direction and I see another argument. We all got excited when MLB owners approved a plan that could bring baseball back in July. That's a big first step....but there is still another big hurdle to jump, namely the Players Association.

Here comes the drama.

It's a business....so it's all about the money and the owners want to hold onto as much money as possible. Back in March, the MLBPA agreed to prorated pay, essentially a reduced salary. Owners now recognize that if and when the season resumes, games will likely be played without fans in the stands which takes away some of their revenue. So now the pressure is shifted to the players. The owners have okayed a plan to start playing, but to get some money back they want the players to take less also by agreeing to a 50/50 revenue share, read more HERE. Revenue sharing is common in other sports like the NFL, NHL and the NBA - but not baseball. MLB players are not happy with the proposal, it's like a salary cap....and we know that isn't in baseball either.

So here we are, waiting to see who will fold first. The owners are optimistic that players will negotiate. Randy Levine tried to appeal to the Yankees by trying to appeal to the sense of civic duty. "I think our players are patriots. They want to do it. We are all trying to get there," Levine said. Talk about pressure, I'm sure the Yankees don't WANT to take a pay cut and MLBPA executive director Tony Clark has already said that the union WILL NOT agree to it. Some players are already saying that they won't support it.
Here's Adam Jones:

And Trevor Bauer:

And what about former Yankee Phil Hughes?

I understand the sentiment, regardless of if I agree with it or not. These owners are very wealthy, and that didn't happen by accident. Are they feeling the pinch financially right now? Sure, like most of us are. They aren't getting the cash flow that they normally get right now. It's a month into the season and they haven't made money. That doesn't mean they are struggling though. They made a commitment to players when they signed them....and the players are expecting them to live up to that commitment with some minor concessions, which they have already made a few. I get it.

I also understand when Phil Hughes is coming from. The next CBNA is coming up soon. The Players union have had a long hard fight to get to this point. Years ago they didn't have the same favorable terms so to agree to owners requests would be taking a big step backwards in their point of view.

Would we feel differently if it was you or me? Maybe we have a similar situation. I know several people right now who have agreed to a temporary pay cut during this pandemic in order to keep their jobs. A little less income is better than none, right? What if we agreed to a pay cut due to the circumstances with the expectation that we would get our original full pay later when the crisis has past? What if....we never got back to our original salary? If this is what the MLBPA is concerned with, I understand the concern.

Not all current or former players feel the same way, there's usually someone with a different opinion right? Well, we have a different opinion with Mark Teixeira.

I will say this much....in my history here with BYB I have been the biggest supporter of Tex out of anyone on staff. I defended him all the time. I don't think I can here. It's easy to say you would rather make "pennies on the dollar" after you have already cashed in a large contract, retired and have nothing to lose. I just don't buy the symbol of hope he is trying to sell all of us....but that's just me.

So where do we go from here? The owners and MLBPA need to sit down and hash this out. Is one side being too greedy? If they reach an impasse and can't make this work it's a bad look for baseball. We need our baseball back! 

--Jeana Bellezza
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @nyprincessj

RANDY LEVINE DOESN'T UNDERSTAND BASEBALL AT ALL

And that's a problem...

Randy Levine is the president of the Yankees and that comes with the expectation of experience and knowledge. But somehow, he lacks so much of it and still gets to be named president. It has always baffled me.

And this week that sentiment only continues. In case you missed the latest baffling comments from Levine you can read it in detail HERE but in his delusional world "we're as good as the Red Sox right now."

Wait....what?!

Photo: Bergen Record

"I think we’re as good as the Red Sox right now,” Levine said. “I think they had a better postseason than us. We had a lot of injuries. That Division Series could have gone either way with a couple of innings. They have a great team, and they’re going to be a really great team for a long time, but I think we’re as good as they are."

The Red Sox had more than just a better postseason than us, they had a better 2018 than us! It pains me to say it but the Red Sox were unstoppable for most of the season. They had the better starting rotation, a clutch offense, a crafty manager in Alex Cora and they scored a ton of runs. They held first place in the division for most of the season. They were better in the regular season, and they were better in the Division Series, too.

So that is why the Division series could NOT have gone "either way" especially when we only won the second game and then lost both games at home. We were out pitched, certainly out hit, and definitely out managed. I am guessing that Looney Levine was watching a different series, hell maybe the man was watching a different sport all together.

If Levine cannot see the obvious reasons why this team was not as good as the Red Sox last season and currently is not as good as the Red Sox now then the Yankees have a serious Public Relations problem with their president. It's bad enough that he was influential in the now disastrous signing of Jacoby Ellsbury and the feud with Dellin Betances (he called him Dylan!) two years ago but now he's just speaking nonsense. When will it all end?

Any logical baseball fan knows that the Yankees have one World Series win since 2000; the Red Sox have four. Clearly, the Red Sox know what they are doing and are winning so therefore they are the better team. The Yankees have a long way to go before they can say they are "as good" as the Red Sox and this offseason is just the start of getting the Yankees back on track again.

The Yankees have a lot of work to do, and Levine has a lot of disappearing to do. The man is an embarrassment. He shouldn't be allowed to talk to any media until someone teaches him about his team and baseball in general. Or maybe....we will get lucky and he will just take a hike.

--Jeana Bellezza--Ochoa
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @nyprincessj 

YANKEE BRASS CAN BUILD A WINNING TEAM, BUT NOT A PROFIT

Credit Elsa/Getty Images        

The New York Times dropped a big story last week HERE and it shows just how clueless some of the brains in the Yankees front office really are. This isn't rocket science.

The Yankees have a young, exciting and winning team. It should be a new economic boom for an organization that is finally getting younger and getting some big expensive contracts off of the books. It should be bringing in a ton of fans to watch this new Yankee team win. The Yankees are undeniably better than last year. They win and they are fun to watch so that should have people running to the ballpark.....but they aren't. So, what's the problem?

Well, there seems to be more than one, actually and the Yankees think they have the answers, but they don't.

1) Since the end of 2009, Yankee suite and ticket revenues have decreased by more than $166 million.
The Yankees open their new ball park, and win a World Series championship but have since lost out on profits. Despite the Yankees winning and successful season so far, they have brought in LESS money than the same time last year. Even with a dreadful start to the season, the Yankees were making more in ticket sales. Fans paid more to see a losing team then a team leading the way with superstars like Aaron Judge.

2) The Yankees’ per-game decline of 3,793 over the same number of games last season is the third-sharpest in baseball, according to BaseballReference.com, trailing just Kansas City and the Mets.

The Yankees have the third sharpest decline in attendance after recent World Series winners Kansas City and the circus side show New York Mets? That's sad. The Yankees have a young and dynamic team that even Yankee haters pay attention to. Fans finally have that younger team they have wanted for YEARS, but aren't paying money to go see them. The Yankees just can't put butts in the seats even with a winning lineup....and that's a big problem.

3) A recent May game in the Bronx against the Toronto Blue Jays drew an announced crowd of 25,556 -- the smallest for a Yankees home game in 13 years.

A winning team playing a division rival with some big names on it should draw in a crowd. Fans still remember the days of Russell Martin and want to watch a talented hitter like Jose Bautista. Sure, the Blue Jays may be an underachieving team in last place but to get the lowest attendance in 13 years? That is an ugly stat.

Those are the three major problems. Instead of looking at the one thing that all three scenarios have in common the Yankees are making some CRAZY statements.

"Baseball, I think, has somewhat struggled with the millennial problem. We recognized in looking at our fan base, we recognized in looking at our viewers on YES, that that age group is not what it could be and not what it should be" according to Hal Steinbrenner.

The fact of the matter is that as much as society may like to blame millennials for a lot of things....the Yankees decrease in ticket revenue is not one of them.

Or how about the Yankees pricing strategy with their premium seats? The Yankees set high pricing in their seats behind home plate to keep the available to the rich, and out of reach for those of us who can't spend that kind of money, and Yankees Chief Operating Officer Lonn Trost was quick to justify that HERE.

“The problem below market at a certain point is that if you buy a ticket in a very premium location and pay a substantial amount of money,” Trost said. “It’s not that we don’t want that fan to sell it, but that fan is sitting there having paid a substantial amount of money for a ticket and (another) fan picks it up for a buck-and-a-half and sits there, and it’s frustrating to the purchaser of the full amount. And quite frankly, the fan may be someone who has never sat in a premium location. So that’s a frustration to our existing fan base.”

I think Trost is extremely out of touch. There is definitely a pricing issue here, but it's not the one that he is describing.

And what about Randy Levine? He's already been under fire recently with Dellin Betances, but Randy seems to think that the players are a big reason why fans spend money on the games.

"Right now, there’s no LeBron in baseball, there’s no Tom Brady. Derek Jeter was, maybe David Ortiz. But I think these young guys on our team and some of the other ones have the breakout ability, and I think that’s what’s exciting and what our fans are looking at.”

Ummmm NO Randy! What your fans are looking at is the insane prices of your tickets right HERE. Clearly you already have a LeBron or a Brady....if you didn't you wouldn't have taken out seats to accommodate your "Judge's Chambers" section at Yankee stadium.

Sure, you can get some cheap seats at Yankee stadium. Some fans may be okay with a "Pinstripe Pass" and stand in a "fan gathering" section for a few hours with a drink included and just stand....but that's not most of us. What about mom and dad that want to take their kids to a game? They are going to want a memorable game with decent seats. Ones that they don't have to squint to see or sit on dad's shoulders just to see Gary Sanchez off in the distance. Try taking a family four to a game and pay $40 for parking and $15 for a beer and $12 each for a few hot dogs after spending money on those expensive seats. It's not affordable!

Yankees ownership is just clueless at this point. They have a winning team on the field but can't figure out how to get people to come and watch them play. A winning product isn't good enough if people don't actually come to see them. They just don't get it...they have priced fans right out of their ballpark and kept them at home....watching the game on TV for a lot less money. It's not rocket science, just stupidity.

--Jeana Bellezza
BYB Managing Editor
Follow me on Twitter: @NYPrincessJ