ALL EYES ON MATT BLAKE FOR 2022 SEASON

The Yankees just cleaned house and cut some weak links in the coaching department. It's a start, but it's a good finish if they walk away from Aaron Boone also. I'm not going to hold my breath on that one though. The Yankees decided to hold on to their pitching coach which some big expectations moving forward.

I'm still trying to get a good feel for Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake. He's still new to this show and we all know college baseball isn't the same. I think Blake had some highs and lows this season unlike some of the other managers who won't be returning. Some of his analytical focus helped the Yankees, but can that continue moving forward?

It's easy to forget some of the good stats after the Yankees just had a rough regular season and an early exit in the postseason, but there was a bright spot in the Yankees pitching staff. We don't talk a lot about WAR here on BYB but it is something that the Yankees analytics department puts a lot of emphasis on it so their fourth place rank in WAR (Wins Above Replacement) is an accomplishment. The Yankees also had the sixth-best ERA at 3.76 that if the Yankees can build upon going forward will make them a stronger team.

Now that the Yankees have had some success in these categories now the Yankees need to make improvements to some specific players and that will be a challenge for Matt Blake going forward.
I think there are three players that Blake will need to work with and improve going forward.

1. Aroldis Chapman

The bullpen has been a strength for the Yankees in recent years, but Chapman seemed to implode this year. He wasn't the reliable closer the Yankees needed and gave up too many big hits (especially the 9 home runs) when the Yankees needed him. He cost the Yankees too many games and Blake needs to work with Chapman to fix what went wrong so it doesn't happen again next season.

2. Gerrit Cole

Our ace didn't have a "bad" year, but he had more troublesome outings than we ever wanted to see especially down the stretch when the Yankees were fighting just to get into the postseason. There were just too many appearances where he gave up too many hits, the control wasn't there and it turned into a clunker. His last start against the Blue Jays was a good example of that. We need to see Cole get back to that big game pitcher with confidence again.

3. Deivi Garcia

This is the tough one. Garcia has regressed dramatically compared to where he was in 2019 and 2020. His two appearances this season were disappointing loses with a 6.48 ERA and 10.5% percent walk rate in 8.1 frames. His 2020 season definitely was a smaller sample size but he showed progress with his command and control that did not continue into 2021. The Yankees need more pitching depth and as young as Garcia is, he has potential to be a good starter for the Yankees going forward. Blake has a lot of work ahead of him to get Garcia back on track and get back to what makes him a top pitching prospect.

I think 2022 will be an important year for Blake. The Yankees have a lot of question marks in the starting rotation and need to make sure their bullpen remains an asset. He's got a tough job to prove that his approach can continue to work. All eyes are on him as we continue to scrutinize the coaching staff.  He's got another opportunity to show Yankee brass and fans that he can improve this team while some of his other colleagues do not. 

  --Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

     BYB Senior Managing Editor

    Twitter: @nyprincessj

ULTIMATELY THE YANKEES' FAILURES LAND AT CASHMAN'S FEET

Source: Mark Lennihan/AP

The modern game of baseball is highly reliant on statistics to drive decision-making. Quite frankly the modern day of higher education where I spend most of my time is highly reliant on data to make decisions about programs, student success and admission of learners. Even our day to day decisions are based on numbers—interest rates, shopping deals and airline prices to name a few. And it is fantastic that we have access to data to support decisions, but data can't be the only factor. So, this is the well or ditch or impasse where the Yankees are right now—relying on metrics to determine its fate. Front and center of the key decisions for this team land with General Manager Brian Cashman. And honestly it is time for a Come to Jesus moment for him as he looks to make decisions about the Yankees near future.

"At the end of the day, after the changes, the Yankees are still a team of big sluggers. The roster is still power-based and unathletic with very few contact hitters. They have very little versatility built into their roster and heading into 2022 a lot of questions about whether they are heading in the right direction," reported the New York Daily News. I have to agree and I am thinking most of you reading this do as well.

This team doesn't have the agility and versatility in this lineup that other teams that are beating them consistently do. They don't have speed. They don't have pure hitters, who can drive runs in when there are guys in scoring position. Their blueprint has been swing for the fences and as we saw with Giancarlo Stanton on the last day of the Yankee 2021 season, you can bank on home runs to get you wins. Aaron Boone seems to think you can and that and his inability to manage pitchers is killing the chances of this team to perform at a higher level next year. So do the Yankees bring in more talent to be managed by this kind of manager? That's for a different piece. We have lots of them in our BYB library!

Source: NJ.com

The Yankees need speed, they need consistent hitters who can drive in runs and they need to play fundamental baseball. They can't allow teams to easily get by them by taking advantage of walks, passed balls and errors. They have to close up the holes in the infield, namely getting themselves a shortstop and they need a center fielder who can play more than 145 games in three years! Aaron Hicks and Gary Sanchez are absolute jokes. The Yankees have given them chances. It is time to part ways. Gleyber Torres may have more value to give at second base in 2022, but if he can't perform, he needs to be shown the door too.

And honestly, as much as I like Luke Voit, he can't be the Yankees every day first baseman because he simply can't stay off of the IL. He is consistently getting hurt and then stumbling to get back. It is a lot of wasted time, which the Yankees can't afford as we have witnessed in 2021. 

Source: MLB.com

Cashman has a lot of work to do. But is he the guy to do it? I mean are the Steinbrenners really happy with him? 2009 was a very long time ago and as we edge up to 2022, it is almost difficult to remember good baseball consistently coming out of the Bronx. This modern day team seems to be ok with a bunch of almosts—making excuses for players who get paid a heck of a lot of money to be ok. Ultimately the Yankees failures are a part of Cashman's legacy as GM as much as his successes are. Time to look in the mirror and determine who you want to be. 

I echo the News in my final thoughts here—"They have become increasingly reliant on analytics, which many of the top teams in the game are doing but with more success. The information across the game is largely the same now, so why have other teams been able to adapt and be more successful? No one is saying stick your head in the sand, but there has to be a hard look at how information is being used to make decisions." Looking forward to seeing what the Yankees as an organization decide to do with their current staff and players. I'm hopeful they take this time to think long and hard about their future. Otherwise, I will be spending another summer anywhere but the Stadium for the third year in a row.  

--Suzie Pinstripe
BYB Senior Managing Editor
Twitter: @suzieprof

A MUST READ ON THE STATE OF THE NEW YORK YANKEES

Time to discuss what went wrong and what needs to be fixed. The Yankees frustrated me this year, just like everybody. Well, I've been thinking about it long and hard as you will see.

When the goal is to win the World Series, this will now make 5 consecutive failed post-seasons. 2017 was a great success, yet we were so close to beating the Astros and going to the Series. Had the Astros not cheated, I believe Yanks would have won that championship. 

2018 was just a magical year by Boston and they outplayed us. 2019 again with the loss to Houston with Altuve using a buzzer and cheating his way to a walk-off homer off Chapman. After those seasons, it was clear we needed an ace to win the big games for us in October, so Cole was signed. 

2020 was all screwed up from COVID, but Yanks still made it past Cleveland and to the ALDS game 5 vs. Tampa. Cole was lined up and pitched well, but couldn’t go deep. Yanks had a 2-1 lead into the 8th and then Chapman gave up the 2-run HR and the season was over. Devastating. 

So 2021 was supposed to be a year where the Yanks and Cole finally got things right. What went wrong? A lot. Let’s review.

Yanks Must Fire Boone

Before I discuss players, I want to make my pitch that Yanks need to get a new Manager. Seems like they are going to bring Boone back however. I am not so sure I would. Everyone says that it’s the players, not the Manager, but that implies that Manager of a team is irrelevant. No doubt, the players deserve a lot of the blame in 2021, but that doesn’t mean the Manager is irrelevant. As bad as Yankees hit this season (not Boone’s fault), Boone made terrible in-game decisions all season long. 

I am telling you that his managerial decisions in the bullpen alone, probably cost the Yankees 5 to 10 games in the standings. Yes, as bad as they hit, I truly believe with the right Manager, this team would have won 100 games this year. At some point, I may go back and give you a list of the games and his bad decisions. There were a stretch of games in July when he continued to leave Chapman in games where the Yanks had leads long after it was obvious that Chapman was going to blow the save. We had other options available in the bullpen to win those games, but Boone stubbornly allowed Chapman to fully blow these games, as if to try to force him to recover from his pitching slump. Every game is valuable. With 1 more win, Yanks would have had homefield in that Wild Card game, so wasting these games proves immensely costly. One example is below, but trust me, there were 5 to 10 of these:

--June 30th vs. Angels: 

Yanks led 8-4 in the 9th after scoring 7 in the first inning off Ohtani. Chapman walks the lead off batter, then after a forceout, walks the next 2 batters to load the bases. Boone leaves Chapman in. Anyone in the world watching knew what was going to happen. Chapman proceeds to give up a game tying Grand Slam to Jared Walsh. Chapman is pulled (too late) and Luetge replaced him and he walked the first batter, then gave up a single sending the go ahead run to 3B. After a strikeout for the 2nd out, he gives up a 2-run single to Luis Rengifo and Angels take a 10-8 lead and win 11-8.

--July 4th vs Mets: Yanks led 5-4 going to the 7th of a 7-inning game. Despite Chapman’s meltdown vs. the Angels 4 days earlier, he comes in for the save and immediately gives up the game-tying HR to Pete Alonso, then puts the go ahead run on base by hitting Conforto. After a walk to McNeil, Chapman is pulled and replaced by Luetge, who promptly allows a single and (after a strikeout) a go-ahead double to Jose Peraza to essentially win the game (Yanks didn’t score in the bottom of the 7th). Mets win 11-5 with 7 runs in the 7th inning.

--Andrew Heaney: 

There were a series of games where Andrew Heaney was amazingly bad, yet Boone kept going to him. Even when he was pulled as a starter, there were close games where Heaney was relied upon for big outs (and, of course, he failed). This led to several losses that I pin directly on Boone. He didn’t trade for Heaney, but he did decide to use him in big spots when we had other options. That’s on him.

Cashman did a Terrible Job this Year

I am not sure I am ready to fire Brian Cashman, but if he were fired, I would not be able to say he did not deserve it. He really screwed up in constructing this team in 2021. While Cole was great in 2020 and did his job in the 2020 postseason, Yanks needed to improve the other starters and their offense. Let’s look at what Cashman did, none of which worked:

Starters: 

Cashman staked his entire offseason attempt to improve our starters by signing Cory Kluber and Jameson Taillon. I won’t quibble over Taillon because it was low risk an he was not being counted on as a #2 starter, but relying upon Kluber was a very bad decision. It was too unlikely that he would stay healthy and he did not. He had a good start (and a no-hitter), but got injured and was a shell of himself upon return from the injury. So, while other top starters moved all around the league in the offseason and trade deadline (Blake Snell, Joe Musgrove, Charlie Morton, Jose Berrios, Max Scherzer, Yu Darvish to name a few).

Mike Ford: 

This might seem trivial, but I really believe that Cashman’s refusal to give up on this guy, cost us 4 or 5 games at least. When Voit was injured at the start of the season, Yanks had to decide how to fill 1B. It was my feeling that they should let Tyler Wade play 2B and use DJ at 1B. Instead, Yanks kept DJ at 2B and tried to fill in with shitty 1B. First, it was Jay Bruce who got 10 games of .118 hitting before he gave up, but then Ford continued to get AB despite it being clear that all he could do is strike out. There were a lot of 1-run games in April and early May where Ford was 0 for 4 with 3 K’s. 1 good AB from Wade in those games could have been the difference. The Ford experiment went on for WAY TOO long. This was Cashman’s doing. He is responsible for that. For hit .133 in his 22 games before being cut.

Yanks Offense: In a year where Yanks were finally relatively healthy for the first time in a long time, the offense was terrible. Look at the drop off in 2021 in offense:

2017 858 runs 2nd in MLB 5.30 runs per game

2018 851 runs 2nd in MLB 5.25 runs per game

2019 943 runs 1st in MLB 5.82 runs per game

2020 315 runs 4th in MLB 5.25 runs per game

2021 711 runs 19th in MLB 4.38 runs per game

This can only be described as pathetic, which is what the offense was for most of the season. Judge and Stanton were healthy and both had very good seasons. But everyone else underperformed. Gleyber and DJ had very poor years and Urshela never looked like the player that his .314 in 2019 and .298 in 2020. Strikeouts are a major problem for this team. They struck out 28% of their AB. So when we needed reinforcements at the trade deadline, we needed to get players that put the ball in play. Oakland, for example, traded for Starling Marte, who hit .305 for Miami, then hit .308 after being traded to Oakland. He puts the ball in play. Plays good defense in CF. Has speed (43 SB this season).

Gallo and Rizzo: The trade for Gallo, particular, was HORRIBLE. Gallo was exactly what Yanks did not need. Another guy that strikes out a lot. Gallo had a few big hits for us, but essentially struck out almost 50% of his AB. Now, we are stuck with him for next season, although I would non-tender him and not pay him $10M.

So with the offense broken and with no moves to really fix it (I suppose Rizzo helped a little bit… I am less concerned about the Rizzo trade because he is a free agent and it does not impact us for 2022… although I still don’t think it was worth giving away the prospects), Cashman failed Yankee fans in 2021. Nobody can try to argue he did a good job.

And so you're wondering, "Hey Douglas, how do we fix this in 2022?" Glad you asked.

One of Cashman’s problems, in his defense, is that Yanks were trying to stay under the luxury tax. When you stay under the tax for one year, you reset and then pay a lower tax in future years. Hopefully, this means that now that the Yanks have reset, they will be back to spending this offseason. While I am reluctant to use spending on free agents as a means of trying to win a championship, I don’t think the Yanks have a choice now. They have Cole for big money and Judge and Stanton in their primes, so they are a win-now team. Trying to build for the future is not an option for them and we all know that. But the team has major flaws, mainly on offense, that need to be fixed. Here is what I would do? I warn you, it’s expensive:

Sign Corey Seager to play Shortstop: Seager is young (27) and plays good SS. He is lefty, which is crucial. Its clear Yanks will add a SS and Carlos Correa hopefully is not an option. Seager looks like the guy. Seager hit .306 this year with a .394 OBP. Only strikes out about 20% of the time, which is pretty good these days in MLB. He is a clutch player with many big hits for LAD in their 2020 WS run. He is a winner. Get him.

Sign Freddie Freeman to play 1B: If Yanks added Freeman and Seager, the offense would take an immediate and dramatic upturn. 2 lefties and positions that we have basically open, no offense to Luke Voit. I love Voit, but he is injured too much, he is a righty, and he strikes out too much. Freeman stays on the field. He has barely missed a game the past 4 years. He hits .300 and 30 HR every year. He will be very hard to pry away from the Braves, but with money, anything is possible.

Sign Starling Marte to play CF: The third and final portion of my plan is Marte. Yanks need this type of athleticism and speed. We cannot rely upon Hicks coming back and being healthy and cannot keep going to Gardner to bail us out in CF. Marte is a real CF. He is a perfect fit for the Yanks.

These three signing will come at a high price, but we all know Yanks can afford it. They pay a lower tax now that they were under the threshold this year. So spend the money and fix the team.... read this Cashman... READ IT!  This would immediately take Yanks from 19th in Runs to likely into the Top 3 if not 1st. If you add these 3 guys to Judge and Stanton, and get DJ back to his 2019-2020 self, it will be a world of difference.

I will have more thoughts on the Yankees in the next coming days to help bring some stability and strategy to this team. Look for it here at Bleeding Yankee Blue!

--Douglas Solomon
BYB Guest Writer

YANKEE BODIES ARE FALLING... IS BOONE NEXT?

When it comes to inexperience... all you had to do was look at the Yankees coaching staff and laugh.  No one really had experience in the Major Leagues except maybe Marcus Thames and Phil Nevin. I've been screaming about this for months at BYB. The coaching staff is awful.  In fact, I would suggest that the manager was the more inexperienced than Phil Nevin too! Boone is a baffoon, a puppet, put there to torture Yankee fans who pay their hard earned money to go see their team win.  And yes, they did win, sometimes... when there was usually a 10 game losing streak attached to it.

Streaky teams have a hard time being consistent and that was their downfall. And yes you can blame the players to some extent, but you need leadership and the Yankees didn't have that. They had a bunch of college coaches who became fan boys in the process.  We don't need that. We need solid coaches.

The New York Daily News writes that things are starting to change... thank God!

"Over a week after the Bombers were booted from the postseason by the Red Sox, the team informed hitting coaches Marcus Thames and P.J. Pilittere along with third base coach Phil Nevin that they would not have their contracts renewed for 2022, sources confirmed Thursday.

There is still no decision on Aaron Boone, the team’s manager for the past four years, whose contract will officially expire after the World Series."

Then this came out of nowhere from Kristie Ackert, same article:

"So what does shuffling the coaching staff mean? More importantly, what will it actually accomplish? This is just two years after they made what they thought were significant changes, firing long-time pitching coach Larry Rothschild and Josh Bard as bench coach and rebuilding their strength, conditioning and training staff. How big of a difference has that made?"

And so the question to harp on is "What will it accomplish?" Well for one, the Yankee front office has to do a deep dive to look for guys that actually know what their doing.  And if they can actually vet guys this time and maybe find a rythmn... IT WILL ACCOMPLISH ALOT.

You see, the Yankees look good on paper. But mismanagment, sitting guys "cause they need a rest" is no way to coach a team.  Sitting players for sucking is important. Tell that to Joey Gallo.  We are the Yankees. We play to win, that's our legacy and so fans aren't in the business of watching inexperience help navigate a team.  And so, one example of Bard for Rothschild is probably a pretty ridiculous one Ackert... relax. Fans know what we want. I mean look at these coaches that we currently have excluding Marcus Thames and Phil Nevin: 

                                                                          (Photo: Matt Blake)

PJ Pilittere (played baseball at California State, minor leaguer) 

Carlos Mendoza (played minor league baseball for 13 years) 

Matt Blake (pitching coachin the Cape Cod league, moved to pitching coach for the Cleveland Indians), Reggie Willits (played for the Anegels, 2006 to 2011) 

Tanner Swanson (minor league catching coordinator with the Twins).  

Does anyone realize how embarassing this is? They look more like a boy band than an actual EXPERIENCED MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL COACHING STAFF.  And Boone the clown at the top? Give me a break.

I am glad Yankee bodies fell yesterday... but I want them all to fall.  Sadly, I have a sneaking suspicion that Boone will stay, but he shouldn't.

Give us experience.  Try and bring in a David Cone.  Try and bring in a Paul O'Neill. Try and bring in anyone that knows this game and all it offers and look for the win, not a streak.  I am telling you... you find the right leadership and we will right this Yankee ship.

But right now it's sinking and I can't stand it.

I leave you with this. I received a note from the Yankees trying to get me to get my 2022 ticket package. I hid the person's name because I don't want to embarass that person. They are just trying to do their job. Anyway, here's the exchange...

They never emailed me back. Oh well.

PETE ROSE JUST EMBARRASSED THE YANKEES IN A BIG WAY!

It's no secret that fans are not happy with the Yankees performance in recent years, especially this season. Want to know what else is no longer a secret? Pete Rose also isn't a fan. Now everyone knows his opinion.

When Pete Rose speaks, you listen. When Pete Rose shreds the Yankees it goes viral in a BIG way. The Yankees have a flawed roster thanks to Brian Cashman and his blunders and Rose shared his opinion. He was ruthless! I wonder if he held back at all....

"That was the worst f–king lineup they could have put on the field,” Rose said to USA Today, per NESN. “Their 6, 7, 8, 9 hitters were all out-men. They had to have Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton do something. If they didn’t, all of the pressure was on Joey Gallo. You saw how that worked out."

No matter how you feel about Rose personally, he knows baseball. He's not wrong about the Yankees roster. I would only go a little further to say that a lot of times our 5-9 hitters were all out-men because this lineup is feast or famine. They don't value good fundamentals or situational hitting like they should. If they did, we wouldn't have to rely on Judge or Stanton! So much for next man up....because it didn't happen with Joey Gallo or anyone else.

But Rose took it one step further and he ripped into Gallo!

"How does someone who didn’t play every day strike out 213 times? Ray Charles wouldn’t strike out that much. I just can’t imagine striking out 213 times without killing myself."

Most of us probably wouldn't use the same reference but we can agree that the strike outs are excessive and that's a real concern as we look into next season and he will still be on our roster. The lefty bat is not an advantage if he isn't making contact. The New York Post says his contract ONLY costs $9.5 million but that's no bargain when he has a .160BA. That's a lot of money and no real value.

I wasn't excited about the Gallo trade to begin with, but now we have to sit and hope that 2022 is a better season for Gallo and the Yankees. Rose didn't hold anything back when he shared his opinion about the Yankees. Gallo isn't the root cause of the problem this is all on Brian Cashman. It's the roster he created. It's the flawed lineup that Cashman needs to fix if the Yankees want to be champions again.
 

  --Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

     BYB Senior Managing Editor

    Twitter: @nyprincessj

WHAT KIND OF MANAGER DO THE NEW YORK YANKEES NEED?

Source: Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post

I will answer that question, easily. A manager that not only knows the game, but knows how to play his talent, when to play his talent and can collaborate with upper management. Coaching needs to be fluid and organic; not stiff and robotic. And that means, Aaron Boone can't be part of the Yankees future.

According to The Athletic, "The question with Boone comes down to some game-management practices — he tends to have a slow hook for struggling pitchers in particular — but also to his autonomy as a manager." The Athletic goes on to say that Boone is a modern-day manager with a progressive mindset. But the criticism for Boone is deep and it goes way beyond his dugout antics and decisions. It carries all the way up to the clubhouse, where Brian Cashman sits as presumed puppeteer, and Boone nothing more than a lifeless puppet with no say.

Source: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

"The Yankees have a big front office and a lot of decision-makers and want to be seen as a highly collaborative organization. Essentially, every great team in baseball has a robust front office and analytics department with a coaching staff that understands it will receive input from above." It is one thing to understand that you will receive direction, it is another thing to be collaborative in the approach and execution. It appears that collaboration has been completely thrown out the window. Unless of course Boone really knows nothing about his team and can't communicate what he is seeing in his players to upper management. 

Source: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

"Because for Boone’s first four years on the job, no matter how much you want to emphasize his 328-218 regular-season record (at .601, the eighth-best winning percentage with a minimum 315 games since 1901) and play down his 11-11 postseason mark with zero World Series appearances, you couldn’t seriously contend that he stood as the best manager in the ultracompetitive American League East. And you can’t win baseball’s toughest division unless you deploy enough bests up and down the organization. So since he isn’t currently the best, the Yankees must project whether Boone can be the best," wrote the New York Post.

So what do the Yankees do? Keep Boone and send him to coaching school? Build an experienced coaching staff around him? Invest in Boone's future? Or find someone who can do the job and win? And if not Boone than who is a worthy replacement? Do you go old school? Do you keep with the modern approach? Now those are tougher questions than the title of this piece. And it is not going to be an easy answer, unless, they go with the investment in Boone's future scenario. So what does that say for the future of this franchise and current stock of players? 

Source: New York Times

"There are many personnel and roster decisions the Yankees will have to decide this offseason. Who stands on the top step of the dugout next year, the most public face of the organization for its flaws and victories, is their most crucial consideration of all," reported The Athletic. And honestly, it does come down to who will be at the helm. Winning means having a good foundation. And a good foundation is a good coaching staff, that understands the game, their players and how to collaborate with upper management. What kind of manager doe the Yankees need? A manager that can manage a team to victory. And for that reason: Help Wanted!

--Suzie Pinstripe
BYB Senior Managing Editor
Twitter: @suzieprof

IT'S TIME TO STICK IT TO CASHMAN: 2022 IS "MAKE IT, OR BREAK IT!"

It's October, and we aren't watching the Yankees in the playoffs. That shouldn't be acceptable for this team or this fan base. It has been very easy to sit back and blame Aaron Boone for everything that went wrong this season because there was a lot. I still believe THE YANKEES NEED TO SAY BYE TO BOONE THE BONEHEAD! but he's not the only one who should be held accountable.

Boone managed with what he was given. I still believe he didn't know how to get the best out of the flawed roster he was given and that is his job....but what about that flawed roster? Brian Cashman shouldn't get a pass for that. He needs a reality check.

Honestly, Hal Steinbrenner needs to have an uncomfortable meeting with Cashman and give him a hard dose of reality. This is the last year on his contract, and he needs to figure it out is he wants to stay employed by the Yankees. For the past 12 seasons the Yankees have not made it to the World Series despite having the best resources available to him. He's had the highest or second highest payroll and STILL can't assemble the right team? Money has never been a restriction for this team, but the right baseball minds have been.

In recent years the Tampa Bay Rays have made it deep into the postseason with a payroll roughly 1/3 the size of the Yankees and still managed to assemble a competitive team. They have done a better job scouting and developing players with a miniscule payroll with the better baseball brains. There's no reason that Cashman can't overhaul his player development team, he just hasn't been forced to.

If he had been forced to long ago we never would've had to deal with trade acquisition duds this season like Joey Gallo or Andrew Heaney. Before that maybe someone smart enough would've told him not to extend Aaron Hicks who can't stay healthy and is nothing more than an outfield paperweight. The payroll he is fortunate to have cripples him.

So this needs to be a put up or shut up year for Cashman. He needs to make groundbreaking changes that improve this team. If not, Hal needs to find a new GM for 2023 and beyond. The Yankees window to win with their promising young kids from 2017 has closed and now it is time for Cashman to prove that he can compose a winning team....or he needs to go.

It's that simple. To hell with loyalty. Put up or shut up, Cashman! You shouldn't be allowed to stay if you can't do the job, we need someone who can. Free agents have a lot of pressure to deal with in their pending free agent years and Cashman's situation should be no different. You are in the hot seat, Cash. Nothing personal, it's just business and you gotta produce or you gotta go!

  --Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

     BYB Senior Managing Editor

    Twitter: @nyprincessj

I RESPECT JOE TORRE, BUT HE'S WRONG THIS TIME

So Friday night I went to a car dealership and left with a car. Wasn't planned; I was just looking, considering, speculating. But in my experience, and in concert with other key data like timing, price, and longevity, I made the decision to just do it. In the right hand corner behind the dealership finance guy's desk was a baseball, signed by Joe Torre. I said to him, "I love that guy." And I do. He led the Yankees through a lot of postseasons, and championships. He knows baseball and he knows how to work with, teach and grow players. He helped grow Derek Jeter. And in his earlier years, he was a player manager for the New York Mets. He is a smart guy. 

Source: MLB.com

But, in a recent interview, loveable Joe Torre said that Aaron Boone knows baseball because he came from "baseball stock." I have to respectfully disagree and if you read Casey's piece, BOONE IS ABOUT PRIVILEGE, NOT TRUE HARD WORK, on Saturday, you know he does too. Here's what Torre said according to MLB.com, "Boonie knows baseball,” Torre said. “He comes from baseball stock, from his grandfather [Ray] to his father [Bob] to his brother [Bret]. He knows what he is doing. You are going to be as good a manager as your players allow you to be. It just wasn’t to be [Tuesday night]." 

It wasn't meant to be because this team was simply not strong enough, coached well enough and ready for big games like Tuesday night nor were they ready for the big teams they would face after the Wild Card. Poor decisions upstairs and in the dugout, decisions made with data and without the mental muscle behind data, and just an inexperienced coaching staff led to this season from hell. But this season is no different from the last three, honestly. The Yankees are not being led; they are being punished. Forced into algorithm by people who use numbers in isolation of human capital. 

Source: Empire Sports Media

“It’s tough. I’ve been on both ends -- luckily the good more so than the bad. It’s not easy,” said Torre, who’s now a special advisor to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred. “I was telling someone earlier, baseball is not a game you play, it’s the life you live. It doesn’t go away that quickly,” said Torre. And unfortunately, for Boonie and puppeteer Brian Cashman, they can't relate with that statement. And that is infuriating for me and every other Yankee fan who invests time and money in this team year after year only to be disappointed by poor management of great players. 

I respect Joe Torre for his baseball knowledge, what he has given this sport and how he coached his players. But saying that "Boonie knows baseball..."crap is just so off base. Maybe he knows baseball, but teaching it, coaching it and elevating it when it counts, is a different story entirely. I simply cannot agree with Torre stating that being baseball-bred prepares you to coach. I hope that there is some ounce of Boss George in that front Yankee office, who would have fired Boone and Cashman a long ass time ago. 

--Suzie Pinstripe
BYB Senior Managing Editor
Twitter: @suzieprof

BOONE IS ABOUT PRIVILEGE, NOT TRUE HARD WORK

It's October... and the Yankees aren't in the playoffs.

I rooted for the San Francisco Giants last night. That team has balls. 

Now there's an example of a guy like Gape Kapler at the helm that still needs to truly cut his teeth as a manager... but here's the difference... the dude played ball for 12 years like Boone, but Kapler didn't come in on a pedagree. Daddy and grandpa weren't part of the baseball family long before him. Kapler came up earning a spot and going for it. 

His dad was a classical pianist in Brooklyn. His mother was an educator. But there's more to it. There's no privilege when it comes to Gabe Kapler. What you see is what you get. He comes to work, he expect nothing but excellence when his team hits the field and his team respects the hell out of him because he lets them play. In return, the team's scrappy... the team knows how to play, long ball, small ball... baseball.

I'm big on earning things. I'm not saying Boone's a bad person... all I'm saying if that Boone doesn't know enough about leadership and experience to command respect because he is a man of privledge.  I tweeted this the other night in my ramblings of the Wild Card game.

Boone. Only moment in baseball for him homering against the Red Sox in 2003. Again… why does it make him qualified to manage the @Yankees?

— Robert Casey (@BleednYankeeBlu) October 6, 2021

 I mean that's how I feel. That's how I've always felt. Don't get me wrong, I loved that home run all those years ago, but do you realize that after that he got hurt playing basketball and the Yankees basically told him to F off and dumped him? No one remembers that. It was kind of a scandal at the time. The hero became the zero... and it was all based on a bad decsision. Here... the New York Times from 2004:

"Boone told the Yankees last Monday that he had injured himself playing basketball, and the Yankees flinched at the news, even as they appreciated the admission. The injury came at the worst possible time for the Yankees, with virtually every third baseman already signed for the coming season." 

And so this is what has always bothered me.  He made a bad decision back then, essentially ending his baseball career after that.  But then, years later the Yankees bring him back as manager and he continues to make bad decisions and cannot save this team to win a championship.   And for me... it comes down to judgement. Can Boone decipher? 

No, not really because all his life he's been handed stuff.  Why? because of baseball royalty. His Boone family name has helped him.  

As a man myself with a 19 year old who plays college baseball, let me be the first to tell you that I watched my own son work his ass off and get passed over from time to time in his young baseball career. Why? Well, he's not a big kid, he doesn't hit dingers, but he knows how to this for average and has an amazing baseball IQ. But in baseball, that's not enough. For us, I was never directly involved with his high school or club teams. What I did teach my kid was that hard work mattered and "let them overlook you now, they're gonna want you later when you beat them." And that movie plays every season. These days, he earned his spot on his college team. But through his journey, we watched less talented players pass him by once in a while all because their daddy knew someone or they just kissed the right ass.  My point? Privilege is rampant. We saw it in the young baseball seasons for years... we see it now on the Major league level with a guy like Aaron Boone. Boone's not very complex because Boone was never challenged, he was handed things. He not a thinker, this is clear. 

And in the end, the Yankees just picked the wrong guy. They chose giving "an old baseball friend" a chance, and didn't choose to find a leader with guts.  And now... they're paying for it.  

The New York Post wrote:

"Whether Boone and the coaching staff will return remains in doubt, as the Yankees absorb another early postseason exit.

Boone has stated his desire to return, but also told The Post last month he wasn’t overly concerned about his future.

“I’m not worried about it,” Boone said at the time. “I’ll be fine whatever happens.”

And this is what bothers me the most. This is privilege. He doesn't understand hard work. He doesn't understand decision making, integrity, character.  Oh... he's "fine" with losing a job he can't do.  He'll be "fine" with "whatever happens."  The Yankees have to understand what they have here.  This guy hasn't earned a damn thing in his life, because if he did, he would take pride in his job, he'd command respect from this team. HE WOULD CARE.  But he doesn't. If they win, that's great for Boone... if the Yankees don't, he still gets paid. He's a lump. He's got Boone money, he'll be "fine."

If I'm Hal... I read Bleeding Yankee Blue today and I'm thinking long and hard about the Yankees future. If I'm Hal, I recognize what lack of earning means to his franchise. If I'm Hal, I ax Aaron Boone soon.  Unless of course... Hal Steinbrenner is the same guy as Boone, meaning, not earning anything all his life... just being handed his daddy's toy.

There's something to be said about hard work. It makes you more determined, passionate and a leader.  Boone's track record doesn't represnet any of that.  It's time for Boone and his coaching staff to leave.

We need to teach this Yankee team what it's like to play gritty, hard and true to the game. Anything less... is playing for Aaron Boone.