Now that another New York Yankees season has ended without a World Series championship, the finger-pointing is about to start. In the coming weeks and months, you’ll hear a lot about manager Aaron Boone, their problems with fundamental baseball, how they’re too reliant on analytics, and which players didn’t have enough of a handle on why they ultimately lost to the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALDS.
There may be some truth in all these talking points. None of them address the real factor behind the Yankees’ 16-year title drought: child’s play for most teams, but an eternity for the Yankees.
It’s all about the mentality. Or more specifically, the lack of mentality that used to make them winners.
New York Yankees desperately need a change in attitude
The biggest problem for the Yankees is the simple reality that they no longer act like the Yankees of the George Steinbrenner era. Sure, they still have one of the highest payrolls in the league, and they still mix in the occasional big name.
Max Fried was a big addition this past offseason. Gerrit Cole was a big asset a few years ago. Trading for Juan Soto (before losing him) was a Steinbrenner-sized blockbuster.
But there aren’t enough of them, and there isn’t enough to make a difference.
These Yankees take too many half measures and worry too much about arbitrary budgets and bottom lines that they never used to worry about. Instead of a win-at-any-cost franchise, they are now a win-at-the-right-price franchise. And that’s just not how the Yankees used to operate. It’s not how they should operate.
While most of their core from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s was homegrown, with Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams and Andy Pettite leading the way, the Yankees also supplemented them with huge outside additions. Whenever a big-name player was available, the Yankees were first in line.
Tino Martinez. Jason Giambi. Johnny Damon. Mark Teixeira. Hideki Matsui. Roger Clemens. Alex Rodriguez. There were more. For over ten years there was always someone there.
When they signed Cuban-born pitcher Jose Contreras in 2002, who outscored American League East rival Boston, former Red Sox president Larry Lucchino called the Yankees “the evil kingdom.”
The Yankees didn’t just spend a lot of money. They have outspent everyone by huge amounts. During the decade between 1996 and 2006, the Yankees lost the division once (when they finished second), played in the ALCS seven times, played in the World Series six times and won it four times.
There’s nothing stopping them from still operating that way. But they don’t. And they didn’t.
When they needed a shortstop for 2023, they didn’t make a serious push for Manny Machado or Trea Turner because they wanted to roll with Anthony Volpe. That has had the opposite effect.
When Bryce Harper practically begged the Yankees to sign him in 2019, they refused because they felt they already had too many outfielders. Their outfielders over the next two years were Aaron Judge (good), Mike Tauchman, Clint Frazier, a 35-year-old Brett Gardner and Aaron Hicks. Their DH in 2019 was Edwin Encarnacion.
If someone had told George Steinbrenner that the Yankees wouldn’t pursue a Bryce Harper-level player so they could play Tauchman or Hicks instead, he would have fired those people and then rehired them so he could fire them again out of spite. The Yankees need that mentality back.
They cannot continue with these half-measures involving former stars of the past such as Paul Goldschmidt. They can’t hold on to the prospects (who might not even be that good) at the trade deadline and trade for Ryan McMahon when Eugenio Suarez is also available.
As a non-Yankees fan you may not like that mentality, but that’s the point. That’s what made the Yankees the Yankees. As long as there is no salary cap, they must use their resources and funds as much as possible to win. They should crush the opposition. They’ve since passed that baton to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are now what the Yankees were (and who beat them in the World Series a year ago).
The Yankees may be fundamentally bad, and they may not have enough hitters making it into the playoffs, but that’s largely because they’re not getting enough top players anymore. And nothing can stop them but themselves.
They need corner infielders this season. Suárez is a free agent. Alex Bregman maybe. Pete Alonso probably will be. They still need a big field bat. Kyle Tucker is available. The options will be there.
Who the Yankees decide to pursue and who they get will tell us what they want to become. Do they want to be the New York Yankees? Or do they want to be a knock-off brand version that no longer represents the pinstripes? We’ll find out soon.
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