And there you have it. The Yankees were set up in 2026 to get to the World Series due to an historically weak American League but they came up short against the Rays. Let’s be clear: the Rays are the better “team.” Collectively, they make each other better and they have a great manager in Kevin Cash. Many of their players are home grown and in terms of pitching, they have a way of taking journeymen pitchers from other teams and making them great. You tip your cap to the Rays and they will easily cruise to the World Series. The National League will field a better team but let’s see what happens.
As for the Yankees, if you happen to stumble onto “X”, there are many irate Yankee fans calling for the firing of both Cashman and Boone. SU has never called for anyone to be fired and I will not start here. However, the way Baseball Operations is run at the Yankees starting at the minor league level is not working. Yes, they have now developed a few cornerstones for the future (Schlittler, Rice, Lombard Jr., Jones, Judge) but they are always scrambling at the trade deadline to fill multiple holes in the roster. And the focus on the home run and upper cut swings seems stupid given how pitchers are now all throwing 100 mph. Is the goal to really roll out a bunch of .220 hitters (Jazz, Grisham, Wells, McMahon, etc.) and expect great results? The Rays have a bunch of hitters who make contact and when you do that, things happen.
From what SU has read, Hal will not make any changes this off-season with the lockout effective December 1st. It’s not the time to start over – too much uncertainty. Boone has one more year on his contract but Cashman’s contract ends this year. I predict they are both in place next year. Regarding Boone, he is a bad in-game tactician but you can overcome that. The issue is more not being enough of a hard-ass. This got Girardi fired but it’s exactly what they need. They can start with having players run hard to first base (see Bellinger, Grisham, Jazz). I know guys have hamstring issues but players even when healthy are jogging to first all season long. Boone is too much of a players’ manager. SU does not hate on Boone as do others as he is a great communicator. But the culture is off here. Perhaps some new batting coaches?
Some short term moves SU would like to see:
- Buy out Stanton’s last year of his contract for $25 million. Rice is your DH and Garcia Jr. is your first baseman. Where is he going to play next year? Rice needs to play every day. Did you see Stanton’s batting stance last night? He has always had a pronounced closed stance. He was not doing that last night and SU suspects he has concluded that the old stance is contributing to his pulled calf muscle injuries. Stanton is a good, stand-up guy but time to move on. Someone will pick him up and he will do well for 40 games in 2027.
- Buy out McMahon’s last year of his contract also. I think it’s $16 million but his defense is regressing and he certainly cannot hit. The Yankees never make guys better.
- Let Jazz and Grisham go into free agency. We thank you for your service but no way is either worth a new contract.
- Make Volpe your new 2nd baseman in 2027. Good for him to get his 2 hits last night. And think about it: Spencer Jones mis-timed his jump on that one home run and really should have caught that. And on Volpe’s, it’s really about 6 inches. Sure, the fan was an idiot to reach over but it was going to hit off the top of the wall.
- The Yankees are stacked with starting pitching. Even this year, they had the best staff in MLB. That is what makes this series loss so painful. Fried wasn’t great last night but he wasn’t terrible. The team just could not score. And was the game plan to swing at the 1st pitch every time and then at every pitch after that? What was that? So many mindless at bats.
Bottom line for SU: the 2026 version of the Yankees was unenjoyable and uninspiring. This was an unlikable team other than Ben Rice who is the man. He was the only reason to turn on the games. Low baseball IQ team that was sloppy and could not win extra inning games. I am ready to move on and as an arrogant, entitled Yankee fan, I will not likely watch another game this year. Yankee fans have a higher bar that we aspire to. For 2026, it was just getting to the World Series – did not have to win it. Offensively, every game was hard to watch this year.
That is my rant for today. Feel free to share your thoughts as we turn to the NBA and NHL (see? I did mention hockey for once!).
I didnt get a chance to watch last night’s game, but did catch the first game of the series. I’m sorry your Yankees fell short! Maybe if the Astros can fix their pitching and increase their on base percentage, the Yankees and Astros can face off in ALDS!
Best,
Robert F.
Robert, from what I have seen of the Astros this year, they have a lot more work to do than the Yankees in order to get back to the top of the heap. But they had a long, sustained run near the top of the American League.
Given the parameters the Yankees operate within, a bigger market than any other team in the country and no salary cap, one could argue this is the worst-run front office in professional sports. From the outside looking in, Cashman appears to have a total stranglehold on the organization. It feels like Hal answers to him rather than the other way around, and Boone comes across as a puppet kept in place to execute his vision. The fact that, with all of those advantages, the Yankees have managed just one World Series in 25 years is remarkably damning.
Matt, your criticism is fair given the resources at hand for the Yankees. They must have averaged 40,000+ per game this year and we all know what they charge for tickets and food at the stadium. Hal has entrusted the team with Cashman for so many years now and there is a high level of trust there. It’s possible that Cashman will have to sacrifice Boone in order to appease the very angry fan base. Luckily, you grew up during the glory years of the mid-late 1990s. For 2027, they should be a favorite if they can tweak the offense a bit as the pitching staff will be elite if everyone stays healthy.
I think Cashman’s safe for now, though they need to make some big changes. He’s only two years removed from the 2024 WS (and I think the 2017 roster was WS-worthy). I don’t know why they didn’t make more moves last offseason (expecting a lockout?) but they can’t enter 2027 without some big upgrades on offense. Both hitting (looking at batting average) and fielding (errors) were in the bottom third of the league. Why would they keep Rowson as hitting coach for another season?! Pitching was the lone bright spot.
I checked out the stats of the 2017 team that lost to the Astros in the ALCS; highest HR (241 vs 223 this year) and top 10 batting average (.262 vs .235) in the league. Who knows if the Yankees would have won the WS if not for cheating, but that feels like the last time I had a lot of confidence in a Yankees team to win it all.
The White Sox have a shot at beating the Rays considering how well they are hitting and just overall clubhouse vibes (looks like they’re having a lot of fun). They’ve put up 3-4 runs each game against a solid Guardians rotation. Wouldn’t surprise me if they are competitive in the ALCS.
Brewers v Dodgers is the real show. The Brewers are playing really well, the Dodgers keep finding ways to win. Should be a great series.
Pearse, interesting stat on the 2017 Yankees. A .262 team batting average! That just seems so foreign compared to today’s team averages. That is shocking actually in just 9 years. I am wondering if Cashman would consider bringing back Joe Girardi? He was more of a disciplinarian and it seems to me that is what this roster needs right now. On the other hand, that probably got him fired in the first place. But your point on the hitting coach being replaced is a good one – that may be who gets sacrificed in the end here.
Over the course of Mattingly’s coaching career there hasn’t really been an overlap between his availability and an obvious need for shakeup in the Bronx. This is that year.
Grisham should not be re-signed. And Chisholm can manage his social media from someplace else. I’d like to see them figure out a way to move Caballero as well. And while this isn’t going to show up in any of the analytics maybe we don’t put anyone on the roster who is prone to wearing yellow accented equipment. No, this shouldn’t matter. But I think it’s a decent proxy for weeding out the guys who are too focused on things unrelated to results on the field.
I’ve been as disappointed with Volpe as anyone. But he’s carried himself better than most and we know he has some upside.
Judge has to figure out a way to get healthy and stay healthy. And that probably means more time as a DH. Which means Rice has to figure out a way to contribute in the field. Which has me wondering if summer ball is still a thing. If so, Lombard, Volpe and Rice should all be there getting reps in the field.
Anyway, this all may be moot depending on the labor situation so I guess we’re all held hostage until that gets resolved.
Seth, I do think Mattingly would be on any short list of potential managers although I am not sure his style is really any different from Boone’s. He strikes me as being a player’s manager also. I do think Rice would do well working on his 1st base skills in Tampa during the winter. The Yankees need him in the lineup every day. Problem is that the owners will close the camps starting December 1st so unlikely he can get his reps there. But it is true that the DH slot will need to be shared with Judge a bit next season and Rice needs to be serviceable at 1st base. He’s not terrible but work to be done.