Finalization of 2025 Yankees’ Coaching Staff Holds One Glaring Reality

Finalization of 2025 Yankees’ Coaching Staff Holds One Glaring Reality

By Derek McAdam

January 22, 2025

***

The New York Yankees on Tuesday announced its finalized coaching staff for the 2025 season. Aaron Boone will be back for another season in the Bronx, and it seems as if the majority of his staff are familiar faces from last season. Matt Blake will return as pitching coach, Brad Ausmus as bench coach, and James Rowson as the hitting coach, with several other coaches returning to their roles.

With the Yankees making it to their first World Series in 15 years, it would make sense for a majority of the staff to remain the same. Of course, there is always the possibility of other teams poaching the Yankees’ coaches for promotions, but this was not the case this off-season.

While the Yankees did make it to the World Series and went five games with the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York looked like a team that had absolutely zero fundamentals. The Dodgers outplayed the Yankees in almost every possible category, and they looked like a team that did their homework and took advantage of some major issues the Yankees had.

Over the past few seasons, the Yankees have had major problems running the bases. And it isn’t just the fact that they are a slow team that is station-to-station. It’s the concept of a team that just doesn’t comprehend the “basic” plays. For example, a baserunner should not run to third base if a ball is hit to the shortstop with less than two outs, unless there is a runner on first. This is a Baseball 101 concept that even fans like myself, who have never played baseball before, understand.

How many times were baserunners getting into unnecessary rundowns because they weren’t paying attention to where the ball was going? My eyes rolled many times this past season because of how often this would occur.

And it doesn’t just end at base-running fundamentals. The Yankees had all sorts of issues when it came to situational hitting, which seems to be a dying art form throughout the league. Instead of bunting two baserunners over with no outs, the Yankees would rather let the batter swing and it would usually result in a strikeout or double play.

As I mentioned, this style of baseball is becoming less frequent throughout the league, so I can’t exactly fault the Yankees for doing this too much. However, it angers me to see that the Yankees keep thinking that one swing of the bat is going to change everything. They are not wrong by any means, but that does not always have to be the plan of attack. Small-ball can work every now and then, and the Yankees are more entertaining to watch when they implement bunts and stolen bases.

The Yankees have also struggled when it comes to their defense, and I don’t exactly mean just looking at the number of errors the team committed. It seemed at times that the Yankees were out of position for some of the opposing teams’ batters, which resulted in many hits that would sometimes lead to runs.

Not only that, but Boone would sometimes give me the impression that the team was not working on its defense before games during the season. It would seem obvious if that were the case, because the team continued to make the same mistakes throughout the season. And I won’t just single out any one player, because that would be unfair. There were multiple players that continued to make the same mistakes time and time again.

To make things even worse for Boone, he continued to defend the Yankees' (lack of) fundamentals after the World Series concluded. Understandably, he was defending the team following several comments made by Dodger players regarding the Yankees. However, what these players were saying was absolutely true.

Joe Kelly said the Yankees were the “eighth or ninth-best” team in the playoffs. It may have been a but of an exaggeration, but I cannot necessarily say that he is entirely wrong. Gleyber Torres, Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton were the fuel that the Yankee offense needed to propel through the Kansas City Royals and Cleveland Guardians. But once they matched up with a team that was better and deeper than them in many categories, it looked like a complete mismatch for the Yankees.

With this Yankee coaching staff returning, I am concerned that fans are going to see the same problems reoccurring this year and perhaps beyond. Maybe because the Yankees got rid of two of its biggest defensive liabilities, we could see some improved defense. Maybe they will become a bit faster on the bases due to Cody Bellinger’s arrival.

However, keeping Travis Chapman and Luis Rojas as the first and third base coaches, respectively, is not a good sign for the team. I hope I am wrong, but this team has a lot to prove when it comes to improving its fundamentals.