Perspectives: 6 and 17

by Paul Semendinger

July 10, 2024

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NOTE - WIX is giving us some trouble with posting comments. UGGG. (Maybe someone from the Yankees is working there too.) PLEASE be patient. We are working on this.

If need be, I'll run this article again when the comments problem is fixed.

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Over their last 23 games, the Yankees are 6 and 17.

6 wins. 17 loses.

That's a .260 winning percentage. The Yankees are, basically, losing three out of every four games. If the Yankees played at this level for an entire season, they would win all of 42 games. The 1962 Mets won 40 games. That's how badly the Yankees are playing.

This is bad. It's terrible. And the Yankees have no answers. None. Zero. All we get is, "It's right there in front of us." (As if that means... anything.)

How does an organization, one that has had numerous seasons like this, where they stumble and fall terribly, not do anything?

The general manager still has his job. The manager still has his job.

I hear comments that if the Yankees fire Aaron Boone, that the players might be upset and the clubhouse might turn sour. Imagine that. Imagine! A sour clubhouse for a team playing like the 1962 Mets? No, we don't want that. No way.

Can the Yankees play any worse? Maybe the Yankees need to have a clubhouse that isn't so comfortable. Maybe the players need a push. Or more.

Again, this isn't a one-season thing. This is a pattern. After last season's debacle, the fans were told that the team cares about winning. We were told that there would be in-depth organizational meetings and that changes would be made.

Aaron Boone told us that one of the big keys to success was that the Yankees should (and presumably would) bunt more. The idea was ridiculous on its face at the time. In practice, the Yankees don't bunt more. It was all baloney. That's what the Yankees feed their fans. Baloney.

Also, no one lost their jobs.

When the owner is silent and when no changes are made, that sends a message. The message is clear, "As a franchise, we're content with the staus quo."

The Yankees don't hustle. They don't play good fundamental baseball. They are boring to watch.

And yet, year-after-year, there is no accountability. Tonight Aaron Boone will be in the dugout, blowing bubbles, spitting seeds, and looking serious. They'll show him on TV barking at the umpire during the game.

And people will say, "He's a good manager, he has his players' backs."

And the Yankees will lose more often then they win.

Maybe after this season Boone will say, "The sacrifice fly is a skill we're looking to develop."

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During the game last night they announced that Giancarlo Stanton and Jasson Dominguez were behind schedule in their quest to return to the team from their injuries.

Is that any surprise?

At all?

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Some fans are holding out hope that Scott Effros will return to the Yankees soon to solidify the bullpen.

Scott Effros.

This is what fans are reduced to hoping for. "Oh Baby, when Effros returns..."

Scott Effros hasn't pitched a game in the Major Leagues since 2022.

He might be good. He might be very good, but it's a stretch for an organization and its fansbase to look at a pitcher, one with a very short track record (he's pitched one full big league season), and a guy who has missed a season and a half, and see that guy as the savior.

Oh, yeah. There's also Lou Trivino.

He also hasn't pitched since 2022.

This is where the Yankees are.

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And there is no help on the horizon. Here are the Top Prospects in the Yankees system:

• Jasson Dominguez - out with a long-term injury

• Spencer Jones - still in Double-A. Batting .241. He has struck out 119 times in 70 games

• Chase Hampton -has pitched all of 3.1 innings this year

• Roderick Arias - in Single-A and batting .210

• Everson Piereira - out for the season

• George Lombard, Jr. - in Single-A and batting .234

• Will Warren - 6.64 ERA in Triple- A

• Henry Lalaine - has pitched 1 game in the Rookie League...

I could go on, but I can't. It's too depressing.

Those are the Top Prospects in the system.

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Here are the Longest stretches in Yankees' history without a World Series appearance:

• 1903-1920 = 18 seasons

• 1965-1975 = 11 seasons

• 1982-1994 = 13 seasons

• 2010- Present = 15 seasons

I believe it was in 2006 when Brian Cashman demanded total control of the organization. Well, he supposedly has it.

Where are the results?

And where is the accountability?

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I also hear, a lot., that this is just a bad stretch the Yankees are in. A bad stretch? Please explain how the Yankees, without major changes, will improve this season.

No, this isn't a bad stretch, this is the championship window slamming shut.

It's over, my friends. It's over.

We were told to be patient. So many fans were so excited about so many would-be prospects. We were told the good days are coming.

They never came.

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Don Mattingly was often seen as the greatest homegrown Yankee to never be on a World Chmapionship team.

Aaron Judge will eclipse Mattingly in that.

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Mr. Steinbrenner has complained, often, about the Yankees payroll. "We shouldn't have to have a 300 million dollar payroll to win."

He has a point, but then there is reality.

The Yankees have a $300 million payroll - and they aren't winning.

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Some fans say, "The rules of baseball have been set up to prevent the Yankees from winning."

Yeah, yeah.

I ask, as a follow-up... how do the Dodgers do it?

The two most valuable teams in the game are the Yankees and the Dodgers. Whatever rules are in place to hurt the Yankees, should also hurt the Dodgers.

But, since 2013, the Dodgers have finished in first place every single year, but one (2021, when they won 106 games and finished in second place, one game out). In that time, the Dodgers have been to three World Series. They won one.

In comparison, since 2013, the Yankees have finished in first place two times. They have been to no World Series.

Do the Dodgers spend better? Do they have a smarter owner? Is their team more committed to winning? Do they have a better GM? Is their manager better?

How can the Dodgers operate within the rules of baseball and consistenly win?

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Also, always unexplained for the people who claim baseball is designed to hurt the Yankees...

Every single season, the Yankees are one of the sport's most popular attractions. The Yankees draw among the biggest crowds at home and on the road. They are the sport's most recognizable team and brand.

Why would a sport, in business to make money, develop a scheme to prevent the most storied franchise, and one of the most popular... the team that would draw the biggest TV ratings and the biggest crowds to the World Series (and make everyone the most money) not want that team in the World Series?

Why would the sport conspire against that team?

Yes, baseball has made rules to try to be more balanced and prevent dynasties.

But those rules don't prevent the Yankees from winning. They simply do not. At all. The Dodgers prove that.

The Dodgers win year-after-year. The Yankees do not.

The Yankees' lack of success is not a problem created my Major League Baseball. It's a problem created by the Yankees.

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Some people say, "If the Yankees go all-in at the trade deadline, they might go years after without a championship ."

Haven't they been going for years without a championship already?

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Looking at the 2025 Yankees right now, is there any reason to believe that that team will be better than this year's team?

If so, I don't see it. At all.

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It's time for a change. It's time for Hal Steinbrenner to say, "This isn't good enough."

That change can be him spending whatever else it takes to go all-in, not partially in, as been the plan for so long.

Or that change can be a change in personnel.

But something needs to be done.

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NOTE - WIX is giving us some trouble with posting comments. UGGG. (Maybe someone from the Yankees is working there too.) PLEASE be patient. We are working on this.