Perspectives: The End

by Paul Semendinger

October 31, 2024

***

Last night's Yankees game was one that confirmed so much of what has been said on these pages for so long by so many:

• The Yankees were a talented team

• The Yankees were not a great team

• The Yankees were better than other more mediocre teams

• The Yankees often beat themselves

• The Yankees are not fundamentally sound

• Aaron Boone is not a big game manager

• The Yankees roster was not deep - after Juan Soto and Aaron Judge it was not a strong team

• The Yankees were not a World Series winning team

Those statements, and more, are all true. 100%.

The question that follows is what the Yankees will do about each of those statements. The concern, and this goes right to the top, directly to Hal Steinbrenner, but it also applies to Brian Cashman, is that all of those statements have been true of the Yankees for the last seven years. Those statements define the Aaron Boone Era. Except for the fact that the Yankees reached the World Series in 2024, not mcuh has changed, at all, regarding any of those concerns since 2017.

Will the Yankees now continue down a path that has not won them a championship in fifteen years? Or will they, finally, change things?

One can argue, and many will, that Aaron Boone did a great job. They'll say that he is a World Series manager. And he was.

Many will argue that Brian Cashman built a World Series team. And he did.

And some will note that Hal Steinbrenner spent enough to have his team win a World Series. And that, primarily, is also true.

If fans define the goal of the team as winning games, finishing in first place sometimes, winning some playoff series, and reaching an occasional World Series, then the Yankees of the Aaron Boone Era have been successful. If that definition is what a fan subscribes to, the Yankees have actually been very very successful. All of those things are absolutely true about the Boone Era.

If other fans define success for the Yankees as winning World Championships, this era has been a complete and absolute failure.

And I'm sure there are also fans that fall somewhere in the middle of those two descriptions.

Was 2024 a success? Each fan will answer tht question in his or her own way.

For me, the bottom line has always been winning World Championships. The better team in the 2024 World Series was the Dodgers. The Dodgers showcased that very clearly throughout the series and especially last night.

The Dodgers build their teams to win World Series. The Yankees build their teams to be good, hopefully very good. The Yankees build teams that they hope will reach the World Series. The Dodgers build teams that should win the World Series. That's just a fact. The Dodgers build their teams to dominate. The Yankees cut corners. The Dodgers go for it. The Yankees try.

The Dodgers operate in the ways the Yankees used to. The Yankees should start to follow the Dodgers' lead.

When the Dodgers' stars don't perform, they have a deep roster of solid players who can pick up the slack. When the Yankees' stars fail, they do not have anyone who can pick up the slack. This fundamental difference between the teams was on full display throughout the World Series.

The debate and disussion to come will be asking whether that is a Hal Steinbrenner problem (he refuses to spend the money) or a Brian Cashman problem (he spends foolishly and doesn't create a championship roster). Or is it a preparation problem - one that falls of the Yankees manager Aaron Boone and his coaches? Is it a system failure because the Yankees do not produce enough good talent through their minor leagues? Could it be all of the above?

I was ready last night to write that Aaron Boone surprised me by getting his team able to bounce back and wins Games 4 and 5. I was about to write that he has earned the right to return as Yankees manager no matter the outcome of Game Six and hopefully Game Seven. But then, all of the problems that have defined Aaron Boone's tenure showed themselves in very clear unmistakeable fashion. The team was unprepared. The team made huge mistakes. The team got overwhelmed by the big moment. And Aaron Boone had no answers. None. He just stared. He was overmatched, even when the Yankees still had the lead. He had no answers. He had no plan. He did not know or was never told what to do when two of his most sure-handed players make errors and his ace pitcher fails to cover first base. The manager had no ideas. He had no solutions. In that inning, Aaron Boone demonstrated clearly, that he was out of his element. He had no solutions, no responses, no answers. He froze. It was clear that it wasn't "right there in front of them" and when that is the only thing a leader can go to, a bunch of words that don't really mean anything, no solutions will be found. And none were.

Aaron Boone has had seven years to bring the Yankees a World Series trophy, He hasn't. It seems clear to me that it is time for the Yankees to employ a different approach.

The long cold lonely winter has arrived for all of baseball. We will have plenty of time here to discuss all of this and so much more.