Perspectives: When Is Enough, Enough?

by Paul Semendinger

July 25, 2024

***

There was a time when the Yankees were defined by greatness. Excellence. There was a time when the Yankees were seen as baseball's best team.

Those days are gone.

Those days are long gone and they won't be back any time soon.

***

There was a time when claiming the team's great accomplishment was a consecutive series of .500 or better seasons would have been preposterous. People would have universally said, "Who cares? For the Yankees, it's about championships."

No longer.

***

There was a time when the general manager and the manager had to answer for years of dismal play and failure.

***

In two consecutive games against the Mets, facing middling left-handed relief pitchers, Aaron Judge took a called strike three.

There was a time when the excuse, "He wasn't expecting to see a strike there," would have been laughable.

***

Over the years I have shown, in so many ways, that we are watching one of the least successful periods in Yankees history. People talk about how bad the 1980s were, or the 1960s, but this period, right now, without any championships rivals those periods.

***

In the past, when a Yankees player won an award such as an MVP or Cy Young, there were also usually championships around those accomplishments.

No longer.

***

After losing on Thursday night, in his press conference, Aaron Boone got angry as f that is supposed to make the fans believe... anything.

Boone also banged on a table last year. I don't recall the Yankees winning any trophies after that.

(By the way, why did it take this long for Boone to get mad about a team playing some of the worst baseball across the entire league?)

***

There was a time when "It's right in front of us" might have made sense.

No, I take that back.

It never made any sense.

***

There was a time when the owner of the Yankees, the man responsible for the team, would make a statement, any statement, about the club and how badly they've been playing. No longer.

We never hear from the owner. His silence, to some, is supposed to be so much better than the way his father acted.

Maybe it is.

His dad, though, wanted to win, and expected excellence and greatness.

I am not a fan of bullies.

I am also not a fan of weak owners who seem satisfied with the disaster that has been the Yankees in so many recent seasons.

***

When a team plays this poorly, year-after-year-after-year, and the general manager and the manager keep their jobs, the fans can only draw one logical conclusion - the owner is fine with the results.

If it were otherwise, the people in charge of this mess would lose their jobs.

***

For all those who believe that Giancarlo Stanton is going to be the difference maker when he returns to the lineup, I'd like to remind them that even with his great "bounce back" season in 2024, his OPS+ is the worst in his Yankees career outside of the disasters of 2022 and 2023. ***

We keep hearing that Jasson Dominguez is going to be the difference maker this year. He might be. But, please remember, he has played a grand total of eight Major League games. Eight. So many are saying that he is a proven big leaguer. He is not. At all.

Eight games proves nothing. Understand that.

There is a difference between hope and wishful thinking.

Oh, and Dominguez is still injured and not playing. There are only 58 regular season games left in 2024. If all goes as well as it can, how many games will Dominguez even play in?

***

When Brian Cashman signed Aaron Boone to be the manager of the Yankees, the team was one win away from the World Series.

We were told that Boone was the best man for the job. It's clear he wasn't. We knew that at the time.

Remember, Aaron Boone had never managed any club before - in any capacity. He didn't manage a big league club, a minor league club, a college club, a high school club, or a little league club. There is no proof that he ever even managed a game of Strat-o-Matic.

Worse, he had never served as a coach in any capacity. The man had zero leadership experience - and he was given the role as manager of the Yankees.

The fact that the Yankees have not reached a World Series in his tenure cannot be a surprise to anyone. At all.

How did it ever make any sense to give a guy who had no leadership experience, at all, the job as manager of the New York Yankees?

We were told to believe in the process, to trust the decision-makers. So many did.

But it turns out that those decision makers were wrong or dishonest. And yet, these are still the same people the fans have to trust will bring the Yankees a World Championship.

***

When he was hired, we were told that Aaron Boone has a long family history of understanding baseball. We were told that he learned (and would learn) from his father who was a manager. I pointed out, at the time, that Bob Boone, his father, never had a winning record as a manager. He never even reached .500. Sure the guy managed, but he never... won.

In regard to playing on winning teams...

Ray Boone had a 13-year MLB career. He was never on a World Series winning team.

Bob Boone had a 19-year MLB career. He was on one World Series winning team.

Bret Boone played for 14 years. He was never on a World Series winning team.

Aaron Boone played for 12 years. He also never played on a World Series winning team.

That's 58 years of baseball, with one championship. That doesn't exactly inspire confidence.

***

The trade deadline is five days away. What happens between now and then will tell the fans all they need to know about the Yankees and their desire to win.

If the Yankees go big, they'll be sending a message that they care about winning.

If they don't, and the manager and the general manager still have their jobs, after all of this disaster, it will be clear that the organization does not value winning championships - at all.

***

How many more seasons should the fans get their hopes up only to see them crushed by poor leadership and poor play?

When is enough...enough?

12:57 p.m. - Update. I saw this on Twitter and had to add it to this article: