How To Fix The Yankees

Zach explains how to fix the Yankees short and long term

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
The New York Yankees, who ifthis show was yesterday, I would be
talking about being in last place intheir division, tied for last. But
what separates that discussion from yesterday thetoday is they get a six three win
over the Colorado Rockies and now they'rea game up on the Boston Red Sox.

(00:22):
Yes, Fox Sports five point nineFM is home for the Boston Red
Sox, but they are now agame up on the Red Sox for last
place. But if you're a Yankeesfan, you're not too happy about that.
And one of the things that Ifound amusing, and this was something

(00:42):
that I came across last month,right around the twenty first I believe it
was of June Steinbrenner. How Steinbrennerwas doing his monthly radio show with Michael
kay In a discussed about the Yankeesfans anger and there was a couple of

(01:07):
things that I took away from thatis that a lot of the discussion around
the Yankees failure or success this yearhas revolved around Aaron Judge in being on
the il. The Yankees are thirtyand nineteen with Aaron Judge in the lineup,

(01:29):
in twenty and twenty four with AaronJudge out of the lineup. Now,
you know he spent a lot oftime on the IL. He did
take batting practice the other day.There is still no time frame for Aaron
Judge to come back. But thisseason, you take a look at the
standings and they're nine games back ofthe Rays, seven games back of the

(01:55):
Orioles. They're two behind the BlueJays in a game up on the red
side in their division. Now,they don't have the luxury of playing in
the American League Central where the MinnesotaTwins are leading the division being a game
above five hundred. But either way, even if they were leading the division

(02:19):
at a game over five hundred,Yankee fans are not going to be happy
with that kind of showing. Soone of the things that I took away
from that was I don't understand whyYankees fans are so upset with us being
at the time they were third inthe standings. With the way that everything

(02:40):
is played out, in the amountof players that we've had on the IL
and the importance of the players thatwe've had on IL, I think we're
right where we need to be andthis is still a playoff team. We
will turn it around. We're workinghardest to turn it around, which is
fine and dandy, But then theybring on they fire their heading coach,
they bring on a new hitting coach, Sean Casey, And one of the

(03:04):
first things that Sean Casey really saidcoming on as the new hitting coach for
the New York Yankees, is Iunderstand this is New York and this isn't
just the New York media, thisis Yankee fans. Any season that you
do not win a World Series isconsidered a failure when it comes to a

(03:30):
Yankee. When it comes to beinga Yankee fan, if you do not
win a World Series, it's afailure. Now, I can tell you,
in my honest opinion that I don'tthink it's a failure of a season
if you don't win the World Series. But I do believe that the Yankees

(03:50):
are stuck in this no man's worldthat no one wants to be in.
They have talent, the talent's underproducing. They're not able to win without Aaron
Judge on the field, and itfeels like their manager, his voice is
falling on deaf ears. Now,I like Aaron Boone as a person.

(04:15):
I do think he's a player's coach, players, manager, but I feel
like there needs to be more changethat Steinbrenner is not going to make,
and he's hurt at all. Hegoes, I am not my father.
I understand there's rumblings saying that I'mnot my father. One of the other

(04:36):
things that he said while doing hisradio interview with Michael Kay was one way
that I am like my father isthat I don't like losing. I want
to win and I want to bein a postseason. But then he followed
that up by saying, I trulybelieve that as long as you make the
playoffs, anything can happen. Itdoesn't matter if you win your division or

(04:59):
make it has a wildcard. That'swhat separates Hall and George. George wants
a winner throughout the regular season.Throughout the postseason, he wants a winner.
The Yankees aren't going to plummet.They're not going to be bad like

(05:20):
the Orioles for a few years,or the Cubs for a few years,
or the Rais or this team,any team that you can think that has
had their upbringing through tanking for afew years, like the Cubs winning a
World Series after being so miserably badfor a few years, Like how good

(05:43):
the Orioles are right now after beingbad for quite a few years and getting
those high draft picks. But here'sthe thing. The Yankees have had some
good picks and some good trades overthe years. They've had some good young
players. For me on the outsidelooking in, One, there doesn't look

(06:03):
like there's any accountability. Two,it looks like the players are running the
show. And you know what theysay, when you let prisoners run the
asylum, you get what you get. And it looks like the Yankees players

(06:26):
are running the show. There isno day to day managing, There is
no day to day coaching. Now, you expect these grown men to be
able to handle their business because thisis their job. But at the same
time, there's a reason you havea pitching coach and a hitting coach and
a manager. They're supposed to beable to help tweak things day in day

(06:47):
out. Why a guy like AustinRomine was batting it up and then all
of a sudden he's not, Youknow, like ikf who came out hot
and then all of a sudden hecooled off a little bit and there was
just a little hitch in his swing. You get to coach him up on

(07:08):
that, or maybe there's an issuewith the overall philosophy. Now, I'm
not going to take credit for thisbecause I'm not a big prospect guy when
it comes to baseball, because there'sjust too many names to try to learn,
so many different moving parts inside ofan organization, single A, double

(07:28):
A, triple A. It's hardto get a feel for all these guys.
So I'm not going to take thisas my own. But I was
speaking to somebody off air who isa hitting coach for youth teens and unders
nineteen eighteen, seventeen sixteen that said, I really liked the way that the

(07:51):
twenty twenty three MLB draft went becausea lot of the kids that were drafted
are contact hitters. And I thinkthat's one thing that has woefully pained the
Yankees and Yankees fans is you takea look at what they've done, even

(08:13):
during their hot seasons where they've wona hundred games, ninety plus games,
they were carried by the long ball. Then they get off to the postseason,
where rotations get shortened, bullpens getshortened, and you're not facing the
fourth or fifth man in the rotation. You're facing the ace for the second

(08:37):
time in a series, you're facingto the number two guy, the number
three guy. You're no longer gettingthat fourth or fifth end of the rotation
type of picture every four or fivegames. The Yankees have struggled to hit

(08:58):
in the postseason, but we're noteven taught about the postseason right now.
Although if you look at the wildcardstandings, they are only a game out
of the second wildcard currently held ortwo games by the Toronto Blue Jays,
so it's not like the season hasbeen all for nothing. But when hal

(09:22):
Steinbrenner said, I believe it doesn'tmatter if you win a division or you
get in as a wildcard. Aslong as you're a playoff team, you
have a chance. And for me, I need to make the playoffs every
year. Okay, if I'm talkingto George, I need to win the
World Series every year. That wasthe difference. I think there's an change

(09:48):
in philosophy that needs to happen,a change in management that needs to happen,
but more importantly, a change ingeneral managers. Not saying that Brian
Cashman hasn't made some good moves,but it's not paying off this year.

(10:09):
Josh Donaldson is not paying off DJLemayhew signing to the big contract. It's
not paying off. You may hateme for saying this, but through one
season paying Aaron Judge, all thatmoney has not paid off yet. Now
here's the thing I will say.When Aaron Judge is healthy, this is

(10:33):
a team that's winning at like asix twenty win percentage, sixty two of
their games they're winning roughly without AaronJudge. They're four games under five hundred.
So I understand the value that AaronJudge brings to the team, but
my team cannot be this drastically badwithout Aaron Judge. And one of the

(11:00):
ways to change philosophy is to bringon contact hitters. So even without Aaron
Judge, you can man manufactured run. But with Aaron Judge in the lineup,
you get guys that are getting onbase. You get guys that are

(11:24):
getting on in front of Aaron Judge, making that long ball nineteen on a
season mean more when there's men onbase. I was watching the other day
Moneyball. Now Moneyball showed the fillingof gaps, but it didn't tell you

(11:50):
the filling of gaps. You hadto be a baseball fan to know that.
Yeah, they had Mark Molder andBarry Zito and Eric Chavez and this
guy and that guy. We allknew that they had MVP caliber players like
Mcgueltajada and cy young players. Butwhat Moneyball showed was the ability to fill

(12:15):
the gaps getting guys where I don'tcare if you get a hit or you
get walked, as long as youget on base. We care more about
on base percentage than your slugging percentageor your overall average. Now I don't

(12:39):
agree with everything that money Ball pushedforward, but if you have the right
pieces in place, the big timeplayers that make changes, like Aaron Judge,
who with on the field you're thirtyand nineteen, if you can fill
the voids around the field yield andget those contact hitters, it makes having

(13:05):
Aaron Judge more of an MVP candidateand have more of a positive influence on
this team. But until that philosophychanges. Until that, I cannot buy
championships, but I try to anyways, mentality changes. Until that long ball
chicks digged a long ball, likeeach Row says, changes, that philosophy

(13:31):
changes, this Yankees team is goingto be stuck going as far as their
home run hitters bring them now.I'm not going to say they're stuck in
mediocracy because they're seasons where they winninety plus games. But when you're in
the Al East, where you havethe Rays that are consistently a very good
team, when you have the Oriolesthat are building something for the future,

(13:56):
when you have the Jays that lookto see like they might finally put it
together and become a consistent playoff team, being good isn't good enough. And
if you're a Yankees fan, beinggood has never been good enough. So
while I understand what how was tryingto say, where hey, we've been

(14:20):
a consistent playoff team, and Ibelieve once we get into playoffs anything can
happen. I understand that, Butthat's not what a Yankees fan is trying
to hear. Are we supposed tohold our breath, putting all our hopes
that Aaron Judge will come back fromthis foot injury and help put us over

(14:43):
the top. Or maybe we needto do some self reflection and realize that,
yeah, making the postseason every yearis a good thing, but making
it to the World Series or theAlds or the Alcs, that's even better.
I'm not content with being a postseasoncontender. I'm content with being a

(15:07):
World Series contender. What are thethings I need to do to change to
get there? I think one ofit is cleaning house. Now, if
you have a owner that's willing tospend, flipping house could be easier said
than done. One way, Ithink that they can take a look at

(15:31):
this and try to make an improvementfor this year and then self reflect after
this year is beyond the lookout for. Cody Bellinger signed a one year deal
with the Cubs, a left handedbat, has really picked it up over

(15:52):
the last couple of weeks as ahitter. The Yankees need a left handed
bat in the lineup. They needa consistent producer in the lineup on a
one year deal which is manageable moneywise, which it doesn't matter the Yankees anyways,
but that would be a great fitto get consistent play on the offensive

(16:15):
side of the ball, and hecan play all three spots in the outfield,
which will really help fill void withall those injuries that you deal with.
So that is a name to lookout for on a trade deadline,
which is just approaching right around thecorner. But afterwards after the season,

(16:36):
I think there needs to be someheavily reflecting And now, obviously they start
to feel like something's going on becausefor the first time in their career they
fired somebody mid season that happened tobe the hitting coach and bring in Sean
Casey. But maybe, just maybethey're not as ignorant as we are led
to belief watching the day to dayoperation where Domingo Herman throws seven great innings

(17:03):
and gives up one earned run.But I'm gonna pull him out because I
want him to go out on ahigh note. No, I want to
win the game. I want towin the game. I want to go
out on a high note. Iwant to win the game. I want
to go into the All Star Breakon a high note.