Memo to Hal Steinbrenner: Time to take ownership and fix Yankees' mess
New York Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner walks in ahead of Aaron Judge at his re-signing press conference at Yankee Stadium, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022, in Bronx. Credit: Corey Sipkin
Hal Steinbrenner is an obvious target for the Yankees’ epic failure this season for a number of reasons, but two stand out.
1. He owns the team.
2. He’s not his dad.
Let’s forget about No. 2. I know it’s hard for some of you to move on, and that totally makes sense for a franchise that turned pinstriped tradition into a bankable commodity under the late George Steinbrenner.
But Hal Steinbrenner’s the guy in charge now, and up to this point, as far as this season is concerned, he fulfilled his primary duty as the Yankees’ owner. In Steinbrenner-like fashion, he spent $537.5 million on free agents this past offseason — more than anyone else in baseball — and green-lighted a $294 million payroll, second only to Steve Cohen’s $377 million for the Mets.
His reward? With the Yankees firmly entrenched in the AL East cellar at four games under .500 (60-64) and 9 1/2 games out of the third wild-card spot, Steinbrenner is the proud owner of the AL’s Worst Team Money Could Buy.
But writing checks is the easy part. Now it’s up to Steinbrenner to troubleshoot what’s wrong with his badly malfunctioning organization, to start the autopsy on what is shaping up to be the Yankees’ first losing season in 31 years.
Steinbrenner already is seeking answers. He is based in Tampa, but he’s no absentee landlord, and manager Aaron Boone saying Sunday that they huddled last week with general manager Brian Cashman suggests that process is well underway.
Steinbrenner doesn’t always make himself visible in the Bronx, but he’s plenty involved in the club’s daily operations, and it’s time for him to step up as far as the front office is concerned.
“We’re all frustrated with the position that we’re in,” Boone said Sunday regarding the tenor of those meetings with Steinbrenner. “But you try to be a little bit measured in what are the best steps to not only put ourselves in a good position in the short term but the long term as well.”
Cashman is in the first season of a four-year deal he signed last winter, and given his tight relationship/trust factor with Steinbrenner, he’s almost guaranteed to remain in his current role. But everything else needs to be on the table, because Cashman’s decision-making process, however it’s split between analytics and scouting input, needs a thorough re-examination and potential overhaul.
That goes for the medical/ training staff, too. The Yankees have flushed more than $70 million on IL stints this season — the highest sum in the sport — with 22 players missing a total of 1,614 days and counting (according to Spotrac). Judge’s toe was responsible for a sizable chunk of that, and some of the Yankees’ aging roster turning into senior citizens overnight hasn’t helped.
The status quo clearly isn’t working. Long term, the Yankees haven’t been to a World Series since winning it in 2009. Short term, they are among the worst offensive teams in the majors, with a .230 batting average that ranked 29th overall entering Monday. Say what you want about that particular stat, but it’s no coincidence that Atlanta, clearly baseball’s best team, also is the top hitting club at .274.
Cashman made the unprecedented move of firing hitting coach Dillon Lawson at the All-Star break. He’d never axed someone in-season during his 25-year tenure as GM, and based on the club’s continued futility under Lawson’s replacement, Boone buddy Sean Casey, that evidently wasn’t the root of the problem.
But Lawson should only be the start if Steinbrenner is serious about clearing the stench from this season by next year’s Opening Day. With Cashman staying on as anticipated, it’s time for some new voices around him. Bringing in accomplished former GMs Omar Minaya and Brian Sabean last winter were steps in the right direction, but only if their expertise is being taken into account.
This isn’t a simple fix for the Yankees, either. No amount of cash seems capable of quickly patching what my Newsday colleague Erik Boland described recently as the team’s “organizational rot.”
Steinbrenner can’t just do what Cohen did for the Mets’ route — eat big contracts at the deadline for elite prospects — because the Yankees’ money is sunk into broken players. What teams would want Giancarlo Stanton (due another $108M through 2027) or DJ LeMahieu ($45M through 2026), never mind give up a valuable prospect for them. And forget about dangling Gerrit Cole. Steinbrenner isn’t trading one of the best and most durable starting pitchers to signal a rebuild.
Still, MLB Pipeline’s midseason rankings put the Yankees’ farm system at No. 21, down from 13th at the start of the year, with three prospects in the top 100. They’re all outfielders, with Spencer Jones the highest at No. 78, followed by Jasson Dominguez (79) and Everson Pereira (80).
Maybe the Yankees can get that elusive leftfielder they’ve been needing forever out of that bunch someday. Or in Pereira’s case, this week, as he’s reportedly being called up for Tuesday’s series opener against the Nationals. But there’s nothing the Yankees can do to salvage this lost season, other than Steinbrenner using it as a springboard to meaningful change for the future. He can’t squander that opportunity, and he owes it to the Steinbrenner legacy — along with the outraged fans — to get this right.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
