Two MLBbro Icons That Can Turn the New York Yankees Around (Not Named Aaron Judge!)

Not many baseball fans outside of the Boston Red Sox faithful (They are wired to think this way!) saw the New York Yankees possibly struggling to their worst record in this century.

 

To the Yankees faithful, conversations center around having enough talent to start a winning streak to nab a wild card spot to injuries all season, particularly reigning MLBbro MVP Aaron Judge.  

 

 

While those are theories and hot takes, the reality surrounding the New York Yankees is that they are getting closer to missing the playoffs for the first time since the 2016 season with each passing day. An eight-game losing streak and nine losses in 10 games is not helping matters either.

 

Before the eventual series sweep against the Red Sox, Yankees manager Aaron Boone discussed a meeting that he was a part of with general manager Brian Cashman and team owner Hal Steinbrenner about the current status of the team and the future. 

 

 

With discussions of bringing up young prospects from the minors, the Yankees might be waving the white flag, which is against the Yankees fanbase’s religion based on the franchise’s 27 World Series championships.

 

Based on how things are going for this franchise and their stellar reputation for winning, when September comes, the conversation will turn to who’s to blame for this abysmal season.

 

Right now, three names will be caught in the crossfire…

 

• Hal Steinbrenner: Son of the late George Steinbrenner and current owner of the New York Yankees.

 

Can’t fire the owner as they say. The reason he is on this list is due to a statement he had in June…

 

 

With one of the highest payrolls in baseball with underwhelming results Aaron Judge or not, Steinbrenner’s statement will be replayed like a reality show the second the Yankees are officially eliminated from the playoffs. At least until there are follow up questions. 

 

• Brian Cashman: General manager of the New York Yankees since the 1998 season. His resume contains six American League pennants and four World Series Championships.

 

No one can paint a picture of Cashman’s future better than The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal:

 

“Now Brian Cashman’s greatest quality as general manager, or one of his greatest qualities, would be I would say, that he is a survivor,” Ken Rosenthal said on his podcast called Fair Territory. “He will survive this. The question is what does he do to make things better? How does he turn this around? And if I’m Hal Steinbrenner, I’m saying to Brian Cashman, ‘Okay, you’re going to stay this is one bad year.’ One losing year at least, I know there have been other disappointing years recently, but ‘Brian you’ve got to tell me now, how are things going to change, because things have to change.’”

 

Like his boss, Cashman has to stand by a statement that will haunt him in a few weeks. After doing very little at the trade deadline, he stated that the team was “In it to win it”. Since August 1, the Yankees went 5-13.   

 

• Aaron Boone: Yankees manager since 2018. Led the team to over 100 wins in his first two seasons. No World Series appearances.

 

The Yankees manager probably will be gone particularly if Cashman survives. His management style has put him on the hot seat due to decisions with the bullpen, lineups, in-game adjustments (Basically everything the job entails!) while the losses pile up. 

 

How can the MLBbros turn this around and more importantly…who will do it?

 

Replace Aaron Boone with Willie Randolph:

 

MLBbro.com had a list of MLBbro contenders for managerial jobs late last season and Willie Randolph was on the list. His managerial experience with the New York Mets makes him perfect for this situation.

 

• He led the Mets to a NL East Division title before falling in a seven-game battle to the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS in 2005.

• Willie Randolph is the first manager in MLB history to improve his team’s record by at least 12 games in his first two seasons with the team.

• He’s a Yankees great so he is equipped to handle the pressure of turning this team around while understanding the culture of the fanbase to the front office. Something that is going to be important over the next few seasons as the team sheds bad contracts.

 

The Yankees are going to have to start developing young talent and for that to happen, they need a steady hand at manager to do so. Randolph is that guy.

 

Fire Brian Cashman and replace him with Derek Jeter (If he says no…go back and beg!): 

 

They called the man “The Captain” …

 

 

Why Not Jeter? 

The New York Yankees need a new voice and leadership and no one really on the planet can take over the front office and bring trust of the fanbase back quicker than Derek Jeter.

As the part owner and front office executive of the Miami Marlins, he was one of the franchise’s only bright spots. Now that he left for philosophical reasons (Jeter wanting to win and the team wanting to save money!), going to a team that has a blank checkbook and similar goals to building a team would be perfect for all parties involved.     

 

Meanwhile the Yankees are mired in their worst losing streak since 1995. They could have their first losing season since 1992 all while having the second highest payroll in baseball. Time will tell if Cashman and Boone are released and if these qualified MLBbro icons get a chance.