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

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.

Return Of Aaron Judge Spells The End Of Another Brother As Yankees Release Willie Calhoun

Return Of Aaron Judge Spells The End Of Another Brother As Yankees Release Willie Calhoun

When it comes to mainstream media, the spotlight and focus when it comes to a superstar’s injury is about the severity of the injury, the length of time on the injured list and the date of return. Since Aaron Judge tore his ligament in his toe, the New York Yankees waited patiently for his return, which was at the Baltimore Orioles last Friday.

 

 

It didn’t take long for the reigning MLBbro MVP to make a major impact and bring hope for the Yankees postseason chances. In Judge’s second game back, he went 3-5 with two RBI and a 442-foot blast into the cheap seats.

 

 

However, the most overlooked part of stories like this is the player who gets released so all these great things can happen. In this case, in order for Aaron Judge to return, another MLBbro was designated for assignment. In English, that means let go.

The Yankees released OF/DH Willie Calhoun last Friday. The team had brought Calhoun back to the roster after being on the 10-Day Injured List with a left quad strain.

 

 

During his short stint with the Yankees, this bro had a batting average of .239 with five homers and 16 RBI in 44 games. In Calhoun’s career, which includes time with the Yankees, San Francisco Giants (2022) and the Texas Rangers (2017-22), he has a career batting average of .240 with 37 round-trippers and 120 RBI in 301 games.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone had high praise for Calhoun, but as it turned out, he got caught up in the numbers game.

“[Calhoun] did a nice job with us,” manager Aaron Boone said before the Yankees took on the Orioles Friday night. “Really enjoy the person, too. He was a guy that was a lot of fun to be around, while also taking advantage of some opportunities and doing a really nice job with us. So those are the hard decisions that sometimes have to come up in the course of the season.”

 

What’s next for our MLBbro Willie Calhoun?
If MLBbro.com is being honest, Willie Calhoun’s career in baseball is cloudy at best and just unknown at worst.

 

The Bright Side:
If Calhoun can stay healthy, there is potential for him to be a platoon option and occasional offensive punch coming off the bench as a pinch-hitter.

Assuming that he makes it through waivers without any takers, Calhoun can go the free agent route (Think Aaron Hicks’ situation) and possibly get signed to a team directly. If a contender doesn’t make a splash at the trade deadline, a cheap low-risk option could be ideal for our MLBbro for an audition.

At 28, Calhoun is still young. Maybe a change of scenery with more opportunities (As if Willie Calhoun was going to start over Aaron Judge or Giancarlo Stanton!) can save his career.

 

The Dark Side:
If Willie Calhoun wants to keep his Major League Baseball career going, he’s going to have to find a way to stay healthy. Injuries are close to derailing his career. Remember he was just coming off the 10-day IL when he was DFA’d.

His career high for games played in a season is only 83 with the Texas Rangers back in 2019.

The message is clear here. If a team does give Calhoun a chance, it might be his last if he brings the injury bug with him. His resume is dominated by his injury history and it may scare teams that are thinking about signing or trading for him.

 

Retroactive as of Friday, the New York Yankees have seven days to either trade Willie Calhoun or place him on waivers. Let’s see how this plays out next week.

For Aaron Hicks, No More Bronx Baseball

For Aaron Hicks, No More Bronx Baseball

The Yankees cut outfielder and MLBbro, Aaron Hicks, on Saturday just before their game in Cincinnati. He was in the fourth year of a seven-year, $70 million contract, so he is still owed around $27.6 million.

With Aaron Hicks Struggling…Could He Be the Next MLBbro Released?

 

Money is no object for a team like the Yankees, so that $27 million won’t even be thought about up in The Bronx, but Aaron Hicks will be glad he’s getting it while he’s figuring out where to go next.

“It is what it is,” he told the New York Post. “It’s part of the business side of it. Just got to move on to the next chapter. … This is a very good baseball team. It kind of seemed like it wasn’t working out for me.”

The 33 year-old was designated for assignment (DFA) to make room for outfielder Greg Allen who they picked up in a trade with Boston on Friday. This will be Allen’s second stint with the Bombers as he played in 15 games back in 2021.

As for Hicks, he wasn’t having a great 2023, batting .188 with a homer and five RBIs in 28 games this season. In fairness, his entire tenure wasn’t that great. The Yankees signed him in 2019; he got injured that season, needed Tommy John surgery and hasn’t been the same since. He came back to a pandemic-shortened season and then suffered a different season-ending injury the following year. For his career, he batted .236 before the surgery and .212 after.

“Difficult decision, one we felt we had to make,” manager Aaron Boone said about cutting Hicks.

Having come over from the Twins in a 2016 trade, Hicks had been the longest-tenured position player on the team.

Top Four Destination Where New York Yankees MLBbro Aaron Hicks Can Revive His Career | Take A Step Back To Move Forward

 

“Five-plus years from my standpoint with someone,” Boone lamented. Obviously, he predates me. It’s family. You go through everything with these guys. Obviously, with Aaron, he’s had some ups and downs. He had some good seasons for us. Some playoff moments for us. The last few years, he’s had some struggles, some injuries. Not an easy conversation.”

As the OG of MLB managers and an ambassador to the game of baseball, Astros Dusty Baker took time to meet up with Yankees manager Aaron Boone after clinching his third trip to the World Series. (Photo: @chelsea_james)