The Hubris
I think one of the frustrating things regarding the Yankees’ front office for fans is their seemingly endless arrogance. I’m sure all fans feel that way somewhat regarding their favorite teams, but with the Yankees it’s really justified. Especially when the fans were, are, correct.
At the time of this writing the Bronx Bombers are back to .500 – 69/69, and are 7-3 in their last 10. They’ve gone on a better run of late after shaving off some chafe to open roster spots. Hicks, Donaldson, and even Bader, are gone. While the latter provided a spark in a dead line up he still wasn’t a difference maker and became expendable. This improvement, like stepping outside into some cleaner air from what had become a stale poolhall, is totally predictable.
Cashman has called the 2023 season a mitigating disaster, and he would be correct. The frustrating aspect for fans is that it didn’t need to be so. The front office’s hubris – from owner to general manager to the analytics department – is the reason for the disaster. There’s no nice way to put that. Money – a lot of money – filled the coffers of average to below average players, and were kept on the payroll even when it had become apparent their tenure wasn’t working out. Hicks received a seven-year deal, remember, after having already agreeing to a one-year contract the previous month. Seven years for an injury prone player that was already a liability. Who’s fault is that? Then there’s confusion among the front office as to why are the fans upset? They were upset because it was readily apparent the organization wasn’t spending $260M+ on building a championship team – they were spending it on previous owned vehicles that had a ton of mileage. The hubris comes into play in their thinking this season it’ll be different. It wasn’t. A driver can only go so far on used transportation, and then the wheels fall off. Which is exactly what happened, and you didn’t need to be Nostradamus with a cypher to figure out quatrains. You don’t put bad milk back in the refrigerator and be indignant and defiant to others insisting it’ll be better tomorrow.
The same goes for the Rizzo situation. I’m no physician but I saw the collision months ago at first. I’ve seen numerous collisions in all sports. The first thing every broadcaster, every fan, every coach immediately wonders in this era of modern sports is a concussion. However, it took weeks of Rizzo hitting soft ground balls to second (when he’d hit them at all), before he was taken out of the line-up. Even more incredible is a manager from his former team has to say, “Hey, there’s something wrong with Anthony.” You think? It makes people wonder if they employee team doctors at all? If they do there just might be a lawsuit coming down the line later.
All this, and Cashman says no one could have predicted this disastrous season. What are you talking about Brian? Everyone predicted this disastrous season because it was a reorganization of the same spare parts with no viable left-fielder. So while the departure of a few, and the energy of some youth that has sparked a 7 & 3 run is nice, it doesn’t mean the Yankees front office purge should be halted in any way. In fact, it says quite the opposite. It proves the front office, particularly the hubris, has been the problem all along, and if the organization is to move forward it needs to be expunged. It won’t be apart from some sacrificial offerings (I’m well aware), but it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t. If anything it should be expedited.This is a turning point for the baseball team – whether they know it or not.