Another World Series concluded, and for the 14th consecutive year, the New York Yankees were not the team hoisting the Commissioner’s Trophy.
Despite making the Championship Series five times since 2010, they have not gotten over that hump, making the 2010s the first decade the franchise did not make the series since the 1910s.
The lack of recent success has prompted the fanbase to call for Hal Steinbrenner to “act like his father” and fire general manager Brian Cashman.
Cashman’s latest bluff was on full display this past postseason. While the Yankees sat at home missing the playoffs for the first time since 2016 despite championship aspirations, Corey Seager shined en route to winning his second World Series MVP.
In 2021, the Yankees went into the offseason in dire need of a shortstop. The class included Marcus Semien, Corey Seager, Carlos Correa, Trevor Story and Javier Báez. Cash and crew opted instead to trade fan favorites Gio Urshela and Gary Sánchez in exchange for an aging Josh Donaldson, gold glove third baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa to solve their shortstop issues and a catcher with an inability to hit in the bigs.
Some of the 2021 contracts have been disasters, but that is beside the point. The point is the Yankees have recently failed to be THE YANKEES.
After losing to the eventual World Champion Red Sox in the 2018 playoffs, the Yankees not only didn’t sign the top free agent generational talent Bryce Harper, but they refused to even talk to him.
What made the miss even more painful to Yankees fans was the fact that Harper grew up a Yankee fan and wore number 34 to honor his idol Mickey Mantle, who wore seven (3+4=7). However, Cashman thought the Yankees outfield was too cramped to give Harper a call and that playing him at first base wasn’t realistic, leading him to sign with the Philadelphia Phillies for $330 million over 13 years. Meanwhile, Harper just finished another spectacular postseason (playing first base) after leading the Phillies to the World Series last year and winning NL MVP in 2021.
It is not like the Yankees haven’t handed out or acquired large deals. After the 2017 “Baby Bombers” propelled them to within one game of a World Series appearance, they acquired 2017 MVP Giancarlo Stanton.
However, after playing 158 games in his first season with the Yanks, Stanton has missed 479 of 870 regular season games, accumulating an abysmal 8.4 WAR over the six seasons, only .5 less than his 7.9 WAR MVP season.
Stanton has since clogged up the designated hitter role with his inability to play the outfield and prevented ownership from making a big move for a position player. Some say Stanton has “earned his pinstripes” in the postseason for his incredible streaks. Still, it has led to zero World Series rings or appearances, meaning he hasn’t, or Yankee fans’ standards have significantly fallen (both can be correct). In the past, such a flop of a deal would not have scared the Yankees into handing out others, but the team disguised as the Yankees acted differently than when George M. Steinbrenner was at the helm.
The reluctance to sign multiple top free agents is new for the front office. Even after the ’09 win, they made lots of big signings.
After winning the World Series, they traded for Curtis Granderson that offseason. Three years later, they made four big splashes, signing Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann, Carlos Beltrán and Japanese phenom Masahiro Tanaka. Other big acquisitions have included Ichiro in 2012, Aroldis Chapman in 2015 and again in 2016.
Granderson was good for two years before injuries, while Ichiro was a shell of himself. The 2013 offseason was disastrous; Ellsbury and McCann were some of the worst signings while letting all-star Robinson Cano walk for essentially the same amount as the two. Tanaka, a fan favorite and playoff stud, won nothing long-lasting, while Beltran’s name is taboo around Yankee parts (due to the Houston Astros cheating scandal). Lastly, Chapman is best known for giving up series-ending home runs.
The mass flop in signings has prevented the front office from making multiple big moves and, instead, one every couple of years. 2017 Stanton, 2019 Gerrit Cole and 2022 Carlos Rodón.
Of the most recent three big acquisitions, Cole has been the only impactful piece. The verdict on Rodón is still out, but after one injury-plagued disastrous season in pinstripes, which ended in him pitching in only 14 games to the tune of a 6.85 ERA, he has much to prove.
There has been the occasional diamond in the rough, like Russell Martin, Raul Ibañez, Didi Gregorius, DJ LeMahieu and Gio Urshela. Still, as they say, “even a blind squirrel finds a nut,” they are nowhere near the big impact signings they need, a left-handed power hitter.
The Yankees need to go back to the Yankee way and sign multiple big-name free agents and hope one or more will lead them to a World Series. In 2009, there were four huge signings: CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, A.J. Burnett and Nick Swisher. What did this lead to? Only the 27th World Series title for the franchise.
This offseason, Steinbrenner, Cashman and company must re-channel their inner George and make multiple big moves. It has seemed almost too perfect for the Yankees to sign a star left-handed power bat with the short porch they are known for at The Stadium. Luckily, multiple are available: Shohei Ohtani, Cody Bellinger and possibly Juan Soto.
Whether Cashman and Co. break the narrative and sign a big-name lefty bat or stick to their recent ways will be the determining factor on whether fans will completely turn on him and ownership.
Yankees fans know one thing: the World Series drought and miss on big-name free agents would not be tolerated “if the Boss was still around.”
