Perspectives: August 14, 2025

by Paul Semendinger

August 14, 2025

***

When the Yankees hired Aaron Boone to be their manager, it was by taking a huge gamble that a person, one who had never been in any leadership role, could lead a team to a championship.

There was no logical reason for the Yankees to assume this would work. Aaron Boone had never managed a team at any level. He had never coached on a team at any level. No one knew how he'd be as a tactician. No one knew how he'd be as a motivator. No one knew how he'd run a Spring Training. No one knew how he'd relate to his players. The list of unknowns was endless. Aaron Boone had no history in running or coaching or managing anything.

In the end, no one had any idea what to expect from Aaron Boone because he was a complete unknown. And yet he was hired. The New York Yankees made him their manager.

Recall, also, that no other team had interviewed Aaron Boone. This wasn't the Yankees grabbing a man perceived by many to be the next great baseball leader. No, this was a man perceived by none to be a leader. He had never coached. He had never managed. No one was interviewing him for a Major League job.

And then there were the Yankees. Brian Cashman and the leaders knew better. They wanted to demonstrate how smart they were.

They weren't smart at all.

It was a bad hiring. I said it at the time. But the worst decisions came later.

When Aaron Boone demonstrated that he wasn't a good manager, when he showed that he was not a good tactician, when it was clear that he was continually getting out managed... When one saw the poor play exhibited by the Yankees, when it was accepted throughout the league that the Yankees were not fundamentally sound... And more... The Yankees doubled down.

In short, when it was clear that Aaron Boone was not an effective manager, the Yankees gave him a new contract. A few years later, they gave him another.

It is not a surprise that Boone has failed. It made no sense for the Yankees to hire him in the first place. From the start he's never been a good manager. It's never gotten better.

***

In the beginning, the Yankees surrounded Aaron Boone with a staff of coaches who had, by and large, also never coached before. I wrote about this at the time. I noted how crazy this was.

Over time, the Yankees started hiring some coaches with experience.

Alas! None of it helped Aaron Boone as a manager.

In his eighth season at the helm, when he should have grown as a leader, a strategist, and in so many other ways, Aaron Boone is having his worst season as the manager of the Yankees. ***

The fact that Aaron Boone remains the manager of the Yankees demonstrates clearly that winning championships is not the team's first priority. One could argue, also, that it shows the absolute complete and total contempt the franchise has for the fans. The Yankees play, and have played through the vast majority of the Boone Era, a sloppy, uninspired, lackadaisical, and very poor brand of baseball. The quality of the product is second rate. It has been second rate - it continues to be second rate. That this is allowed to continue, and has for years, speaks volumes about the team's priorities.

That's what the Yankees have become. The Yankees are a second rate organization led by individuals whose primary goal is not winning championships. That is readily apparent.

The Yankees leadership is content with the way the team is run on a daily basis. Their silence throughout this entire summer and the failure to make a managerial move speaks volumes about their priorities. The priority is certainly not winning.

At this point, there is no other conclusion that can be drawn.

***

It is time for Hal Steinbrenner to be a leader. At this point, his legacy is as the least successful owner in the history of the Yankees since the arrival of Babe Ruth.

One could argue that the CBS years were worse, but in those years, the Yankees were run by a corporation who clearly didn't care about the product. We're told that Hal Steinbrenner actually wants the Yankees to win. It's time for him to demonstate that.

***

The Yankees used to be all about winning championships. Now they brag about having a .500 or better record for many decades. The goal has changed - and not for the better.

***

I just finished reading a lesser-known baseball novel, The Celebrant by Eric Rolfe Greenberg. I'm going to take a break from baseball novels for a while now. Of the four I read this summer, including The Natural, Shoeless Joe, Bang the Drum Slowly, this last one, The Celebrant was the best. The writing was superior in every way - and the story, focused on Christy Mathewson (yet still a work of fiction) and was terrific.

I enjoyed all four books, each in their own way, but of those four, The Celebrant was, by far, the best.

***

Remember when everyone said how crazy it was for the Red Sox to trade Rafael Devers? (I said it was a great decision by the Red Sox.)

Since then, the Red Sox have jumped into second place. The Giants have floundered.

***

The Red Sox always seem to be able, under a host of different GMs, to trade away terrible contracts.

The Yankees seem stuck with them. Worse the Yankees get hamstrung by them. The best the Yankees ever do is eat the contracts after playing a sub-replacement player, sometimes for years, before they finally pull the plug.

Why is it that other teams can figure out how to trade players that no longer fit their model, but the Yankees cannot?

That is the type of question an effective owner would ask his General Manager.

***

One player I was wrong about this year has been Trent Grisham. He has been terrific. I never thought he'd hit this well. I didn't see this coming in a million years. Good for him. He's been one of the brightest spots on the team.

That being said, this is his career season. He should not be brought back except if he settles for a very small and very short contract. Let's say 3 years for $15 million - sure. But, it seems Grisham will be able get more than that.

***

Fair question - Seeing how the Yankees play, how Aaron Boone manages, the fact that they can never seem to play good quality baseball, and more, if you were Cody Bellinger, would you want to sign a long-term deal with the Yankees - even if they offered one?

I love the Yankees. But, if I had the ability and the choice to play for multiple teams for millions of dollars, I wouldn't choose the Yankees as a place to play for the best years of the rest of my career. No way.

***

It seems very likely that Aaron Judge will never play for a World Series Champion.

Here are the greatest Yankees by WAR who were never on a World Series winner in the Bronx:

Aaron Judge - 59.2

Don Mattingly - 42.4

Roger Peckinpaugh - 32.1

Rickey Henderson - 30.8

Bobby Murcer - 27.8

Dave Winfield - 27.1

At this rate, Aaron Judge will be the greatest Yankee to never win a championship for the Yankees. (Of note, Peckinpaugh, Henderson, and Winfield won championships with other organizations after leaving New York.)

***

Remember, just a few weeks ago, when so many were annointing George Lombard as the next Yankees shortstop - as soon as 2026?

The fans moved quickly from Anthony Volpe and right to Lombard. "He's the future. No doubt."

George Lombard has a lifetime minor league batting average of .236.

In 80 games, he's hitting .207 at Double-A.

The Yankees are experts at getting their fans to forget about the team's immediate and past mistakes and getting them to dream on the next players. This happens all of the time.

Lombard might turn out to be great, but it is clear he's not nearly ready for the big leagues.

***

I remember a reader on these pages arguing time and again, over and over, years ago, that Jasson Dominguez (after playing eight games in 2023) was an established Major League player.

He wasn't then, and now, a few years later, he still isn't.

I hope he becomes great. But he certainly isn't yet - and evidenced by the fact that he just sat three games in a row, it doesn't seem like he is developing as a big leaguer.

That's another question I'd ask my GM. Why are the young supposed stars unable to (often times) even be good big leaguers? Why do they fail to become the players we hyped them to be?

Might the coaching have something to do with this?

Might the computer guys in the back room?

Might the GM and his philosophy?

Might the manager?

Hal Steinbrenner talked a few years ago about the experts he was hiring. That didn't work out. I said he could have talked to me (or so many other people who understand more about the game). Oh well.

***

It was reported that Clint Frazier stated on his podcast that Jasson Dominguez playing out of position (moving from centerfield to left field) has set him up for failure.

On WFAN last week, Roy White called in to say that the different outfield positions are very different to play - that each takes time to figure out, and that it is not easy for a player to switch between the different spots.

People who have played and truly understand what it means to be a successful big leaguer understand this. The Yankees don't seem to.

***

The Yankees head to St. Louis to play a .500 Cardinals team that lost two of three games to the Rockies.

This is a series the Yankees should win. If they do not, it shows, yet again, that this team is in need of big changes. But, it's getting very very late in this season to make any change that will help this team now.

When the Yankees management needed to act, they didn't.

***

Spoiler Alert - If the Yankees bring back the same people in the same roles throughout the organization for 2026, it will be more of the same next year. There is nothing the Yankees have done this year to indicate that, unless there are big changes, the results in the Bronx will be any different.