Hal Steinbrenner's Big Speech

by Paul Semendinger

October 9, 2026

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The following is my reaction to the big speech Hal Steinbrenner made following the Yankees losing in yet another postseason.

Oh, wait.

He didn't say anything?

Mr. Steinbrenner's silence speaks volumes. He is telling the fans all they need to know.

***

Here is the hard reality...

The Yankees are not designed to win in the postseason. Winning a World Series is what the fans (or some fans) want and dream about and hope for. But that's not what the Yankees as an organization, as a business, are striving for.

Yankees fans (those that care about winning championships) have had it wrong all these years. Aaron Boone didn't do a bad job. He did a great job. He got them to the dance.

The same holds true for Brian Cashman.

If the Yankees' true goal was to win the World Series, Brian Cashman who has failed in that task for 17 consecutive years, would have been fired. If the goal is winning a World Series Brian Cashman has been a failure.

The same holds true for Aaron Boone. If the goal is a World Championship, he has failed every single year.

If the goal of the franchise is to win a championship, Cashman and Boone are failures and they would have been fired long ago.

But the goal isn't winning championships. This is obvious on its face. The Yankees reach the postseason, lose, and then they run it back the next year with the same people. That does not indicate, at all, they they believe Cashman and Boone are doing bad jobs. It's quite the opposite, they believe they're doing great jobs. Because they are.

The Yankees tell their fans they want to win. And of course they want to (but it's not the main goal in the business formula). Many fans believe the talking point.

But actions speak louder than words. And the actions of the franchise for many many years indicate, clearly, to me, that the Yankees are doing exactly what they are designed to do: create interest, get in a pennant race, fill the stadium, and get the people at home to watch the games (and for all of them to buy products). As I have said, for years, the Yankees only want to be a little better than pretty good. And they are. And they have been. And they will continue to be.

When we, as fans, look at the team and say, "They don't have a leadoff man," or "How can they not have a third baseman?" we are incredulous. We say, "How can the Yankees not see this?"

But they do see it. These are smart people. Brian Cashman is a smart man. They all are.

The Yankees build teams to create interest, not win it all. They made a financial calculation long ago. They will spend to a certain point, but no further. And they know that will be good enough to compete and create interest and generate big time revenues. The Yankees do not believe (and they might be right) that spending what is necessary to be in the best position to win it all is a good or sound financial strategy. After a point, the return on investment for bringing in that next or those next players to fix the holes in the team are not worth it to them. They made their calculations. They know what they're doing.

The goal is big time revenues. This is clear on it's face. It is obvious.

The fans who care (and many, the vast majority, do not) wonder how the Yankees can fall short year after year and accept it all. They accept it all because that's the plan.

Old time fans are thinking quite differently about the team. Old time fans think of success and glory and pennants and flags being raised. That's not the goal any longer. One can draw no other conclusion.

Now, to be fair, one of these years, that plan of being just good enough will actually work. The "short series is a crap shoot" approach, through random chance, will bring the Yankees a championship. Then they'll say, "See, it works." But it doesn't if the goal is to win it all. Winning once every ten or fifteen (or more) years isn't satisfactory, or...

It isn't satisfactory if the goal is to win World Series each year. If the goal is greatness, or sustained greatness, what the Yankees are doing is a terrible plan.

But if the plan is to be good enough to claim .500 seasons are an indication of success and making the playoffs is good, and bringing in more and more revenue is the goal, then Brian Cashman and Aaron Boone, and the whole organization has been, and still are, extremely successful. They're doing great. They are outstanding at what they're doing.

This is what the many fans, the ones who care about championships, do not understand.

The fans that care simply think the Yankees' goal is their goal - to win a World Series. It is very clear that winning a World Series is not the Yankees' primary goal.

For the fans, 2026 was a huge disappointment. They wonder how the Yankees management can accept watching another team celebrate on their field (now year-after-year).

But, while the other team is celebrating, I suspect there are those in the team's offices with the gate receipts, the advertising dollars, and the merchandise and food sales totals saying, "Today was a great day. We won. We did it again."