Perspectives: SELL!

By Paul Semendinger

July 28, 2025

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Fans want to believe. Fans want to hope. Fans want their teams to win. Of course. And in sports, until a team is mathematically eliminated, there is always hope. We all know the stories of special teams that won in spite of the odds. There are counless examples...

The 1914 Miracle Braves...

The 1945 Chicago Cubs...

The 1951 New York Giants...

The 1967 Impossible Dream Red Sox...

The 1969 Miracle Mets...

The 1973 "You Gotta Believe" Mets...

The 1978 Yankees...

The 1991 Atlanta Braves...

The 2008 Tampa Bay Rays...

It's fun to dream. It's also good to dream. Fans should dream.

But, there comes a time when professional organizations should not dream. Sure, organizations can have long range plans and hopes and visions. Sure, there can be in-the-box ideas and out-of-the-box ideas and all the rest. But there also must come a time when an organization faces reality. There are times when an organization must look at the reality of a situation and act accordingly.

By now, it is a given that the Yankees do not build their teams to be the best teams in the game. I first made this argument many years ago and it has proven to be accurate. Those who love to argue and debate with me have argued and debated this point for years, but one must look at the facts. And the facts are that the Yankees always go into the season with apparent weaknesses. They address some of these at the trade deadline, but not always.

It is clear that the Yankees build their teams to give the fans hope. They do not build them to be great. The model, it is clear, is to be good enough to reach the playoffs where it is hoped that the "anything can happen" dictate rings true one year and the Yankees get just hot enough to win a few postseason series and emerge as the champions of baseball. As I wrote first, way back in 2018, the Yankees seek to be good, not great. There has never been a time in recent history where one could look at the product on the field, the complete product, and state with any honesty, "This looks like a great team." Instead we look at the team every year and say, "They look good." We also say, "Compared to the rest of the league, the Yankees should contend. They'll be in the playoff picture..." Those statements aren't about being great. At all. They're about being good.

For the Yankees (supposedly the sport's greatest franchise), the goal should be greatness. I'm not a fan of good enough.

There is an old saying, "Good enough never is." And the results for the Yankees have born that out. They've been goog. But being good, the results prove, has not been good enough. The Yankees have won one world Series since 2001. That's not good enough, not for the Yankees.

As I write this, the Yankees (according to baseball-refrence) have a 74.2% chance to make the post season. The dream is there. The Yankees have a 6.8% chance of winning the World Series. Overall, I don't put a lot of stock in those numbers, but I'll use them here for illustrative purposes. A few weeks ago, the Yankees' chances for the post season were well over 90%. They are trending in the wrong direction.

We have seen the Yankees, since late May, playing poorly consistently. The facts are the facts. The Yankees have been a well under .500 team for months now.

All except the most wide-eyed optimistically hoping Yankees fans can reason, logically, that the Yankees' chances to win the World Series are not good. Sure, there is hope. Until a team is mathmatically eliminated, there is always hope. For the fans, hoping is great. It's fun. For the organization, they need to look at this much more realistically.

The trade deadline is Thursday. The Yankees need to be realistic. They're not winning the World Series in 2025, for a host of reasons. Outside of a miracle, it will not happen. Smart organizations don't build their plans on miracles. Smart orgnanizations build their plans on reality.

The Yankees need to look at the reality of the situation and make trades, not to chase a fading dream, but to retool and build a stronger team for next year and the years following.

What makes this team so different than most, is the fact that no matter what happens, the team will look much differently next year. Even if the 2025 Yankees win, the team is not built to continue as currently constructed. No matter what, the personnel will change for 2026, in major ways.

With all this being a reality, the time to sell is now.

First baseman Paul Goldschmidt will be a free agent after this season. It is not likely that he'll return in 2025. Rather than losing him chasing the fading dream of a 2025 World Championship, he should be traded for a player, or players, that can help the Yankees in 2026 and beyond.

It seems highly likely that outfielder Cody Bellinger will opt-out of his 2026 contract and become a free agent. Rather than losing him chasing a fading dream, he should be traded for a player, or players, that can help the Yankees in 2026 and beyond.

Trent Grisham, an outfielder having a career year, is a free agent after the season. Rather than losing him chasing a fading dream, he should be traded for a player, or players, that can help the Yankees in 2026 and beyond.

Closer Devin Williams, who had been solid for months now, is a free agent after the season. Rather than losing him chasing a fading dream, he should be traded for a player, or players, that can help the Yankees in 2026 and beyond.

Designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton is having a great month. His current history, over many years, indicates that this is not sustainable. He also won't have a position as soon as Aaron Judge returns to the lineup and becomes the DH. While he is playing well, the Yankees should trade Stanton. It is a miracle that they even have this opportunity. A smart organization seizes on this an acts immediately. Stanton should be traded as quickly as possible, understanding that he has a no-trade clause which will result in some financial dealings to make the trade possible.

If those players are traded in smart deals, the Yankees could position themselves to be a powerhouse in 2026. They could be the team that is "all-in" and is the favorite to win the World Series.

From an organizational standpoint, building to a better 2026 makes much more sense than chasing a fading and unlikely dream in 2025. There are times when an organization must face reality. This is the Yankees' reality.

On top of all of this, outside of Giancarlo Stanton, if the Yankees feel that any of the aforementioned players are key parts to their 2026 championship strategy, since they're all free agents, they can be reacquired. This is exactly what the Yankees did with Aroldis Chapman when they traded him in 2016. They brought him right back in 2017. As such, the only thing the Yankees would lose out on in 2025 is chasing an unlikely hope.

As a fan, I would prefer a full season, actually multiple seasons, of real hope with a well-built team, than the false hope that 2025 might bring.

Also, in order for the Yankees to contend in 2025, they will have to trade young assets - players and depth that can help them going forward. I'd rather keep those assets than trade them now chasing a fading (I'll call it a false) hope.

The trade deadline offers a tremendous opportunity for the Yankees to retool and make themselves the best team in the game, not in three to five years, but next year.

The logical decision, the smart decisio, the best decision is to sell the assets they have and look to next year rather than facing a dream that is unlikely to happen.

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Of note, I fully acknowledge that Brian Cashman has not been great at making the type of deals I propose. The players the Yankees received in the 2016 sell-off never truly became all they were hyped to be. But, I'd rather Cashman give it a (one last?) try than to chase a flag this year.

Also of note, for the Yankees to be true contenders in 2026, they'll need a new manager. I've been over that a million times. That's also a reality, but that doesn't factor into the 2025 trade deadline.

Finally, of note, many of the teams listed above, inspite of their legandary runs to chase pennants, did not, ultimately, win the World Series. Even miracles don't always end miracously. The Yankees should not be chasing or hoping for a miracle. That's not how a smart organization works.

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