Perspectives: NOW (or never)

by Paul Semendinger

June 27, 2024

***

Long ago, before the season, I suggested that the Yankees needed another bat. I said, "Get Cody Bellinger! He can play center and be insurance at first base for Anthony Rizzo." Some fans, who knew better and who are, of course, much smarter than me said, "You're crazy. The Yankees lineup is stacked."

I also suggested that the Yankees needed another big time starting pitcher. "Get Corbin Burnes," I suggested. Some fans, who knew better said, "The Yankees do not need starting pitching."

Later on, when he was going to be traded, I suggested the Yankees should get Luis Arraez. Some fans, who knew better, said, "But he's not a good fielder."

***

Now, to be fair, over the years, I have also suggested the Yankees acquire players who haven't worked out for the Yankees or the teams that got them.

This isn't an article to say, "I got a few right."

It is instead an article to say that when the opportunities were there for the Yankees to make the team better over the winter and even once the season started, the Yankees passed. This is what they do. They pass. Again and again.

The Yankees hope that good enough is good enough. They do not aim for great.

And year after year after year we watch the team go through the same motions.

The owner of the team has said a number of times that the team doesn't need to pay $300 million in order to win a championship. Of course, he hasn't explained his process for building a more fiscally responsible winner.

If it was me, one year I'd spend $400 million and see what happens. It might be fun to win a World Series for a change.

As the Yankees did when they acquired other big stars, such as Giancarlo Stanton and Gerrit Cole, among others, once they spent big on the one player for that year, they basically stopped building the team. They talked a good game, "We aren't done yet!" but they never finished the job. And the team on the field, as a result, also never finished the job.

The Yankees have not won a championship in a long time. They keep trying the same approach. They bring in a superstar every few years and then fail to build a complete team around him.

The 2024 season is crumbling.

The outlook for the 2025 Yankees (and beyond) also doesn't look good right now.

2024, right now, is really the Yankees' last best chance to build a champion for a while. They need to do something (actually, a couple of somethings) to right the ship and get the team back on track.

But it's going to take bold moves, smart moves, and cost money.

The immediate and long-term future of the Yankees will be decided in the coming days and weeks.

Will Hal Steinbrenner be willing to take on the costs necessary to plug the holes that are so apparent? This isn't a team with a few areas that need polish. This is a team that needs a complete rebuild in a host of areas.

Does Brian Cashman have what it takes to do what it takes to make this team a champion?

With this core of Yankees, as Aaron Judge and Gerrit Cole start to approach their mid-thirties and with Juan Soto's free agancy on the horizon, it's NOW... or never.