Perspectives: October 19, 2025

by Paul Semendinger

October 19, 2025

***

I haven't, yet, given my post-mortem on the 2025 Yankees. It's time I finally do. This article, like with many others, will be the first of many on the team, where it is, and where it must go going forward.

• I know there are some that believe that a manager's influence is minor. if they believe that, I cannot change their minds. People will believe what they want to believe. I believe that a team reflects its manager. Aaron Boone has proven to be a good enough manager to get a team of stars (including some of the best in the game today) to the postseason. He's good at that. (Not everyone is.) Boone is also good at keeping a team from tearing itself apart due to strife, in-fighting, and such. He's also had 8 years to win a championship. And he has failed each of those eight seasons. How much more do the Yankees need to see? It is time for the Yankees to make a managerial change. The fact that they will not is a problem. The fact that they will now is clear evidence that winning a championship is not the team's primary mission and goal.

  
  

• If winning a championship was the team's primary goal, falling short for every one of Aaron Boone's seasons as manager would not be acceptable. This is obvious on its face.

  
  

• With Aaron Boone returning as manager, 2026 will play out like every other season. There will be big wins, some flashes of brilliance, a long period of losing, and a postseason exit. It seems clear that the Yankees are not likely to win a World Series with Aaron Boone as the manager.

• Aaron Boone has said that the 2025 Yankees were the most talented team he's ever managed. He couldn't win the division with the most talented team he has ever had. He couldn't reach the American league Championship Series with the best team he ever had. Aaron Boone basically stated that even with the best players he has ever had, he doesn't know how to get them to win it all. Shouldn't that be all the evidence one needs to make a change?

  
  

• It's also time for the Yankees to move on from Brian Cashman. Many people point out that the Yankees haven't won the World Series since 2009. That is true. But, the statistic that is more telling is that the Yankees have won only one World Series since 2001. That's a very bad record for any General Manager. It is completely unacceptable for the GM of the Yankees. If the Yankees goal was to win championships, Brian Cashman would not be their general manager because he has failed in that goal the vast majority of seasons he has been at the helm since this century began.

  
  

• It is clear, again, that winning the World Series is not the primary goal of the Yankees. I wish the Yankees themselves would stop saying that it is. It's not. Again, the results speak (loudly) for themselves. One only needs to see the results to see that failing to win championships, falling short year-after-year is acceptable. In fact, it's not just acceptable, the people who lead the team get brought back again and a again. In Brian Cashman's case - for decades.

  
  

• Brian Cashman did do a good job building the 2025 team, especially seeking to fix so many of the mistakes he made in prior years, but he still built a flawed roster. In many ways, it wasn't a well-rounded team. The Yankees in big games couldn't get people on base ahead of Aaron Judge. I remember last year so many mocking the idea that the Yankees needed a leadoff hitter. I noted that all last winter. It proved to be true. I noted also last winter that the Yankees needed a third baseman. That also proved to be true.

  
  

• The results speak for themselves - one World Series championship in 25 years, for the Yankees especially, is simply not good enough. It is well past time for the Yankees to try a new approach.

  
  

• If its true that Brian Cashman and his "brain trust" run the team and the decision-making, what is also clear is that their approach isn't working. If the Yankees use that same formula for 2026, there still will not be a championship. It speaks volumes when a supposed brain trust does the same thing year after year never learning from their mistakes.

  
  

• I have said, for years, almost from the start of this site, that the leadership of the Yankees cares less about willing a World Series as much as they care about putting out a team that can possibly compete for one if everything goes right in the postseason. In that, Brian Cashman is outstanding at what he does. If the Yankees would admit that their goal is to build a very competitive, but not a great championship-level team, then, it is also clear, Brian Cashman is outstanding at what he does.

  
  

• If the Yankees goal is to fill the stadium with fans and to sell tons of advertising, and to make tons and tons of money, that they are also good at. They're great at that. No team is probably be better. If that's the goal (and it seems it is), Brian Cashman is also outstanding in that role.

  
  

• The disconnect is that the Yankees tell their fans that the only acceptable goal is winning the World Series, but their actions state otherwise. It is absolutely abundantly clear that the primary goal of the Yankees is not to win the World Series (the results speak for themselves). The primary goal is to build a competitive team that can generate hope and fan interest so that the team sells seats and advertising (and more). In that, they succeed. Again, I just wish they would stop telling the fans that their number one goal is to win it all. It's not. The results and their actions make this extremely clear.

• Brian Cashman used to be a great general manager, one who won championships. Those days are long gone. For his great work, Brian Cashman deserves to be in Monument Park. Absolutely. He's no longer great at that, though, and hasn't been for more than two decades. For the better part of the last 25 years, he has failed in building a championship team. (The results demonstrate this clearly.)

  
  

• The Yankees simply do not build great teams. They go into every season after cutting corners over the winter. The Yankees strategy is to be good enough - not great. There was a time when the Yankees mission was simply to be the very best. The Yankees strategy now is to get into the postseason and then hope that that everything falls their way. Building the best team isn't the goal. Pretending to is. The Yankees want to give the impression to the fans that they're "all-in." The purpose is to sell a narrative and through that narrative sell tons of advertising dollars and tickets - including postseason tickets. The Yankees are about making money, first and foremost, not about winning the World Series. This, too, is obvious on it face. This is also why Brian Cashman and Aaron Boone will be back to lead the team in 2026 They serve their roles in this process extremely well. For the Yankees, as much as fans do not want to admit it, what they are doing is working. That's what many fans don't quite realize. The Yankees are making tons of money. It is working for them. Brian Cashman doesn't build championship teams, but he builds teams that win more than they lose and most often reach the post season. Aaron Boone isn't a great manager, but he gets his teams to the post season. For the Yankees, that's success. (For the fans who want a World Series, all of that isn't good enough, but for the Yankees business model, it is good enough, in fact, it is great. The plan works - spectacularly.)

  
  

• Speaking of money, one thing that has gone under the radar in many circles is that the Yankees 2026 Opening Day game, the first game of the season, will not be televised. That game will be aired only through a streaming service. Many of the loyal fans will be shut out from experiencing their first game live. Take a moment to think about that...

  
  

• A few years ago, I began stating that the Dodgers of today operate as the Yankees used to. The Dodgers goal is to spend whatever it takes, to make whatever deals are necessary to truly compete to win the World Series. For the Dodgers it is go big or go home. It is clear, very clear, that the Dodgers care mostly about winning the World Series. They are not ashamed of that. They play to win. As the Yankees used to. And, guess what, the Dodgers' approach is working. They're going to the World Series - again. The Dodgers come in first place every season. This will be the third time the Dodgers are in the World Series this decade and the fifth time since 2017. The Dodgers have been World Champs twice in that time. They are on the verge of being the first team to win back-to-back World Series since the Yankees used to build their entire organization around that goal.

  
  

• A superstar player who wants to win will always choose the Dodgers over the Yankees today. One franchise wins, always, and builds their teams to win. The other is the Yankees. There was a time when the Yankees were baseball's number one team. They have been passed by the Dodgers. This has been noted for years on this site and it is absolutely true.

  
  

• If the Yankees need to do an examination of the system to figure out what is going wrong, they don't actually have to spend millions of dollars on consultants, spreadsheets, charts, and such. I can do this for them for a lot less money. I'll give them the advice for free (as I have here for years). Do what the Dodgers do as your own franchise used to do. Go big. Don't cut corners. Get the best players. Spend. Use the greatest advantage your team has - it's tremendous wealth - to win. It's that simple.

  
  

• Some have argued that the Yankees don't win because the system doesn't allow for repeat champions. They have said that the system is designed against the big spenders. They say the system is designed to hurt teams like the Yankees (and the Dodgers). Guess what... those people are wrong. The Dodgers are proving that very clearly. And absolutely.

  
  

• So, in the end, even the Yankees admit Anthony Volpe's injury impacted his performance. This from MLBTR, "Cashman also admitted today, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, that the shoulder issue was impacting Volpe during the season."

       Said another way, the guy the Yankees ran Volpe out there for almost every inning of

every game even though was injured.

Volpe was injured so much so that he is now having surgery that will

       prevent him from playing on Opening Day - NEXT YEAR! This is not just a minor

       procedure, in other words. And, of note, any time there is surgery, there are no

       guarantees that the player will recover to his previous levels. It happens mostly, but not

       always.

       If this isn't something for all fans (and Anthony Volpe - and the Players' Association) to be upset about, I don't know what is.

       This, on the heels of the Yankees following the same approach with Anthony Rizzo and

       his concussion (effectively ending his career), playing Jose Trevino with a broken hand

       (he's never been the same player) and countless other situations some who we know

One need not be a medical doctor to see the Yankees' approach to injuries as a huge

concern - and a gigantic problem. If this isn't reason enough to make changes in the

management structure, I do not know what is.

• I usually enjoy the Hot Stove League and wonder about all the moves the Yankees might make. I'm less excited this year. The Yankees' approach is predictable, boring, played-out, and tired. We've seen this show before - many times. We also know where this show is most likely to go during the 2026 season. It's a fool's errand to expect that the GM who hasn't been able to bring a championship in 15 years, and just one in more than a quarter century, is going to build a championship team with a manager who has never won one leading the squad. Until the Yankees approach things differently, and there is no indication they will, 2026 will play out like 2025. I love the Yankees, but the process has become dull and boring and all too predictable. And that's a shame.