Perspectives: The Trade Deadline and Being a Yankees Fan Today

By Paul Semendinger

August 6, 2026

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When the Dodgers got Tarik Skubal, I noted that the Dodgers always seem to get the players they want and need. That is how they operate. They are extremely serious about winning and being the best.

Instead of discussing that point, the main point, some fans wanted to argue that Skubal wouldn't have helped the Yankees. Many times people want to argue ancillary things rather than the main point. The main point was that the Dodgers almost always get the players they want.

The Dodgers operate the way the Yankees used to. The Dodgers, rather than the Yankees, have also become the place players most want to play. And because of their approach, they also win more often and are champions more often than any other team. Those characteristics used to define the Yankees.

It is a large part of Hal Steinbrenner's legacy and Brian Cashman's legacy that the Yankees no longer operate with the intention of putting the best team on the field. "Great" will not be used as an adjective to describe the Yankees of today. And "Great" will not be used as an adjective to describe Hal Steinbrenner's years as owner nor Brian Cashman's years as the general manager. Those are simply facts. Those men, as the leaders of the franchise, changed the way the Yankees operate. The Yankees went from Great to Good under their leadership. That is not a legacy to be proud of. It is the opposite of what successful people strive for and accomplish. No one celebrates leaders who lowered the standards. And that is exactly what Steinbrenner and Cashman have done.

The Yankees are not great. And the Yankees fail, far too often, to acquire the players they wish to get, or the ones that would help the team win.

The Dodgers shop for the best players, the Yankees shop in the discount stores.

The Dodgers seem to almost always get the players they're trying for. The Yankees seem to get rebuffed season after season.

The focus of the Dodgers getting Skubal isn't necessarily that they got Skubal at the expense of the Yankees getting that player. As noted above, Yankee apologists immediately began saying that the Yankees didn't need Skubal. Fair enough. It is true that the Yankees have excellent starting pitching. But that's not the point. At all. The point is that the Yankees rarely get the big time players. The Dodgers do. It's that simple.

When the Dodgers go big, they go big. The players they get are stars - obvious difference makers. The players the Yankees routinely get are ones that require the fans to squint, parse stats, stand upside down, and draw conclusions based on all sorts of extraneous factors to support the deal ("If Paul Goldschmidt stays healthy and gets rest, and if Ben Rice becomes the designated hitter, and if he only plays against right-handed pitching, and if he remains having the career year that he is currently enjoying, then the Yankees pick up of Luis Garcia could be a great deal...")

In the end, the Dodgers, they do what is necessary to win.

Yankee apologists also state that the Yankees cannot develop a strong farm system because they don't get to draft high enough. But, the Dodgers draft later than the Yankees and always seem to have a great farm system. If the Dodgers can do it, why can't the Yankees? It's not draft position, it's the players chosen and the way the organization develops them. The Dodgers a great in those areas, the Yankees not so much.

I also hear the excuse that it is more difficult for the Yankees to get stars today because some players don't wish to play in New York for all sorts of reasons including traffic, taxes, and more. But, those same issues exist in Los Angeles, and the Dodgers don't seem to ever have issues getting the players they want or need.

It comes down to a simple fact - the Dodgers' main goal is to build a great team as part of a great system designed to keep on winning. That's not how the Yankees operate any longer. Yankees fans and supporters will find all sorts of excuses and reasons why the Dodgers can do what they do and the Yankees cannot, but in the end, there is a simple formula at play - winners get things done, losers make excuses.

For the Yankees of today, there's a lot of excuse making, year-after-year. And that is the simple reality.

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