August has come to an end, but there is still a month left for Aaron Boone and the Yankees to continue playing as posers. Despite the success early in the regular season, the Yankees have an embarrassing losing record in the A.L. East with a .436 winning percentage and 17-24 record, good enough for 2nd in their division. Many Yankees fans find no issue with the current build of the roster, believing the Yankees are a serious contender. Die-hard fans, however, are not convinced, nor are they turning a blind eye to yet another disappointing season. Despite leading Major League Baseball in home runs as a team( 228), the Yankees once again must rely on the long ball to score runs.

The Yankees are either Homerun or busts and have played this style of baseball for many years now. The Yankees’ issue with relying on HR’s to score will be more evident as the season ends next month and the playoffs begin. Players such as Giancarlo Stanton, Cody Bellinger, and Aaron Judge are major exclusions to the Homerun or Bust category. These guys are pure hitters and not immune to scoring runs and hitting home runs regardless of the pitchers they face. Naturally, due to their extraordinary skill set and focus at the plate, other players’ mishaps and failures in Boone’s Lineup are often topics of discourse.

The subpar performances by OF Jasson Dominguez, Catcher Austin Wells, and infielder Anthony Volpe are accentuated, becoming topics of daily scrutiny in the media due to their performances. The Yankees are unable and to some extent incapable of hitting off of teams with a .500 winning record or better. Opposing team pitchers, as once stated by Yankees broadcaster and radio personality Michael Kay on several occasions, “Other teams know how to pitch to this lineup, they know how to beat the Yankees”. Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman once again has built a team of mediocre players, which Hal Steinbrenner believes are as good as the Dodgers or any other team in the league. The Yankees are again plagued by a lack of defensive fundamentals as well as mediocre offensive output. Yet the Boss, Hal, finds little issue with the on-field results by reassuring fans that their handling of the team is viable. 

The Yankees’ front office and player development are carefully designed to defer to analytics as a template for success. Regardless of sitting in 3rd place for half of the season, management refuses to bench players such as Volpe or Wells for lack of focus and offensive production. The Yankees seem keen to continue on this disastrous path, regardless of making fans wait 15 years for another World Series Championship, but it appears they’ll continue waiting a long time. The ego-centric, nonchalant, laidback attitude from owner Hal Steinbrenner and his front office team has hurt this once beloved and respected sports franchise. Fans are no longer poised to watch baseball, especially when it’s played incorrectly. 

The daily performances fans are exposed to are comical and embarrassing, to say the least. Aaron Boone’s approach and handling as manager of the Yankees are inefficient and careless. Boone’s lack of player accountability has procured a clubhouse of entitled individuals whose abundance of errors and absence of focus have guaranteed another losing season. It seems the established business and personnel practices by the Yankees have shifted the team goals of winning in favor of financial gain. It’s naive to believe the Yankees as an organization are trying to reach the World Series each season. The bottom line is crucial for Steinbrenner and the Yankees; success and bringing home the trophy are no longer the goal. 

The Yankees will face off against the Houston Astros in a must-win series on Tuesday, September 2, at 8:10 PM.