MLB Insider Shares Insight on Yankees Ownership's Offseason Plans
This season for the New York Yankees was deemed a "disaster" by their longtime general manager Brian Cashman during the summer.
All things considered, he was right. The Yankees are in the last place of the AL East, and while no longer under .500, it's likely that they will finish at the bottom of their division for the first time since 1990.
The sour taste that has permeated throughout the season has been overshadowed a bit by sweeping the nemesis Houston Astros during their four game winning streak and the superb play of their young call ups.
That's just looking at the silver lining though. Finishing in last place with this type of payroll is a disaster and unacceptable for a New York franchise that has a "World Series or Bust" mantra.
Owner Hal Steinbrenner has promised a "deep dive" into everything that the organization is doing during the offseason. MLB Insider Jon Heyman reports that he's hearing they will use a serious external entity for the evaluation.
What the entity produces and whether or not the recommendations are listened to will be another subplot.
For what it's worth, Heyman thinks manager Aaron Boone will be back next season.
"Unofficial word is he’s still under discussion, but Hal likes him (and so does everyone else), so the best guess is that he ultimately stays," writes the MLB Insider. "Boone has the potential to be a great manager someday. But the feeling here is he needs help."
He floats the idea of bringing in an experience manager to assist Boone in bullpen moves and giving general advice like Joe Torre had when he was manager.
As far as the GM goes, Heyman was clear that he will be back, writing, "Hal also isn’t impulsive, so please don’t expect the biggest change of all. No, Cashman isn’t going anywhere."
It's a good sign that Steinbrenner knows things have not gone well and he's bringing in outside voices to evaluate what has taken place this season. Whether those findings will bring sweeping changes to an underperforming organization is something only time will tell.
