Yankees Have Issues Up Top That Replacing Aaron Boone Won't Fix

The New York Yankees aren't a Jorge Posada away from winning another World Series, and their issues are deeper than a simplistic managerial change.

As much as some New York Yankees fans want Aaron Boone gone, the issues go higher than him. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Earlier this week, Jorge Posada mentioned on the New York Post's "The Show" podcast that he hasn't felt welcome by the New York Yankees. At first glance, it's a tough look.

Here is one of the Yankees' better offensive pieces from their glory days in the late 90s and into the 2000s. Posada has multiple World Series rings and a wealth of knowledge when it comes to winning. The question of whether Posada feels accepted by the Yankees is less about the organization's courtesy toward its former greats, though, and more about whether it matters to their future success.

If Posada doesn't feel the team that developed him has shown him much love, the Yankees should look to mend things with him, but overall, it's not relevant to finally winning their 28th championship after a 17-year lull. These are two separate issues.

The Yankees finally getting over the hump and hoisting another trophy in the Bronx has more to do with their process than it does with who the manager is. One thing about this team is that it had a ton of turnover during these years, with Aaron Judge emerging as the best player in baseball.

The core from his first MVP back in 2022 is entirely different than the one they saw this year. It's even much different than the 2024 team that made it to the World Series.

The players seem to change, but the results don't. While it's hard to say for sure that hiring Posada will change the team's postseason success, many of these championship-less years haven't happened under Boone.

Under Joe Girardi, they struggled to make it out of the American League after he finally won the World Series as skipper in 2009. Their inability to win is deeper than who the manager is.

In desperate need of a modern front office

The fact is, teams like the Dodgers, coming off back-to-back championships, and the Brewers, the league's current champions, aren't featuring all-time greats as skippers. Dave Roberts played a small part as a bench piece for the Dodgers before being traded to the Red Sox in 2004. Then, with the Brewers, Pat Murphy never made it out of Low-A.

The one thing the Dodgers and Brewers have in common is their front offices' cutting-edge approach to data and how they apply it. On the Dodgers' end, Andrew Friedman came from the Tampa Bay Rays—a team that always finds a way despite having one of the lowest payrolls.

Before leading the Los Angeles Dodgers front office, Andrew Friedman was the Tampa Bay Rays executive vice president of baseball operations. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

As for the Brewers, Matt Arnold is their current President of Baseball Operations. He spent nine seasons with the Rays and also worked with Andrew Friedman.

When fans and media say they need to draw from the Rays and Brewers, it isn't about their style of play. It's simply that the front office may need a facelift, and that could come by poaching from the Rays or Dodgers. It wouldn't help taking from the Brewers either.

The thing is, that would mean Hal Steinbrenner would finally have to move on from Brian Cashman. That doesn't seem like something he intends to do.

For Steinbrenner, Cashman has helped the Yankees build a solid foundation, and they're always in the postseason mix, even if they do fall short. He doesn't seem to want to risk the status quo, which helps fill the stadium night after night during the regular season.

This is why hiring someone like Posada as manager might get them similar results to what they have seen since 2010. However, fans could call for Posada's removal as manager, as they have done with Boone for years now.

They could hire Posada, but that shouldn't be the only change. They need more forward-thinking minds running the Yankees behind their manager—Boone or not. This would require the kind of leap of faith Steinbrenner has yet to take as Yankees owner.

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