The Failed 2023 New York Yankees: Which One's the Dummy?

Yesterday, in the makeup of a rainout, the Yankees beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 6-4. Officially, the paid attendance was 41,096. But, given the nature of the rearrangement, the timing of it being a Monday afternoon, and the weather still being damp, actual attendance was probably less than 10,000, the smallest Yankee home crowd since the COVID restrictions.

The day before, the Yankees were eliminated from Playoff contention. It's the 1st time since 2016 that the Yankees have missed. It's the 1st time since 2014 that both New York teams have missed. Manager Aaron Boone said that it sucks, and he's right.

“We’re not very good right now,” he said. “We understand that. And certainly, this is a low point for us. The silver lining in it all is it is in front of us, and we control that, and we understand that.”

Aaron Judge, the team's Captain and best player, said, “I know guys have missed time. “That always hurts. From the rotation, from even my standpoint. Missing all the games I did doesn’t help.”

Many guys were hurt. Many guys were healthy, but underperformed. This is the team that Brian Cashman, the general manager, built. And firing Boone won't make any difference: Cashman will just hire another yes-man who will follow orders, and be his "press secretary," handling the tough questions so Cashman doesn't have to.

Judge gets it: “Every year I’m not standing here talking to you guys after a championship, it’s a failure. It’s about bringing a championship back. That’s why we play. That’s why I’m here. That’s why I came back to New York with this group of guys, was to build something and get New York back to where it’s supposed to be. When you don’t show up and you don’t produce and you get kicked out like this in the regular season, that’s a big failure right there.”

He continued: “It’s not gonna happen overnight, so we gotta hit the ground running, especially when the season ends. We got a lot to work on, a lot of things to change, and a lot of stuff going on around here that needs to be fixed.”

But Cashman doesn't get it. So firing Boone isn't the answer. It would "throw red meat," but he'd just be replaced by another piece of meat, set up to take the fall. Yes, I'm mixing my metaphors. So what? Boone is a symptom, not the disease. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Why fire the doll, and keep the ventriloquist?

Which one's the dummy?