As a substitute of taking part in within the ALCS on Thursday, the Yankees performed an post-mortem of their season.
With the group bounced from postseason play by the Blue Jays within the ALDS, three males took the press room stage within the bowels of Yankee Stadium as bulldozers and grounds crew staff went to work on the sphere a degree above. First, supervisor Aaron Boone spoke for simply over half-an-hour. Then got here normal supervisor Brian Cashman, who got here nearer to 40 minutes. Each had been accompanied by group spokesman Jason Zillo.
Neither had been joined by Hal Steinbrenner, so Cashman needed to share the Yankees proprietor’s ideas and emotions after one other season that “failed” to realize the group’s “ultimate goal.”
“He’s frustrated, disappointed,” Cashman stated. “He wants it. He wants a championship here, another one, for him and his family. So I’ll speak on behalf of Hal and his family. They believed, not just recently, but many times, that we had a chance to do something. But it’s not a given.”
Steinbrenner hasn’t held a press convention because the Yankees ended their longstanding ban on facial hair again on Feb. 21. Even after a sixteenth consecutive season and not using a championship — the second-longest streak in Yankees historical past — Steinbrenner didn’t attend the postmortem presser that came about Thursday.
That’s not a shock, as Steinbrenner is much much less drawn to the highlight than his late father, George, was. The identical goes for rolling heads and publicly placing his staff on blast. Proper or unsuitable, he isn’t vulnerable to wholesale adjustments, as evidenced by Boone and Cashman’s continued tenures.
However Cashman insisted that Steinbrenner is upset with this season’s end result, in addition to others. The chief additionally shared his personal dissatisfaction, whilst he made it sound as if the Yankees will return with the same method and non-playing personnel subsequent season.
“All you can count on is trying to put together a strong process with really good people, try to get as many quality players that care and are committed and can stay healthy and play to the best of their abilities for six months and then into the postseason, and then keep trying to do it again and again and again and again and again,” stated Cashman, who selected to not retain a number of coaches. “So [Hal is] annoyed as a result of he is aware of [it’s an] alternative misplaced for all of us, whether or not you’re a participant placing the uniform on otherwise you’re within the entrance workplace.
“People might get surprised at times: I’m more focused on the ones that got away. Yes, I’ve won some World Series, but there’s a lot of them I feel like we should have won, could have won, but it is tough. It is really difficult to do, and it’s easier to talk through, or what have you. But actually, for those guys in the competition, it’s obviously something that we aspire to do once again and, in some cases, aspire to do for the first time.”
Whereas some groups have suffered for for much longer — the Championship Sequence-contending Mariners and Brewers have by no means gained a World Sequence — the Yankees’ title drought has lasted eons in Bronx years. They performed in and misplaced the Fall Traditional in 2024, however followers have change into “frustrated” and “disappointed,” like Steinbrenner is claimed to be, because the membership retains operating it again yr after yr to no avail.
Cashman’s point out of attempting “again and again and again and again and again” will remind followers of that quote in regards to the definition of madness. However Steinbrenner evidently trusts his individuals and their methodology, whilst he repeatedly invests one in every of base baseball’s largest payrolls — although not the biggest — on a group that hasn’t gained all of it since 2009.
“With all that, it doesn’t guarantee the outcome we’re all fighting for, but the guarantee is always that we’re going to be fighting for it,” Cashman stated throughout a prolonged endorsement of Boone. “That’s the one factor that the Steinbrenner household offers for this metropolis, is consistently having a group you could put forth you could imagine is able to a championship. That’s the job we’ll be doing as soon as once more subsequent yr.
“I’d rather be talking about a World Series title right now, but we’re not. But the championship caliber intent is always there.”
