New York Yankees‘ general manager Brian Cashman addressed the team on Tuesday in a pregame meeting, as the club has collapsed to the point of struggling to hold on to a postseason spot in the last couple of weeks.
According to MLB.com’s beat writer for the Yankees Bryan Hoch, the message that Cashman wanted to deliver was that he trusts his players and still believes in them and what they have the ability to do on the baseball field.
“I thought it was a really good message…understanding that better days are ahead for us because of the people we have in that room,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said to SNY about what the general manager told the team.
A season to forget so far for the Yankees
Between injuries, ineffectiveness, bullpen mismanagement by Boone, slumping stars and an improved American League East division, the New York Yankees were from a surefire playoff team to a struggling club playing some surprisingly mediocre ball in a matter of weeks.
They are currently 21-20, two games behind the Toronto Blue Jays for the second spot in the East.
The players and the coaching staff probably needed a wakeup call, as the Yankees take the field in Buffalo tonight against the same Blue Jays that scored 10 runs in an inning in an ugly collapse for the Bombers.
As a fun fact, Cashman also had a similar “intervention” in the 2009 Yankees’ clubhouse. During a rough stretch that year, per Hoch, Cashman jetted to Atlanta and spoke to the team, and his words were viewed as a turning point in a season that ended with the Bombers lifting the World Series trophy.
Will this be what the Yankees need to turn their season around? Only time will tell, but it is clear that things need to start changing in the Bronx. Soon. Otherwise, they may be missing the postseason in a year they looked as clear-cut favorites to win it all in October.