The Yankees have fired hitting coach Dillon Lawson. It’s the first time GM Brian Cashman has fired a coach in the middle of a season. This is his 26th season as GM. Yankees’ hitters have severely underperformed. And Lawson takes the fall.
— JackCurryYES (@JackCurryYES) July 9, 2023
Brian Cashman said that the next Yankees hitting coach would be someone that Aaron Boone “is in lockstep and in line with.” A former teammate fits the bill. https://t.co/Y3x4RCDcN5
— Bryan Hoch ⚾️ (@BryanHoch) July 10, 2023
I have been off the Brian Cashman train since the Yankees got embarrassed by the Astros in the ALCS. I thought he, and Boone, should probably hit the road and the Yankees should look in a new direction to take the team, because Cashman’s way was no longer working. But instead, they both got extensions.
This weekend, for the first time in 26 seasons as the Yankees GM, Cashman fired a coach mid-season. The victim: hitting coach Dillon Lawson, whose philosophy of “hit the ball hard” just wasn’t working anymore. Was it warranted? yes, but I don’t want anyone to be distracted from the fact that this is a team built by Brian Cashman, and he hasn’t made any real changes outside of signing Cole and Rodon.
Let me clarify: I am not one of those Yankees fans who thinks they should simply go out and “get Mike Trout” or something like that. For the last three seasons, Cashman has put out essentially the same lineup, which just continues to get older, more injured, and less productive for everyone who isn’t named Aaron Judge.
Dillon Lawson was a scapegoat...
— fan of the Yankees (@realboshek) July 10, 2023
Cashman's lineup has been terrible for 3 years
Stats pic.twitter.com/g5HUtMnWy6
Cashman refused to trade any young prospects for big time, difference maker players. But there also is a reluctance to promote from within, whether that is because of fear of not getting wins, or fear of these highly-touted prospects floundering at the big league level.
So what’s the move?
Sean Casey will indeed be the Yankees’ next hitting coach, sources tell @TheAthletic.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 10, 2023
Hire a guy with no coaching experience. To be honest, I don’t think it can get any worse for the Yankees. Casey is a lifetime .302 hitter, which is impressive. He is also an ex-teammate of Aaron Boone from their Cincinnati days. Hopefully this lightens the mood, and players respect what Casey has to say because he was a solid hitter for a long time in the league.
If this is the kind of stuff he can translate to the Yankees then I am on board. But at the end of the day, this comes down to Cashman’s roster building abilities.
Rumors of the Yankees’ interest in Cubs’ Cody Bellinger doesn’t do much for me. Bellinger has had a good season, and I am happy to see him producing after his fall off with the Dodgers, but that move doesnt make the Yankees a championship level team. It’s a short-term fix to a long-term problem, something Cashman has done frequently.
Every time I think Cashman is at the end of his rope with the Yankees, he gets another mile. It doesn’t make any sense. I hate to sound like a snob, but the Yankees haven’t even been to a World Series since 2009, let alone have won one. For other fanbases that might sound like a brief period of time, but for a franchise that is constantly telling their fans they are “dedicated to winning,” and are “always trying to compete for a championship,” the teams Cashman has put out there for the least several years would have gotten any other GM fired.
To be transparent, I wouldn’t hate the Yankees getting behind the young talent they have and propping them up. Volpe, Peraza, Dominguez, that is the future. Stop giving out contracts to old players that are going to age poorly. Get off of Stanton’s deal, Donaldson needs to go, LeMahieu too. I’m over those three guys. I know it’s a weird spot to be because you just gave a monster contract to Judge and Rodon, and you have Cole too, so you want to maximize their talent while you can. Cashman refused to trade his top prospects, so maybe it’s time to give them all a chance. I’m glad Volpe is figuring it out, let the rest come down the pipeline.
Good luck to Sean Casey.
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