FOLLOW THE LEADER
Yanks are listening after Judge says changes are needed
Aaron Judge wasn’t specific when he spoke on Sunday, but he was blunt.
“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,” the Yankees captain said after his team was eliminated from postseason contention with a week left to play in the regular season.
When pressed for details, Judge chose to keep his thoughts in-house. However, he added that he plans on sharing his opinions when the Yankees hold “internal talks” this winter.
“I got some ideas,” Judge said. “But it’s gonna take all of us. It’s gonna be talking with everybody in the organization, all the way down to the minor league stuff all the way up to the top. There’s a lot of stuff we gotta work on and improve.”
On Monday morning, Judge’s words were a talking point when Aaron Boone and Anthony Rizzo, recovering from post-concussion syndrome, spoke to the media.
“With Aaron getting drafted here and coming up through the organization, he knows this place inside and out and a lot better than I do,” Rizzo said when asked if Judge’s comments resonated. “I’m very invested at the big league level, but he knows everyone in the minor leagues — all the staff, all the coaches, how it works.
“With Aaron, he’s our guy. When he says things, it comes from the heart. He puts a lot of thought into things.”
Like Judge, Rizzo didn’t want to get into details when asked why things didn’t pan out for the Yankees this year. However, the first baseman did say that the clubhouse got along well and never felt divided.
Rizzo also said that players should bear the brunt of the blame for this season’s shortcomings.
“A lot of guys didn’t play to their capability,” Rizzo said, including himself. “At the end of the day, it’s our fault.
“We can say this, that or whatever, but it’s our fault. We didn’t play well enough. We didn’t rise up to the outside noise.”
Indeed, subpar performances hurt the Yankees. So did a plethora of injuries, including significant ones to Judge and Rizzo.
But the team also entered the season with a poorly constructed roster that had issues in left field and at third base, among other concerns. Now the Yankees have even more roster questions as they prepare for a premature offseason. The poor campaign also has some fans begging for changes in leadership.
A Brian Cashman dismissal seems unlikely, while Boone still has another guaranteed year on his deal and the support of his players. That includes Judge.
On Monday, Boone said that the Yankees haven’t told him whether he’ll return in 2024. He also said that he isn’t worried about his job as his sixth year as the Yankees’ manager nears its end.
While Boone said he doesn’t know what’s next, he has spoken like a man who will be part of the team’s future plans, which include an offseason audit to be performed by an outside company. The skipper gave that impression again when asked about Judge’s comments on Monday.
“You always listen, especially Aaron now is our captain and certainly the player he is, the leader he is, the face of our team,” Boone said. “So always listening, paying attention. I’m always talking to him about different things. So nothing’s really different there as far as he and I. He and I talked a lot yesterday, so we were always doing that, though, and hopefully putting ourselves in a good position to head into the winter to do a lot of good things to put us in a better position for next year.”
Boone added that players like Judge and Gerrit Cole — well-paid superstars who are leaders in the locker room — have the freedom to offer their input. The two are “deeply invested in the organization.”
“So we definitely listen to what they have to say,” Boone continued.
The manager, asked if he agreed with Judge’s assessment, said that there are things the Yankees have to change and fix between now and next season. But he was also mum when it came to sharing particulars with reporters.
“I’m thinking about things all the time,” Boone said, “and there’s layers of (the) organization or things that you have your personal thoughts and things that we’ll get into at length. Unfortunately, we’ll have a lot of time for that.”