During an appearance on "The Michael Kay Show," New York Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner was confused why the fans are upset with the team in June.
The New York Yankees are going through it, as the offense had been near anemic after star Aaron Judge injured his right big toe. The stars aren't hitting and only scored more than three runs in four of their last 12 games entering Tuesday. Before their game against the Seattle Mariners, manager Aaron Boone and general manager Brian Cashman made media appearances, and expressed how they still believe in the roster constructed, stressed that it's still early in the season, and feel that they can ultimately win and hit again when Judge makes his return. These messages were received with a mixed reception, depending on how fed up a fan feels about the team right now.
On Wednesday, after the team broke out of their slump with a 4-1 win over the Mariners, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner made an appearance on ESPN New York's "The Michael Kay Show." Kay brought up that there are fans "for some reason" that are very upset with how the team has been playing. While Steinbrenner did stress that
Hal Steinbrenner doesn't understand why Yankees fans are upset with the team's struggles in June
"I understand they're upset. I'm a little confused this year, being the third week of June, why they're so upset," said Steinbrenner. "But they're upset, and that's going to get my attention, of course, and everybody just needs to know that we're working hard on all fronts to get this back on the rails and start playing the way they were for a couple week period in May. But health is going to be a part of it. We've got to get Aaron [Judge] back, [Carlos] Rodon had a rehab outing, he felt great afterwards, 42 pitches I believe. We've got to get them in the mix. We've got to get healthier, we've got to get guys off the IL…"
Steinbrenner is confident in the team that has been constructed. It is relatively the same batting order as last year, one that couldn't hit over .200 in the Division Series against the Cleveland Guardians and the Championship Series against the Houston Astros. The team's offseason consisted of retaining Judge and Anthony Rizzo while adding Rodon to the starting rotation and Tommy Kahnle back to the bullpen. Other than that, the team didn't bring in an impact bat to help the team improve their production at the plate.
Again, Steinbrenner said he doesn't get why fans are upset in June. It's a fair point, as there are still three months to go in the season, and second-half surges can happen. But what if the Yankees can't improve or get even worse? Will changes be on the horizon?
When answering fan questions, Steinbrenner was asked if he would make "major changes" if the team were to finish third in the AL East and miss out on the playoffs. Steinbrenner said that he'll "start asking the tough questions" if the team is healthy and can't make the playoffs, or if they underperform in the playoffs.
"I would say that if we can march into the playoffs with 90 percent of our intended team that we expected to be on the field every day. 90 percent and everybody's got injuries, but let's say 90 percent, and we don't perform well in the playoffs, I'm going to start asking the questions even then," said Steinbrenner. "If we don't make the playoffs, third place, fourth place, second place, this is a tough division, but if we don't make the playoffs and we're healthy the second half of the year and start getting guys back, and we get the team that we intended to be on the field on the field, then I'm going to be asking some tough questions."
Steinbrenner is still maintaining hope, and revealed during his appearance on "The Michael Kay Show" that he believes Boone and Cashman are the right people for their respective jobs, and doesn't think hitting coach Dillon Lawson should be on the hot seat right now. If the team doesn't perform in the second half of the season, which leads to another disappointing postseason exit or missing out on the playoffs altogether, the fanbase is going to want to see if Steinbrenner is a man of his word, and that he would consider making major changes to the organization if either situation happens.