The New York Yankees Have A Fundamentals Problem

The flaws that plagued the Yankees all season came to a head in the World Series specifically in game five. Despite having three gold glove nominees starting regularly in 2024, the Yankees committed the third most number of errors in the American League. Arguably the Yankees’ biggest issue in 2024 was baserunning. This past season, New York was among the worst baserunning teams, and they’d regularly run themselves into outs. These issues come back to General Manager Brian Cashman and the player development and analytics departments. The New York Yankees had the worst kind of issue in 2024 and that is a fundamentals problem.

A Fantastic Season Wasn’t Without Flaws

While the New York Yankees had a fantastic season, won the AL East, clinched the first postseason seed, and advanced to their first World Series in 15 years; they weren’t without their flaws. The Yankees were among the worst teams in both fielding and base running. However, the Yankees were able to outslug their opponents to mask these flaws during the regular season, ALDS, and ALCS. This strategy proved to be fatal against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

A Poor Fielding Team In 2024

Despite having gold glove nominees in Alex Verdugo, Anthony Volpe, and Juan Soto; New York was among the worst fielding teams in baseball. The Yankees committed 93 errors in 2024 and only the Angels and Red Sox had more fielding miscues. Anaheim and Boston both missed the postseason as well. The Yankees committed nine fielding mistakes in 14 postseason games played. While it didn’t show up on the stat sheet, there were various instances where Yankee fielders misjudged or didn’t get to a ball quick enough allowing baserunners to get extra bases. Their fielding problems reached a crescendo in their must-game five of the World Series. The Yankees committed three errors in the fifth inning causing them to blow a 5-0 lead. New York would go on to lose the game 7-6 and ultimately the World Series.

Worst Baserunning Team In Baseball

While baserunning is extremely poor in the game today, the Yankees were “beer league softball” bad at it in 2024. This has been a long-neglected problem by the Yankees who had this problem in 2021, 2022, and 2023. According to the Fangraphs statistic “BsR”, the Yankees had a league-worst -16.9. By comparison, the Dodgers ranked fourth in baseball with a “BsR” of +10.7.” Heck, even the inept 121-loss Chicago White Sox ran the bases better than the Yankees and had a “BsR” of -8.8. The worst thing a team can do is bail their opponents out of innings. This kills the potential to have big run-scoring innings and can hand an opponent some momentum to overcome deficits.

These Issues Are On Brian Cashman

Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman and his player development and analytics department are responsible for these issues. It was Cashman who didn’t acquire a true third baseman, had Jazz Chisholm play out of position, insisted that Aaron Judge move to centerfield, and thought that the team could outslug everyone to cover their flaws. This plan may have worked in the regular season, ALDS, and ALCS, however, it backfired when it mattered most.

The Player Development Process Has To Be Reviewed

In baseball, talent development isn’t linear. No matter how great a player becomes, it must be continuous. There is too much information that players have access to in today’s game to exploit weaknesses. Considering how poor New York was at fielding and baserunning both during the regular season and playoffs, the Yankees player development process is obviously flawed. Given how fielding and baserunning cost the team a championship, the front office needs to take a deep dive into how those things are being coached at all levels of the organization. It is unacceptable that a team with World Series aspirations is struggling with the fundamentals.

Bigger Issues Were Potentially Exposed

The Yankees’ World Series loss potentially exposed much bigger issues inside the organization. This team struggled both during the regular and postseason to execute the fundamentals. The Yankees fundamentals problem manifested itself, particularly in the fifth inning of game five of the Fall Classic. The Dodgers proved that the team that executes the fundamentals the best will win a championship every time. If the Yankees learned something from this disappointment, it’s that offense can only cover up a team’s fielding and baserunning flaws for so long.

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