The Yankees may still be baseball’s loudest brand, but this season left them sounding a lot more unsure of themselves.
They won 93 games in the regular season, then got swept out of the American League Division Series by the Tampa Bay Rays with Aaron Judge on the sideline because of a right calf injury. That kind of ending does more than sting.
It forces a reckoning. And after the season, owner Hal Steinbrenner made it plain that nothing is off the table - including the full coaching staff, with hitting coach James Rowson squarely in that mix.
Steinbrenner also said he plans to examine the team’s hitting philosophies, and that’s where the bigger issue sits. The Yankees sound split between different schools of thought at the plate. Some hitters are fully in the data-heavy lane, while others lean more old school, including Judge and Jazz Chisholm Jr.
That doesn’t mean Judge is the problem. Far from it.
He’s a three-time MVP with 386 home runs. But Steinbrenner’s comments made the disconnect obvious: this is an organization that doesn’t appear to be pulling in one direction.
That’s where the Guardians come into the picture.
Cleveland doesn’t have the Yankees’ resources, and it never will. New York has the most money in baseball, a point that keeps coming up in labor talks, and it also has the best hitter on the planet in Judge.
On paper, that should be a massive edge. But the Guardians have kept themselves in the same conversation by doing something simpler and, in some ways, more sustainable: sticking to one organizational approach and getting the most out of everybody on the roster.
That unified structure has helped them squeeze value out of players others might overlook, and it’s part of why they were able to get through this season even with José Ramírez being a shell of himself.
There’s still a long way to go before next Opening Day, whenever that comes. But Steinbrenner’s own words suggested something important: the distance between the Guardians and Yankees may not be nearly as wide as it looks.
In Other News...
Guardians Just Lost Another Behind The Scenes Voice Rivals Keep Poaching
The Guardians are losing another one of the behind-the-scenes people who helped shape their offensive program, as Conner Watson is headed to Houston to become the Astros director of hitting. Watson spent the past two seasons as Clevelands assistant director of hitting development, and his move is the latest reminder that the organizations player development work keeps getting noticed well beyond Progressive Field.
Chris Antonetti has already acknowledged the staff turnover, and in some ways that comes with the territory for a club whose development pipeline is routinely viewed as a strength. Still, it is the kind of loss that matters, because these roles influence how hitters are identified, coached and pushed forward before they ever become everyday names in Cleveland. The Guardians have built a reputation other teams want to borrow from, but keeping the people who built it together is proving to be a challenge. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians May Regret Letting These Prospects Slip Away
Clevelands farm system has already produced enough intriguing names to keep tabs on, and a few former Guardians prospects are beginning to look like more than background pieces in other organizations. Juan Brito, Jacob Cozart and Josh Hartle all moved on in separate trades, and each has taken a step that suggests the move may end up benefiting their new clubs as much as it cost Cleveland. Brito landed with the Reds and flashed promise in a limited look, while Cozarts strong Double-A showing for the Angels has put him on a path toward a possible big league debut.
Hartle may be the most interesting of the three because of the role he could eventually fill for Washington. He has been effective at Double-A and looks the part of a pitcher the Nationals can build around in the near future, which only adds to the sense that Cleveland may have parted with more upside than it realized. None of these deals is decided today, but by 2027 the Guardians could be looking at three former prospects becoming useful major leaguers somewhere else. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians May Have Built Something Special With These Two Young Arms
The Guardians have spent years trying to assemble a homegrown pitching core that can carry them beyond one good season, and Gavin Williams and Parker Messick are making that plan look a lot more realistic. Williams emerged as one of the most overpowering arms in the American League, leading the league in strikeouts and carrying that stuff into the postseason, while Messick put together a strong regular season that put him squarely in the Rookie of the Year conversation.
What makes the pairing so intriguing for Cleveland is that both pitchers came through the organizations development pipeline, giving the front office a chance to imagine a rotation anchored from within rather than pieced together from the outside. Williams already looks like the sort of frontline starter who can headline October games, and Messicks rapid rise only deepens the sense that the Guardians may have more than one future ace on their hands. [Read more 🡒]