“Yankees do dumb*** s***” - Ex-NY star warns team to stop acting “cute” and get their act together

The New York Yankees remain the most successful franchise across all North American sports leagues. Their 27 World Series wins showcase their decades of dominance in baseball. However, just one of those wins has come in the last 24 years.

In the sixteen-season drought since their 2009 World Series win, the Yankees have faced struggles in the postseason. Often, their lackluster decision-making has led them down despite having a star-studded roster.

Former Yankees outfielder Clint Frazier took a swing at the team's management on his podcast on Sunday.

"The Yankees are capable of winning World Series this year," Frazier said. And they are capable of winning it most years. But every year there was something behind the scenes or some kind of play that happened that caused us to not win it.

"And it's all those crucial moments that I was alluding to, where decisions that you make in the season leak over to decisions that get made in the playoffs. They will not win the World Series if this f**king analytical car is driving it. They won’t.

“And the reason that they won’t win it is because they do dumb*** sh** that they didn’t do during the regular season because they get cute and they want to make a crazy move.” (24:26 onwards)

Clint took an example of the 2020 American League Division Series when the top brass, relying on their analytics, decided to start Deivi Garcia as an opener instead of a starter. Their idea was that with Garcia named as a starter, the Rays would adopt a lineup that is left-handed heavy.

The Yankees would then call back Garcia and continue the game with other left-handed pitchers. New York lost the game 7-5. Garcia was on the mound for just 1.0 innings, but J.A. Happ, relieving him, earned 4 runs in 2.2 innings.

A similar story unfolded during last year's World Series opener as well. The Yankees led 3-2 in the tenth inning, when Aaron Boone decided to use lefty Nestor Cortes Jr. against the top of the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup that had left-handed hitters like Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman.

Cortes had struggled all season and ended up giving up a walk-off home run to Freeman.

---

Clint Frazier says Yankees players self-question after embarrassing decisions

Frazier, who played in the Bronx from 2017 to 2021, also commented on the self-doubt that creeps into the players after mistakes from the Yankees' top brass.

“So when that happens, as a player in the locker room, to know that we just went the entire season to get to this point and they got cute, and they tried something that they didn’t try during the regular season in the playoffs in a moment that’s extremely crucial and it backfires,” Frazier said.

"And every player’s sitting there thinking, ‘What the f**k just happened? What the f**k?’ That’s why they won’t win these games in the playoffs if they’re doing s**t like that.”

The NY team currently has a 68-57 record and is in the American League Wild Card position. They would need a strong end to the regular season to guarantee that spot.