NEW YORK — The New York Yankees’ 2025 season has devolved into a familiar pattern of mid-season collapse, with veteran baseball writers Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman delivering a brutal assessment of a franchise trapped in a cycle of fundamental failures under Aaron Boone.
Speaking on “The Show,” the pair warned that the Yankees have created a “Frankenstein’s monster” that threatens to derail another promising season.
The numbers tell a damning story. After clearing the trade deadline, the Yankees remain mired in what Sherman describes as “seven weeks” of sustained poor play. During “a quarter of the season,” they’ve gone 18-25, “fallen out of first place” and “put themselves in some peril of not even making the playoffs.”
“You just can’t play like this continuously and talk about being a playoff team,” Sherman observed, questioning how the organization can “live in the delusion where you keep making excuses for horrible, horrible baseball.”
Accountability crisis reaches breaking point
The Yankees’ fundamental problems extend far beyond statistics into a culture that seemingly lacks consequences for repeated mistakes. Jazz Chisholm Jr. exemplified this crisis when, after being “doubled off on a popup to second base when you’re not trying to steal second,” he was asked if he would handle the situation differently and “said yes.”
“Aaron Boone has made clear that was not the right way to do it. That was a mistake. There was no reason to be doubled off on a popup to second base when you’re not trying to steal second. You’re just standing there,” Heyman noted. “It made no sense whatsoever. And this message obviously didn’t get through to him at all.”
The accountability void becomes more glaring when contrasted with championship standards.
“If there was accountability, he would have said ‘I blew it. I made a mistake. I let the team down.’ And there obviously is not,” Heyman continued. “Aaron Boone is great at getting along with everybody. He’s great at making everything sound positive, but at some point you’ve got to suggest to the players that they’ve got to do something better or different.”
Boone’s management style under fire
Sherman and Heyman identified Boone’s leadership approach as central to the team’s struggles, noting a pattern that repeats annually.
“At some point, this is a terrible reflection on Aaron Boone and his coaching staff… you’re just not getting the most out of the group. You allow it to go into a death swirl at about this time every year,” Sherman said.
The criticism acknowledges Boone’s past recoveries while warning of deeper systemic issues.
“Now, if you want to say then Aaron Boone pulls them out of it and they’re fine, I assume they’ll probably pull out of this and be fine, but we know this is the Frankenstein’s monster inside them that will kill them again at some point along the way.”
“The days of Jim Leyland are over. Billy Martin certainly way over, but there’s got to be some level of accountability,” Heyman added, referencing managers known for demanding excellence in fundamentals.
All or nothing philosophy backfires
Despite maintaining impressive offensive numbers, including what Heyman noted as “the best run differential, believe it or not, still in the American League” at “plus 92,” the Yankees have become victims of their own strategic limitations.
“They’re a one-talent team. They hit the ball over the fence and when they don’t, they look like a different team,” Sherman explained. “And right now, they’re an all or nothing team without Aaron Judge. So, they’re missing the all. They’re just a nothing team.”
The philosophical clash between power and fundamentals creates broader problems beyond immediate results.
“When you don’t see what the energy, momentum, what it does to your dugout, what it does to their dugout… when you hustle a double, when you hustle a triple, when you execute well on the field,” Sherman observed. “When you’re concentrating on stuff like that, it makes you sharper all the time to be able to win a game when the ball doesn’t go over the fence, which sometimes it doesn’t often in the postseason.”
Three year pattern of Yankees’ summer collapses
The current struggles represent part of a disturbing trend that predates 2025.
“For at least the last three seasons they have a period in the second half where they have runs like this where they play well under .500 for sustained periods of time,” Sherman noted.
This pattern cost the Yankees dearly in recent postseason runs.
“They kept doing the nothing to see here, nothing to see here, and it only cost them a World Series,” Sherman reflected on 2024. “And then they wanted to alibi the World Series as one inning, one game.”
The missed opportunity looms large in current context. “You had a chance to win a World Series if you were buttoned up last year,” Sherman said.
“If they had won that game five where they’re up five nothing, the Dodgers were essentially out of pitching… They just had to play a clean game and they didn’t play anything close to a clean game and it cost them a chance.”
Roster additions fail to address core issues
Despite importing proven defensive talents, the Yankees’ fundamental problems persist.
“To me, it’s shocking that their fundamentals are still bad when they’ve imported Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger, and Ryan McMahon, three very good defensive players,” Heyman said. “Overall, it still seeps in there somehow.”
The team’s recent sweep by Miami illustrated how their approach fails against disciplined opponents.
“They’re a team that’s got speed, that puts the ball in play, that’s got youthful energy. Yankees don’t have any of those things right now,” Heyman observed.
Starting pitching concerns compound problems
Beyond fundamental failures, the Yankees face rotation depth issues that could doom their playoff hopes.
“If they miss the playoffs, will fundamentals have been a part of it? Yes. But I actually think they might run out of starting pitching,” Sherman warned.
“Yesterday was a big day and Luis Gil did not rise to that big day. They need him to be really good. Once they get rid of Stroman, which by the way, I think was the right move, you are now in the Clarke Schmidt, Will Warren business till the finish line unless Ryan Yarborough gets healthy.”
The precarious situation leaves little margin for error. “These five guys have to pretty much stay healthy and somewhat effective to the end… If they have any glitch here physically or Gil isn’t good, I don’t think they survive it.”
Talent versus execution dilemma
The Yankees find themselves trapped between elite talent and systematic execution failures. “Are they going to out-homer their mistakes?” Sherman asked. “You know they’re going to make mistakes, and they’re going to hit home runs. Which are they going to do more of? That’s basically what it’s come down to.”
With their championship window potentially closing, the organization must confront whether its “Frankenstein’s monster” can be fixed in time to salvage what began as a promising season. As Sherman and Heyman’s analysis makes clear, the Yankees’ problems run deeper than personnel – they reflect fundamental organizational choices about accountability, emphasis, and leadership that have created a predictable cycle of mid-season collapse.
“I’m not going to be shocked at all if they miss the playoffs at this point,” Sherman concluded, summarizing the precarious position of a franchise that continues to choose talent over fundamentals while expecting different results.
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