This New York Yankees legend has ripped the organization for one very key reason.
The New York Yankees are not quite as revered as they once were, thanks much in part to the fact they are not quite as much of a free-spending franchise anymore.
The Yankees have failed to address numerous holes over the last several seasons, due much in part to their refusal to spend significant money.
Yes, New York has a top-five payroll, but there is no question that Hal Steinbrenner has dialed things back in recent years, and when you don't always have the best player development, the lack of spending becomes that much more glaring.
Yankees legend Alex Rodriguez particularly thinks the Yankees are struggling when it comes to their offense and absolutely shredded the front office for not fixing their issues in that regard, particularly when it comes to shortstop Anthony Volpe.
“[Volpe] really is an incredible young man with a great family and the organization has fallen in love with him,” Rodriguez said on WFAN. “But at some point the numbers don’t lie, right? You have 167 strikeouts [in his rookie season in 2023], 156 [in 2024] and 150 [last season] and here’s a young man that the biggest way he can impact winning is with his No. 1 tool and that’s his legs. But we’ve taken his legs away."
Alex Rodriguez. Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images.Rodriguez went on to say that this is more of an organizational mess than a problem with Volpe individually.
“And what I mean by that, here’s a young man who has stolen over 50 stolen bases in the minor leagues. He stole 18 last year," Rodriguez added. "And it’s hard to impact winning when you’re striking out 150 times and you’re hitting .212. So I think if you zoom out, it’s an organization hitting philosophy that is absolutely broken, and until they fix it, I don’t think they win big.”
Let's be real: it's not just Volpe.
Volpe has become the poster child for the Yankees' offensive woes, but Austin Wells had a .275 OBP in 2025. Ryan McMahon managed a .641 OPS after coming over from Colorado at the trade deadline. The bench was a complete mess.
New York definitely has to address these difficulties if it wants to reach that next level and win a World Series, but the Yanks have remained silent in free agency thus far.
Perhaps the Yankees are planning on swinging some trades in order to bolster their lineup, but it's also important to remember that Cody Bellinger — one of New York's top bats from this past season — has yet to re-sign and could end up being a goner.
The Yanks won 94 games in 2025, but they lost to the Toronto Blue Jays — a team with terrific lineup depth — in the ALDS. It's hard to imagine the Yankees producing better results in 2026 unless something changes.