Yankees need to bring back 'Evil Empire' mentality

Now that another New York Yankees season has ended without a World Series championship, the finger-pointing process is about to get underway. Over the next few weeks and months, you will hear a lot about manager Aaron Boone, their issues with fundamental baseball, how they are too reliant on analytics and which players were not clutch enough as to why they ended up losing to the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALDS.

There might be some truth to all of those talking points. None of them get down to the real factor behind the Yankees' 16-year title drought — child's play for most teams, but an eternity for the Yankees.

It's all about the mindset. Or more specifically, the lack of a mindset that used to make them winners.

New York Yankees in desperate need of mentality shift

The biggest issue for the Yankees is the simple reality that they don't act like the George Steinbrenner-era Yankees anymore. Sure, they still have one of the league's highest payrolls, and they do still mix in the occasional big-name addition. 

Max Fried was a huge signing this past offseason. Gerrit Cole was a huge signing a few years ago. Trading for Juan Soto (before losing him) was Steinbrenner-sized blockbuster. 

But there's not enough of them, and there's not enough to make a difference. 

These Yankees take too many half-measures and are too concerned about arbitrary budgets and bottom lines that they never used to care about. Instead of being a win-at-all-costs franchise, they are now a "win-at-the-right-cost" franchise. And that's just not how the Yankees used to operate. It's not how they should operate. 

While the bulk of their core from the mid-1990s through early 2000s was homegrown with Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams and Andy Pettite leading the way, the Yankees also complemented them with huge outside additions. Every time a big-name player was available, the Yankees were the first team lining up.

Tino Martinez. Jason Giambi. Johnny Damon. Mark Teixeira. Hideki Matsui. Roger Clemens. Alex Rodriguez. There were more. For more than a decade, there was always somebody. 

When they signed Cuban-born pitcher Jose Contreras in 2002, out-bidding American League East rival Boston, former Red Sox president Larry Lucchino dubbed the Yankees "the Evil Empire." 

The Yankees didn't just spend big. They outspent everybody by massive amounts. For the decade between 1996 and 2006, the Yankees lost the division one time (when they finished in second), played in the ALCS seven times, the World Series six times and won it four times. 

There is nothing stopping them from still operating that way. But they don't. And they haven't. 

When they needed a shortstop before 2023, they didn't make a serious effort for Manny Machado or Trea Turner because they wanted to roll with Anthony Volpe. That's backfired. 

When Bryce Harper was practically begging the Yankees to sign him in 2019, they refused because they felt they already had too many outfielders. Their outfielders over the two years that followed were Aaron Judge (good), Mike Tauchman, Clint Frazier, a 35-year-old Brett Gardner and Aaron Hicks. Their DH in 2019 was Edwin Encarnacion. 

If somebody had told George Steinbrenner the Yankees weren't going to pursue a Bryce Harper level of player so they could play Tauchman or Hicks instead, he would have fired those people and then re-hired them just so he could fire them again out of spite. The Yankees need that mentality back. 

They can't keep going with these half-measures that involve past-their-prime former stars like Paul Goldschmidt. They can't clutch onto prospects (who may not even be that good) at the trade deadline and trade for Ryan McMahon when Eugenio Suarez is also available. 

You might not like that mindset as a non-Yankees fan, but that's the point. That's what made the Yankees the Yankees. As long as there's no salary cap, they should be utilizing their resources and funds as much as possible to win. They should be crushing the opposition. They have since passed that baton off to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are now what the Yankees used to be (and who beat them in the World Series a year ago). 

The Yankees might be bad fundamentally, and they might not have enough hitters come through in the playoffs, but that's largely because they don't get enough top-tier players anymore. And there's nothing stopping them from doing so except themselves.

They need corner infielders this offseason. Suarez is a free agent. Alex Bregman might be. Pete Alonso probably will be. They need another big outfield bat. Kyle Tucker is available. The options will be there.

Whom the Yankees decide to pursue, and whom they get, will tell us what they want to be. Do they want to be the New York Yankees? Or do they want to be some knockoff brand-version that no longer represents the pinstripes? We will soon find out.