How the New Jersey Devils Are Better Run than the New York Yankees
We are in the middle of baseball season, but New York Yankees fans are already looking forward to New Jersey Devils hockey.
The 2023 season is the worst New York Yankees season most young fans have ever seen. It’s unbelievable, but what was once an organization that was very proud is now in the same position the New Jersey Devils had been just a year ago. After seeing the fruits of their labor, it’s clear the Devils are a much better run team, both on the ice/field and in the front office.
So what changed? There are a few reasons for this change.
Devils Have Better Players and Talent
If you want to talk about the type of talent and players the Yankees have, look no further than Aaron Judge. Judge is perhaps one of the best players in baseball today and broke an AL record of 62 home runs last year. Judge is now captain of the Yankees after signing a long-term deal last offseason.
However, the rest of the offense lacks any good talent. Anthony Rizzo, Giancarlo Stanton, and DJ LeMahieu were once great players, but right now, they cannot hit the ball. Then you have players like Harrison Bader, Gleyber Torres, and rookie Anthony Volpe. While those guys can get going eventually, their momentum won’t last long, and they’d be back to their rough at-bats in no time.
Pitching-wise, Gerrit Cole has been dominant this year, striking out guys and avoiding earned runs. Domingo German and Clarke Schmidt are playing well despite some inconsistent starts. Carlos Rodon has looked about average in his first starts as a Yankee.
The bullpen started well but regressed in July. This Yankees team wants to have the talent to go to the World Series, but when you lack any offense most nights and have pitchers give up multiple runs a game, that’s not a stable team.
The Devils Talent
On the other hand, the Devils have an excellent core that could compete for the next decade. The Devils have guys like Jack Hughes, who is now becoming one of the best players in the league, scoring a franchise-record 99 points this past season.
The Devils also have talents like Jesper Bratt and Nico Hischier helping the offense. Add guys like Timo Meier and newly-acquired winger Tyler Tofolli to the mix, and this offense is steeped in talent. Supporting guys like Michael McLeod, Nathan Bastian, and Ondrej Palat also helps.
Rookies like Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec add to the team’s quality defenseman core. The only issue the team has is goaltending. While Vitek Vanacek looked good in the regular season, he got hung out to dry come playoff time. When Akira Scmid came in, he was a crucial piece in the Devils beating the Rangers in the playoffs. In the Hurricanes series, though, he was also hung out to dry like Vitek. Despite that, however, the Devils have a lot of good talent on their roster. Some of it is because of drafting, and some because of free agency. This kind of team is a team that people would love to come to watch and enjoy.
Devils Have Better Coaching Than the Yankees
A strong team needs good coaching. The Yankees have a bad one in Aaron Boone. Boone was a hero in 2003 when he helped the Yankees beat the Red Sox in Game 7 of that year’s ALCS by hitting a walk-off homerun and sending them to the World Series that year. Boone was also an analyst at ESPN before he got hired as Yankees manager.
Boone has been the manager of the Yankees for five years. This season is proving to be the worst season he’s ever managed. While he isn’t the main issue, what he does and says most days are inexcusable for any manager in any sport.
When it comes to decision-making, he makes head-scratching decisions. He’ll take out pitchers with low pitch counts when they are thriving. Boone won’t put guys like Judge in must-win games. Worst of all is his postgame press conferences, where instead of taking accountability for his actions and the players screwing up, he’ll focus on the positives and throw the issues over the head as if nothing happened. Defending his team used to be something Yankees fans loved. Now, it’s just old.
Aaron Boone on the offense: "Outside of the strikeouts, I thought at-bats were building off of last night. I thought we grinded out really well. We made it really tough on Kremer. We couldn't finish off."
— Gary Phillips (@GaryHPhillips) July 31, 2023
The #Yankees struck out 18 times. There are 27 outs in a regulation game.
While Lindy Ruff may not be one of the best coaches in the NHL, he at least understands how to use the talent around him. The fanbase also respects Lindy; after last season’s home opener, when they asked to fire him later in the season, they responded by saying sorry. Ruff was nominated for the Jack Adams Award this year but lost it to Jim Montgomery. He doesn’t try to say anything wrong in the postgame press conferences afterward. While Ruff’s stay with the organization might determine how they play next year, at the very least, we’re excited to see how he coaches the team this year.
Devils Have a Better General Manager and Owner than the Yankees
Every team needs a general manager and an owner to help put the team together and keep the organization afloat. Unfortunately for the Yankees, the GM and owner are holding the team back from being great. If Boone was the puppet, GM Brian Cashman and owner Hal Steinbrenner would be the puppet masters.
Cashman was hired in 1998. While he has put solid teams together, these past two decades have been awful compared to the expectations. The Yankees have one World Series appearance since 2003.
Instead of keeping up with the modern game, Cashman decides to go the opposite route. Instead of good players who can make contact, play left field, and make great defensive plays with speed, you have guys who don’t fit the narrative with the Yankees. They get guys like Josh Donaldson, Harrison Bader, Franchy Cordero, and Anthony Rizzo. Cashman won’t “overspend” on guys that could help in the future. Instead of getting guys like Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Bryan Reynolds, and others, he chooses Giancarlo Stanton and DJ LeMahieu.
What does he do after getting swept by the Astros in the 2022 ALCS? Cashman re-signs Judge and runs it back. When a GM on a team like the Yankees misses those kinds of players and runs the same squad back while everyone else grows more potent, he should get fired.
As far as Hal Steinbrenner is concerned, he clearly doesn’t care like his father. It’s hard to say its about anything more than money at this point. When things started to freefall in early June, Steinbrenner asked, “Why are the fans upset? I’m a little confused.”
If an owner related to his father, known as one of the best minds in the sport’s history, doesn’t even care about what state the team is in, why should the fans even care? The Yankees still have a chance to do the right thing and change how the organization gets run. But I doubt they will and will most likely wait until 2024.
— mulholland drive ending explained (@ted_farkas) July 20, 2023
Thankfully, the Devils don’t have an owner or GM issue. When Tom Fitzgerald was hired as the Devils’ GM, he had already done an excellent job. Getting guys like Timo Meier to sign an extension and acquiring Tyler Toffoli is so much fun to see. He also drafted guys like Simon Nemec and Luke Hughes.
Next. 5 Devils Draft Picks Who Got Famous Elsewhere. dark
The only lousy contract that Fitzgerald may have given out was Ondrej Palat’s contract. However, it was the contract’s first year, so there’s still time for that. Either way, Tom Fitzgerlad should’ve been nominated for the Jim Gregory Award. As for Josh Harris, while he may not pay full attention to the Devils, at the very least, he’s happy to see them thriving and doesn’t want to make any bad decisions. So, yeah, the Devils and Yankees are on two different sides of how they play.