Hal Steinbrenner doubled down in the offseason. He heard the outside noise. But he kept the same decision-making personnel from baseball operations to the dugout, believing they had served the organization and his family well.
The Yankees owner insisted the group came together for postseason meetings that surfaced and then settled problematic issues.
But for the most part, except in places in which they had no choice — for example, Brad Ausmus at bench coach to replace Carlos Mendoza, who was hired as Mets manager — he entrusted Brian Cashman and his infrastructure to fix a product that seemed heading in the wrong direction.
After all, Steinbrenner had called the playoff-less, 82-80 2023 season “awful.” Cashman labeled it “a disaster.”
