Beat writer reveals Yankees failed to heed Didi Gregorius' dire warning

It's hard not to feel like the New York Yankees have a significant organizational issue on their hands these days. It's also hard not to agree with every inflammatory statement that confirms our current priors. The team is just that disappointing.

Every year, fans get excited for critiques from former players and low-hanging catnip about poor practices, but this year, that goes double. They have far more talent and depth than the 2020-2024 Yankees, but play far worse. They hand games away with errors, both physical and in judgment. Bullpen flubs have defined them. They lead MLB in FanGraphs WAR and have the worst record of any Yankees team with a run differential this strong.

It's got to be Aaron Boone's fault. It's got to be organizational rot. It's got to be ... well, something, right? All signs point to this not happening, and yet it continues to.

That's why, despite 2019 being a cool six years ago, Didi Gregorius' take caught fire on Tuesday afternoon thanks to beat writer Erik Boland. According to Boland, Didi noted that he was floored by the lack of fundamentals being taught in the Yankees' minors during his '19 rehab assignment. That was a different development regime, and a lot of on-field good has been done by the Yankees since then, but ... same head of the snake. Same poison.

Do Yankees have significant development problem at minor-league level dating back to 2019? Or do they, uh, not?

Of course, those within the Yankees' minor-league system don't believe a word of what Gregorius once said (or believe his criticism to be hopelessly outdated).

Joe Vasile, the play-by-play man who follows the High-A Hudson Valley Renegades, fervently disagrees with the accusation that the Yankees ignore fundamental instruction below the surface.

For years, accusations of the Yankees' lack of fundamentals came mostly on the offensive side, with instructors like Dillon Lawson emphasizing "hitting strikes hard" over any kind of tic-tac-toe scoring. The franchise seemingly believed that, the more rips taken, the more likely they'd eventually find grass. It built up impressive exit velocities, but it didn't seem to help the Yankees "do damage" nearly as efficiently as the 2018 Red Sox.

Now, the offense is matching expectations, but the defensive pieces are lagging behind, and the transition from Triple-A to the majors still seems impossible for many of the Yankees' most vaunted prospects. Like it or not, questions from 2019 will still linger and feel pertinent until things turn around, regardless of the overhaul that's gone on below the MLB level.