Ben Verlander's latest Yankees take proves he hasn't been paying attention for a long time

This is one of those situations where "I can make fun of/criticize my team and you can't," regardless of the magnitude. New York Yankees fans, though sometimes delusional and entitled, are constantly in tune to what's going on and work to hold ownership and the front office accountable as often as possible.

There's been enough internal frustration and vitriol directed at general manager Brian Cashman, so if opposing fans and non-Yankees media pundits can stay out of this one, that'd be great. We understand it's a great talking point for views and clicks, but a general perspective on Cashman's recent comments are stale/miss the mark/paint a disingenuous picture.

When Cashman spoke about the fan base's anger with how the 2022 season ended, there were countless, quick-triggered Yankees-centric responses that quickly shot down what he had to say. The Yankees barely got past the Guardians in the ALDS and then got pasted by the Astros (4-0 sweep) in the ALCS. That's a "successful" season? That's a "hell of a run"?

Months prior, the Yankees were on pace to break the regular season wins record. Then they were a laughingstock in August, had to work to get beyond the embarrassment in September, and clearly weren't prepared in October, from both a performance and management standpoint. That's a frustrating season, not a successful one, even though they were one of four teams still standing.

The last thing Yankees fans need right now is Ben Verlander and the Flippin' Bats podcast (just taking a random baseball phrase and applying it, because, yassss) giving their take on Cashman's low-energy response.

Ben Verlander clearly hasn't paid attention to the Yankees for a while

If you grew up in the 1990s, the Yankees were the team. They were right there in the early 2000s, too. Derek Jeter was the face of baseball. New York was always threatening a World Series run. "I remember when the Yankees were THE YANKEES" is akin to generations of yesteryear throwing their hands in the air and screaming at the sky about how everything was better in their day.

While the expectations always remain high in the media/sports capital of the world, and while it's beyond disappointing that the Yankees haven't sniffed a World Series appearance since 2009, the general baseball media can't sit here and call New York fans entitled spoiled brats while also wondering, "What the hell happened to the Yankees!? They're soft now! What a disgrace! We thought this was America!" We're angry at what you're angry at! So don't fan-shame!

How about a history lesson? Yes, the Yankees have the most storied franchise in all of sports when it comes to brand recognition and success. But what happened from 1979-1995? New York made the playoffs three times, appeared in one World Series, finished below .500 four times. cycled through 10 managers, and had a streak of 13 straight postseason-less years. They experienced a similar drought from 1965-1975: zero playoff appearances, no WS win since 1962, no WS appearance since 1964. You couldn't touch the Yankees from 1923-1964, but eventually the party came to an end.

And in this day and age, parity has only been fortified, which has made the Yankees' ability to maintain supremacy even more difficult. No, it doesn't help that Cashman is seemingly complacent with the team maintaining relevancy -- a poisonous energy that permeates and infects everyone from the top down -- but it's also nothing new. He's been the GM for 25 years and has yet to build his own World Series winner without a Core Four and the power of George Steinbrenner's full wallet. Fans have wanted him gone for quite a while. As Alex Curry mentioned in the clip with Verlander, Cashman's comments from 2017 ("World Series-or-bust mentality is a thing of the past") was really the cherry on top of the frustration from 2010-2016, which featured bad spending, three playoff-less years, two early exits, and two ALCS disappointments.

And again, the Yankees have won ONE World Series since 2001. Even before Cashman's first round of comments years ago, fans have been up in arms with the countless failures that have embarrassed this franchise more than anybody on the outside could've ever imagined. We've been saying Cashman lacks the personal touch/aggression that's been an evident necessity for a long time now.

So why is the discourse amount the general baseball public lagging this far behind? You all love to hate and rip the Yankees. This should've been an ongoing discussion since, at the very least, 2014. If you're going to hate us, at least hate us with us.