Yankees News: Hal Steinbrenner says changes are coming ... but will they be enough?

Changes are long overdue in the Bronx, and of course the New York Yankees are making this as difficult as possible. They're conducting a postmortem following their worst season since 2016 because it seems that's just how disconnected the organization is.

Do three days worth of intense meetings with various departments seem totally necessary? If Hal Steinbrenner had more involvement on the baseball side of things, that probably wouldn't need to happen. If Brian Cashman had any clue what has been going wrong, he'd be able to swiftly identify the problem area and make it disappear.

Instead, we have whatever this is. Steinbrenner was in New York City on Wednesday at Sportico’s Invest in Sports conference (and he was joined by team president Randy Levine). He was asked about the state of the Yankees and what might be done to fix what's broken, and he hinted that changes are on the way but provided no specifics. He said there are more discussions to be had. Does he realize time isn't on his side?

The offseason begins in three weeks, so the Yankees better get on whatever those "changes" are before roster moves, signings and trades become all-important.

Fans aren't necessarily convinced, however. Will these changes be enough? Is this the usual Yankees lip service meant to hush everybody for a few moments so the groaning doesn't reach unsustainable levels?

Yankees News: Hal Steinbrenner says changes are coming ... but will they be enough?

What kind of people have the Yankees hired (across all departments) if they have to warn their employees to check their egos at the door before diving into an evaluation meeting? Are these departments operating so autonomously that they've been free from any sort of review or questioning? How has everything been able to persist up until now without any internal observation? Or, at least, why does it seem that way?

The Yankees have sadly become a "we'll believe it when we see it" organization. In on the big free agents and trade targets? That sounds cool. Not buying it until somebody signs on the dotted line or a blockbuster is made. Remember we were all fooled when they said they weren't done after the Carlos Rodón signing and then they happened to be very much done?

Do any of these words from Steinbrenner make you feel the changes will be drastic enough? Or will be the right ones? It sounds like there's a serious lack of conviction as well as a lack of understanding what's been rotting the organization from within. This organization needs an overhaul and, based on Steinbrenner's words, couldn't be more distant from that.

The Yankees are supposed to be baseball's gold standard. Countless other teams have acted far more aggressively when faced with this sort of ineptitude. Is it always the right decision? Definitely not. But it's certainly the better plan of action when you've had the same philosophy and practices for two decades now, and your lone pennant was a direct result of the previous owner signing off on a $500 million free agent spending spree.

Bran Cashman's coming back. Aaron Boone's coming back. If nobody in the scouting, analytics and/or strength and conditioning departments have been dismissed yet, how can we fall in line with whatever the Yankees are trying to sell us right now?

We have no idea what the changes will be, and that's because the Yankees really don't know either. And that certainly means whatever is decided won't be influential enough to turn this sinking ship around within the next year or two.