Ridiculous 'Yankees identity' argument on social media has reached toxic heights

The New York Yankees are 30-20. They are a very good baseball team. Are they a championship-caliber one, though? That's where things get dicey among the fan discourse. We would argue that they aren't. Their bullpen isn't good. They strike out too much. And they don't have enough clutch performers/guys who prioritize putting the ball in play.

But that's a discussion for a different day. Again, they are 30-20! Pretty good after 50 games. That's why Jomboy Media drew some criticism on social media this week for a power rankings segment during an episode of "Talkin' Baseball" — the internet's most listened to baseball podcast.

Former MLB player Trevor Plouffe and Talkin' Jake (Jake Storiale) both had the Rays above the Yankees in their rankings (rightfully so), and then devolved into a deeper philosophical question: do the Yankees need a clearer sense of identity?

For fans out there just trying to enjoy being 10 games above .500, we can understand the frustration. For as often as the other shoe drops with the Yankees, it'd be nice just to cheer on the team's early successes.

But it appears a number of Yankees fans (and even well-known personalities!) took it too far and got a little too in their feels about it. Some rushed to the front of the line to call the discussion "bad content" while The Athletic Yankees beat writer Chris Kirschner shamelessly plugged his own podcast (that he forces people to pay for) by insulting Plouffe and Storiale for "not knowing what's going on." He then told a fan he won't make his podcast free because "he likes money" before promptly departing for Iceland for two weeks. His podcast co-host, Randy Wilkins, joined in to take aim and suggest the segment was "wild as hell."

What is the New York Yankees' identity, and why are fans flipping out about this?

That was the moment this flew off the rails. Twitter user "Rational Yankees fan" was deeply bothered by the commentary, and suggested the Yankees' identity was "elite starting pitching with power up and down the lineup." Wilkins said the Yankees' identity remains from the Gene Michael days, when he saved the organization from spiraling into irrelevance.

Somehow, both of those rebuttals were even more ridiculous than innocently discussing the Yankees' identity on May 21. The Yankees' identity is not elite starting pitching. That only started being a thing after Cam Schlittler emerged last season. In fact, their lack of pitching ruined their window from 2017-2019, and it wasn't until Gerrit Cole's arrival that things began to stabilize. But from 2020-2025, the Yankees only had a top-10 starters' ERA three times, and one of those was the god awful 2021 season (they ranked 10th). We'd also venture to say that "elite" should be considered top-five or top-three. They were top-five twice (2022, 2025), and that's not enough to solidify an "identity". In fact, that's what we would call wildly inconsistent.

And how about the "power up and down the lineup" argument? It's certainly more representative of their character, but how has that gone for them? They've been to one World Series since 2010. They've had countless early postseason exits as a result of that power disappearing, while the antithesis of that power rearing its ugly head: tons of strikeouts, minimal contact, no situational hitting, failures with RISP.

The Gene Michael argument has to be the most baffling response, however. The Yankees have been a shell of themselves ever since the 2004 ALCS collapse against the Red Sox. If not for George Steinbrenner mandating a $1 billion spending spree in free agency after 2008, the Yankees don't have a championship since 2000. The Yankees do not approach their roster with the precision Michael did. In fact, under Cashman, the spending has been misplaced, the rosters have been incomplete, and, from the fans' point of view, the clubhouses have been off balance due to questionable personality fits (Josh Donaldson, Joey Gallo and Devin Williams, for example).

Be angry all you want that Plouffe and Storiale decided to talk baseball identity this early in the season. Be angry that they perhaos insinuated the Rays' sense of identity is anything a team with championship aspirations should emulate (being cheap, churning and burning arms, and implementing a more depressing version of Moneyball). You're entitled to that.

But don't jump into the mix and start making outlandish claims that only fortify their initial point. The Yankees do lack a definitive identity. They have become synonymous with embarrassment in October. Their rivals have stolen their lunch money most of the time since 2017. They just changed their facial hair policy because of pressure from one of the worst trade acquisitions in the history of the franchise in Devin Williams.

The Yankees still have ways to go in figuring out who they are, and they'll only be able to do that with more consistency in the postseason (or by finally winning another World Series). We'll be happy to discuss the topic further when the time is appropriate.

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