Wells & Mcmahon Are Dragging This Yankee Team Down

And it’s Boone’s fault for putting them in the lineup day after day.

The New York Yankees front office has developed a bad habit: take a struggling player, slap a “he’ll figure it out” label on him, and shove him into the lineup like fans won’t notice. It’s not optimism—it’s denial dressed up as strategy. We are no longer a competitive, or a serious franchise.

And right on cue, Aaron Boone is the one delivering the sales pitch.

We’ve seen this movie before. Austin Wells and Ryan McMahon are just the latest examples of players being force-fed to the fanbase while producing absolutely nothing. Bleeding Yankee Blue has been waving the warning flag for months, but instead of adjustments, we get stubbornness and spin.

Let’s start with Wells. He came up with the promise of a bat-first catcher who needed polish behind the plate. What’s he become? A below-average defender… with a disappearing bat. That’s not a project—that’s a problem. When your back up catcher in Ben Rice is better than your actual catcher, we have a problem. Austin’s plate discipline is eroding, the contact is weak, and the results are brutal. A World Baseball Classic homer for the Dominican Republic is not a résumé builder—it’s a footnote. Meanwhile, guys like Ben Rice are sitting there actually earning opportunities. Thank God his bats in the lineup. At some point, performance has to matter more than reputation. The Yankees don’t get that.

Then there’s McMahon, who somehow looks even worse. A .069 average with a near 38% strikeout rate isn’t a slump—it’s a red flag waving in your face. The mechanics are a mess: all arms, no lower half, no balance, no confidence. He doesn’t look close. He looks lost. And when a hitter loses confidence, that’s not something you just “wait out”—that’s a spiral. Read THE CASE OF MCMAHON’S MISSING LOWER HALF for more.

Yet Boone stands there and tells everyone, “He’ll get it rolling.”

Based on what? Vibes?

Because right now, the bottom of this lineup isn’t just struggling—it’s automatic outs. And continuing to run these guys out there while better options sit (not many mind you) is not loyalty, it’s negligence. It’s a refusal to adjust. It’s managing scared.

If Boone really is the one writing out the lineup card every night, then Brian Cashman needs to pick up the phone and remind him what the fucking job is: win games. Not protect feelings. Not hand out extended tryouts in April like it’s spring training.

Yankees fans don’t want charity cases. They don’t care about clubhouse friendships or who “deserves” more time. They want accountability. They want results.

And right now? Wells and McMahon aren’t just underperforming—they’re actively hurting this team.

Enough with the gift-wrapping guys and telling us they are gifts. These guys aren’t good. And pretending otherwise isn’t fooling anyone.