Steinbrenner: Yanks will 'be making some changes' in offseason

NEW YORK -- Three days of wide-ranging meetings at the Yankees’ complex in Tampa, Fla., last week grew heated at times, according to managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner, who said on Wednesday that the organization is still debating if personnel changes are necessary.

Steinbrenner spoke with reporters on Wednesday at Sportico’s “Invest in Sports” conference, marking his first public comments since the Yankees finished the regular season with an 82-80 record while missing the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

“We’re going to be making some changes,” Steinbrenner said, according to The Associated Press. “Some may be more subtle than others, but I think we’ve uncovered certainly things we can do better.”

Steinbrenner participated in a panel discussion with team president Randy Levine at the event. General manager Brian Cashman is under contract through 2026 and is expected to return, as is manager Aaron Boone, who will enter the final year of a pact that includes a club option for 2025.

Cashman and Boone were among a group of 15 team officials who met last week in Tampa.

Steinbrenner said that he told the group: “I want you to challenge everything, all of our philosophies, all of our practices, but more importantly, in a respectful way, I want you to challenge each other. I want you to critique each other. Check your egos at the door.”

“At times it got a little dicey. But it was respectful the entire time,” Steinbrenner said. “And there wasn’t one stone we left unturned, from health of the team, what we’re doing in the clubhouse, clubhouse culture, what we do in the weight room, analytics, pro scouting, biomechanics. Is there enough communication between everybody?”

Steinbrenner said that he discussed the results of those sessions with team captain Aaron Judge during a meeting on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium and plans to brief ace Gerrit Cole soon.

The Yankees also have contracted with a third-party firm to evaluate how the baseball operations department utilizes analytic data compared to their competition. Steinbrenner said the discussions “possibly” could precede personnel changes, but that they would “not necessarily” happen.

“It could be practices,” Steinbrenner said. “It could be the way people communicate when we bring a young Minor Leaguer up to the Major League level. Are the Major League coaches talking enough to player development, and vice versa?

“Are the Major League coaches really getting into reading a lot of research? Because we do notes as these kids go from one level to the next, what’s being worked on, what the weaknesses are, what their strengths are.”

One change has been decided upon: The Yankees plan to renovate the home clubhouse at Yankee Stadium during the offseason, adding a better dining area and sleep rooms, among other alterations.