The Yankees announced yesterday that they’ll retire Paul O’Neill’s No. 21 this season on Aug. 21. “The Warrior” won four World Series rings in the Bronx, manning right field and serving as a formidable force in the heart of many stacked Yankees lineups throughout their most recent run of dominance in the American League. O’Neill spent nine seasons as a Yankee, spanning 1993 to 2001, batting a combined .303/.373/.492 with 185 home runs. A four-time Yankees All-Star who garnered MVP votes in each of those four seasons, O’Neill also thrived in the postseason with the Yankees — evidenced by a .282/.355/.459 output and 26 extra-base hits in 304 plate appearances.
A couple more notes out of the Bronx…
- Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News takes a look at the Yankees’ unsettled infield mix, noting that Gleyber Torres’ regression both at shortstop and with the bat leave the team with a good bit of uncertainty. DJ LeMahieu tells Ackert he’s comfortable playing at any of first base, second base or third base, but his bat best fits at second if LeMahieu’s own regression at the dish cannot be fully recovered from. Torres did post a .300/.372/.443 line in 19 games after the Yankees finally cut the cord on his time at shortstop late last season, though opinions surely vary on whether that was correlation or causation. Regardless, the downturns at the plate for both Torres and LeMahieu are troubling for a team that still needs to address its need at shortstop and is also trying to figure out who’ll man first base for the 2022 season.
- Right-hander Brendan Beck, the Yankees’ second-round pick from the 2021 draft, will miss most (if not all) of the 2022 season after quietly undergoing Tommy John surgery last summer, ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel reports (Twitter link). The Stanford product had been gearing up for his pro debut in A-ball when he incurred the injury. Beck, 23, notched a 3.15 ERA with a 32.6% strikeout rate and 5.9% walk rate in 108 2/3 frames in his final season with Stanford. Baseball America ranked him 12th among Yankees farmhands on their midseason prospect rankings last summer, but his pro debut will now likely be on hold until the 2023 season, at which point he’ll be 24 years old. While that hardly makes it too late for him to develop as expected, it’s a considerably older starting point than most prospects get on their pro careers.
Luke Voit, Gleyber Torres, and Austin Wells for Matt Olson and Elvis Andrus?
I’m just asking a legitimate question because maybe Yankee fans feel a certain way, but does Paul O’Neill really qualify as a type of player to get his number retired with the likes of the players whose numbers they have already retired? Is he on that level all-time? Just asking
Glad to see O’Neill get his due. He was the heart of those Yankee teams. If you were fortunate enough to be in NYC during the 90’s, you got to see possibly the last great dynasty in MLB. It was fun to watch, whether you were a Yankee fan or not. Nothing can compare to the vibe in the city after Charlie Hayes caught that final out in ’96. It was incredible.
The Giants won three titles in five years.
They did What does that have to do with O’Neill?
The Giants certainly should honor the key players on those championships, and one day I’m sure they will. Posey’s an easy number to retire. Madison Bumgarner, like O’Neill, will never make Cooperstown, unless he has a career resurgence, but I doubt any Giants fan would question his number being retired.
His point was those Giant teams were the closest thing to a dynasty in the last 25 years. Something that certainly cannot be discounted.
The 2010-2014 Giants had one of the more successful five-year runs in the Divisional Era along with the 1996-2000 Yankees and 1971-1975 A’s but the one thing the Giants didn’t accomplish that those other two teams did was winning consecutive championships.
The Red Sox have entered the chat
And I wouldn’t discount that. For some reason, I missed the reference to dynasty in the OP’s note initially; otherwise, I would have connected the dots.
Of course, now I’m going to annoy Giants fans. (BTW The Giants are my second favorite team. and I consider myself a fan of the team). That was a great and historic run, but it does NOT meet my standard of a dynasty, which granted is very high and specific. Not only does a team need to win the titles, but upfront they have to be viewed the team equivalent of “the man,” the team going in people expect to win and then does it. They need to dominate. That was never the Giants. Their winning percentages those years were .543, .580, .568. Their first championship they didn’t even win their division, slipping in as a Wild Card. The year after the won their first title, the finished 16 games back. That’s not a dynasty. That’s a good to very good team that had some randomness work their in their favor.
I’ve seen a few dynasties in sports during my lifetime, and recognize ones prior to my watching sports. Obviously, in baseball, the 1996-2003 Yankees were one of them. Six Al pennants, four championships, three back to back, and at their peak had one of the greatest teams ever in 1998. The Montreal Canadians of the 1970s. The Boston Celtics had an absurd run that started before I was born, winning 11 of 13 titles. The NY Islanders of the late ’70s and early ’80s winning four straight Cups. The Oakland A’s of the 1970s, with five straight division titles and three straight championships. Upfront, they were all viewed as the team to win, and they did. Meanwhile, I DON’T consider the Yankees of ’76-’81 a dynasty, even though they won four AL titles and back-to-back championships.
Fans of teams absolutely want to have their teams considered as dynasties. Fans and media try to declare emerging dyansties up front, like they thought the Cubs would be. They almost always fail. Maybe my hubris as a Yankee fan. I have high standards for the word dynasty.
Historically a dynasty is an unbroken line of succession, which implies that a title must be successfully defended, which the Giants never did.
@RobM
You have your years mixed up. The Giants won their division in both 2010 and 2012. They were a Wild Card in 2014. They were also a Wild Card in 2016 but they lost to the Cubs in the NLDS that year.
I put the 1976-1981 Yankees, 1970-1976 Reds and 1966-1971 Orioles all in the same group. They all won four pennants and two World Series titles. I know the Orioles didn’t win back-to-back but all three of these teams go in the borderline dynasty category. They aren’t indisputable dynasties but they won more than once and they were getting to the World Series year after year. They definitely deserve a place in history.
@48-team, you’re correct. I did a quick look at the numbers, and then worked off memory. Always dangerous!
I stick by my overall view on dynasties. It’s a very high bar for me, but everyone has their own view, similar to HOF voting.
A lot of people miss the last three years of the Yankees dynasty though. And realistically, it started in ‘95 too. They were still a great team, they just didn’t win the WS. 2004 it was definitely over because they were overcome in the historical 3-0 lead by Boston… end of dynasty.
Dare I add in ’94? I think we were heading toward a Yankees-Expos World Series. I do sort of begin the Yankees dynasty in ’96, because Torre took over as manager, Jeter arrived at SS, Rivera was in the bullpen. All the core pieces were in place. Credit to Buck Showalter, who really helped build that group along with Gene Michael. He even had Jeter sitting on the bench for the ’95 playoffs even though he wasn’t on the roster yet to let him experience the postseason. Kind of humorous looking back that Jeter would need “seasoning” for the postseason, a time of the year he’d live in for next 20 years. Also, I questioned Showalter putting Rivera on the roster. To this day, he’ll say he didn’t know what he had in Rivera, but he saw enough to think he’d be useful in the series.
Yeah, very true. Torre & the full core four is a great marker for the start of the dynasty.
I like tht his player profile page mentions that he bats, throws, and kicks left.
That’s hilarious! Good catch.
Man.
Ya know, I thought Kelly for O’Neill was a bad trade. Ooops. 21 has been unofficially retired for years now. Nice to see the formality though. Good hitter. Good player. Exceptional competitor. Exceptional Yankee.
Loved Paul. If we could only have 9 O’Neill’s right now, right?
Honestly, that might actually be too much intensity in the dugout. Sure would light a fire under Le Booner’s ass though.
Wouldn’t even need Boone at that point. We need a Warrior back, man. Paulie for manager!!! Imagine him punching the Gatorade when Sanchez strikes out or Torres bobbles a grounder?!
Hey, did you & Joe see the nj.com article with Goose? He slammed Cashman for his analytics & said Hal should sell the team because he doesn’t really want to be there. I agree with Goose on the latter for sure.
I don’t always disagree with Goose but he rants so much I don’t pay much attention to him.
I guess it would depend on who would buy the Yankees. The CBS years didn’t go so well.
100 percent, Joe. He goes off the deep end often. I would want someone who is competitive and wants to win. I think Derek Jeter would’ve been a really good personality to own the Yankees, but who knows.
I’m not in any rush to have the Steinbrenners sell the Yankees. Falls under the “be careful what you wish for” category. Hal may lack the brash and impulsive nature of his father, but he runs a tight ship. The Yankees are good year in and year out. The Yankees have been good for so long that fans don’t realize how having a bad owner is totally soul crushing. Hal may not exude the passionate owner vibe of his father, but he’s not a bad owner at all. He makes sure they’re in contention yearly. He spends a lot of money on the MLB roster and on the farm. If you had to rank all 30 owners, he’s probably in the top five or six.
Goose has turned into the angry old man. Loved him though as a player. High intensity. Wasn’t afraid to tell anyone off, including Martin.
Trade Aaron. Profiles to age terribly and has already shown a major lack of durability despite not even reaching 30 yet, and he is going to expect a ridiculous contract on top of that. Signing him long term would be crazy. Trade him now.
Retired numbers are getting to be like the HOF, which has become the HODP; the Hall of Decent Players. No one doubts that O’Neil had impact during his Yankee years, but really, give him the same honor usually reserved for the Mantle and Ruth?
It’s not a big deal, but it’s kind of superfluous.
At this pace, in another 50 years, all low numbers for the Yankees will be retired and they will all have to wear numbers like 64, 75, and 93…
As long as the championships flow in,who cares.
Adding about $45 mil to payroll would go a long way towards fixing our infield, lineup, & bench for ’22.
Re-sign Rizzo. Sign Story. Sign Chirinos to replace Higashioka. Trade Voit to the Brewers for Cousins & Cain. That keeps our prospects intact, while improving us from a painfully ugly defensive team to a good one, adds some real (& much needed) speed, & gives us a much deeper (& balanced) lineup.
The White Sox need a second baseman and the Yankees need a first baseman, preferably one who hits left-handed. How about a trade centering on D.J. LeMahieu going to New York and Gavin Sheets headed to the Bronx? The White Sox get a veteran 2B to replace much of the hit tool they lost with last summer’s Nick Madrigal trade. New York not only gets Sheets left-handed power but also can take the salary they would owe LeMahieu and use it on a nice downpayment for either Trevor Story or Carlos Correa and solve their SS dilemma in a big way.
If the Yankees prefer keeping LeMahieu over Gleyber Torres as their second baseman, I’m certain the ChiSox would also have interest in a trade revolving around the latter and Sheets.
O’Neill also once hit two home runs (technically, a homer and a triple w/ an error) in a game for a sick kid that Kramer made a deal with to get Steinbrenner’s birthday card back.
Paul O’Neill couldn’t even hit 2 home runs in a game to lift the spirits of a kid in the hospital.
Def doesn’t deserve to have his number up there
LeMahieu at first. Torres at 2nd. Trade Voit for a shortstop with 1-2 years of control left.
I’m willing to bet CC’s number 52 is coming soon as well.
Then Steinbrenner will retire number 0 for himself – the amount he likes to spend.
I’m sure a Hal Steinbrenner appreciation day will go over really well!!
The attendance would be like a 2020 game! Cardboard cutouts everywhere….
Seems like they’re getting out of hand with the retiring of numbers. Would like to see them un-retire the numbers of Roger Maris, Billy Martin, Phil Rizzuto, Ron Guidry & Reggie Jackson as well.
There are several they could reasonably un-retire. The plaque is honor enough, imo. #6?
I would like to see them go the route of the UNC Tarheels. For them, they have retired numbers and honored numbers. Getting a number retired requires a National Player of the Year award. But to have a number honored, it just requires being a great player. The Yankees should do something similar.
Yeah, honored numbers! Perfect. Plaque with a jersey and memorialize it that way, but someone can still wear that number in the future. That’s a great way to do it!
If I were a championship contending team I’d sign Paul O’Neill as a lefty Off the bench
When the Yankees traded for Paul O’Neill (sending the Reds Roberto Kelly) Bill James panned it. Thought Kelly would be a rising star, and O’Neill was already 30. But Kelly had already peaked (had 13.2 BWAR with NYY, finished with 20.5 for 6 more teams) and O’Neill thrived.
The analytic types (and I’m one of them) didn’t like trading an athletic CF type for what they viewed as a past-prime RFer. I was fine with the trade though. Gene Michael knew more than a thing about analytics and indeed pushed the Yankee team toward more high OBP player. He knew what they had in Bernie and wanted to add a lefty bat.
O’Neill was always being pushed to be a power hitter as a Reds player. Oddly, when O’Neill arrived on the Yankees, the concern was he’d try to pull the ball into the short porch. Instead, he emulated Mattingly and began to use the entire field. His BA went up as did his value.
L99: I recall O’Neill doing an interview and talking on that point about being pushed to be a lower bat. He said he felt so much better in NY just being able to drive the ball instead of trying to hit it out all the time. Makes sense & obviously worked.
@Yankee Clipper, yup. He also felt less pressure getting away from Cincinnati. Unusual. Players often feel more pressure coming to NY. Paul experienced the opposite.
Lord, echoed above. (Sounds almost religious.)
I’d like to see the Yankees trade their top stars for stud prospects to build around kids like Anthony Volpe, Lee Harvey Perazza and Jason Dominguez the next couple of years. They keep throwing deadweight like Joey Gallo upon deadweight like Anthony Rizzo. They need to field a team from the bottom up instead of the top down. Imagine the prospect return for Garrett Cole or Aaron Judge.
A full rebuild is not in the Yankees DNA. They will always build their team around high priced stars. What they need to do is get back to developing their future stars themselves like they did so well in the 90’s. This means showing restraint at the trade deadline unless they are truly 1-2 pieces away from a championship caliber team.
@Dorothy, you’re correct. They don’t do full rebuilds, meaning they don’t collapse, but they do a very good job of juggling their prospect talent and high-priced talent. This is a team that hasn’t had losing season since the early 90s. They pulled off a complete rebuild about five years back without ever collapsing. It just didn’t go quite as well as they hoped, but adding in Judge, Severino, Sanchez, Bird, Andujar and Montgomery was an excellent infusion of young and cheap talent. The issue is Bird and Andujar both had significant labrum surgeries (and Bird other issues) they basically never fully recovered from. Severino gave them three excellent years, then was lost several years to injuries, including TJS. Montgomery lost almost two years with TJS. Sanchez is a failed development story. Started strong, then regressed. My point is they were building a core from within with good success, but it lost traction. It’s baseball. It happens. To their credit, they’ve been able to keep it together.
Lost during the pandemic overhang is the Yankees had one of the top 10 farm system in mid-2021 according to Fangraphs. They then traded a chunk of talent to bring in Rizzo and Gallo and other pieces simply because they couldn’t hold all the players. Too many lower-end prospects for too few 40-man spots, so they moved players further off to avoid another Whitlock situation. They were able to hold their top-end talent, and cashed in the A-ball prospects knowing there’s another wave of young players who are going fill the lower minors this year.
The Yankees do a much better job than most realize with their farm and talent based on where they draft. Not losing for almost 30 years is almost impossible in baseball no matter how much money you spend, as the Red Sox know themselves. Well, unless you’re the Dodgers. They spend Yankee money with Rays smarts. They somehow have the #1 ranked system in the game despite winning every year. There needs to be an investigation!
I think you’re both correct. Imo, if they don’t secure Judge on an extension post-lockout, they need to trade him and build their farm with some key players.
Dorothy, you’re dead-on and that’s why they should not have traded prospects at last trade deadline simply to make the playoffs. It was not a wise move. Although, as a fan of course I liked the fact it got them to the postseason, but long-term, not a good practice.
Paul O’Neill played with the Nasty Boys in Cincinnati under former Yankee Lou Pinella – – that helped give him the character he brought to the Yankees – Jeter was the best player, Mariano Rivera was the soul, but O’Neill was the heart
Remember the rap song they all did during the ‘90(?) playoffs? Lol, Paul was not a rapper…..
Paul O’Neil was one of my favorite players back when he was with the Reds. The man had a Howitzer for an arm!
…and amazing accuracy with his left leg.
The way the Yankees are handing out retired numbers, fifty years from now (if MLB is still around), they will have to start giving players triple digit numbers.
For an organization as storied as the Yankees, Paul O’Neill does not deserve to have his number retired. Jeter: yes, Mo Rivera : yes. Posada, Bernie & O’Neill : no. That honor should be reserved for the best of the best, and on that I will rest.
Willie Randolph should have his number retired before the Warrior. I love Paulie but retiring his number is a bit much.
Whose number won’t they retire? This one is ridiculous.
Refsnyder
Paul O’neill had a great career. But when I think “Yankees” his name is way down the list. In fact, when I think of that great run in the 90s/early 2000’s his name is also way down the list.
Good for him, but I’m a little surprised.
Good for O’Neil. The Yankees had de facto retired his #21 essentially anyway. Might as well do it for real.
If the Yankees were to retire numbers of players as deserving as O’Neill, then they would have to start giving out 3-digit numbers.
Yankees more deserving than O’Neill to have their numbers retired:
Red Ruffing, Willie Randolph, Roy White, Tony Lazzeri, Earl Combs, Graig Nettles, Mel Stottlemyre, Charlie Keller, Gil McDougal, Ricky Henderson, Bobby Murcer, Dave Winfield, Waite Hoyt, Mike Mussina, CC.
Does smashing a water cooler after you strike out make you a warrior? A person in need of anger management makes one a warrior?
What about Lefty Gomez ? Spent his whole Hall of Fame career with the Yankees and gets absolutely no recognition
You’re right. Although he is in the baseball Hall of Fame, he certainly contributed to the Yankees greatness more than Paul O’Neill. Gomez’ number 11 should definitely be retired.