As the GM — or, GI — Meetings came and went this week, the Yankees’ brass continued to reflect upon an underwhelming 2023. For Brian Cashman, this meant an expletive-filled rant to reporters in which he downplayed the importance of analytics. At the same time, a more mild-mannered Hal Steinbrenner indicated he was willing to emphasize things like RBIs, batting average, and bunting thanks to the urging of Aarons Boone and Judge.
Phasing out batting average and RBIs in player evaluation was one of the first goals of the sabermetric revolution, and the thinking has changed little in recent years.