New York Yankees managing partner Hal Steinbrenner spoke to the media hours after his team's latest demoralizing loss, and he largely placed the blame for the Yankees' abysmal performance this season on the players, while acknowledging shortcomings from himself, general manager Brian Cashman and manager Aaron Boone.

“Myself, Cashman, Boone, the coaches, I mean we're responsible, right? We're in charge,” Steinbrenner said, via Zoom from Tampa, FL. “So at some level, we're responsible for what's going on. But make no mistake about it: my opinion, the majority of the responsibility — whether it's the responsibility of inconsistent offense or bad base running, etc. — that responsibility lies with the players. They're the ones on the field, right? They're a group of very talented professional athletes who are playing this game at the highest level in the world. They need to fix this problem.”

The fourth-place Yankees (41-39) dropped to 8.5 games back in the American League East after falling 11-8 to the Los Angeles Angeles in the Bronx on Thursday. New York lit up Shohei Ohtani for seven runs in the first inning and waited out two rain delays, only to surrender seven runs in the ninth inning — the first four coming off closer Aroldis Chapman. By the end, fans were chanting “Fire Boone.”

Boone's squad has more base-running outs (33) and averages more double-plays per game than any team in baseball in 2021. Only a handful of clubs have left more runners on base. The Yankees rank 12th in the AL in runs per game.

“They need to fix the problem because everyone — including our fan base, rightfully so — has had enough, quite frankly,” Steinbrenner added. “It's enough. They know that, and you know you're seeing them say that they're taking it seriously. They had a team-only meeting a couple days ago, which, in my opinion, is always the best type of meeting. Peers, holding other peers accountable is, in my belief, the most effective type of meeting that can occur. We can all share the blam,e but the majority of the blame lies wiht them.”

Despite the struggles and lack of player development since 2018, Steinbrenner said he remains confident in Cashman and Boone. He declined to address Boone's job status beyond this season when his four-year contract expires.

“Nobody is working harder than the coaches,” Steinbrenner said. “The most important thing to me always in any given year is that the players respect the coaches, believe in the coaches — and that's absolutely the case here.”

Steinbrenner and the organization have faced criticism for tolerating mediocrity and prioritizing the luxury tax, while Cashman's analytics-heavy approach has produced a redundant, unbalanced roster bereft of personality and athleticism.

“Brian and I have been doing this a lot of years together,” Steinbrenner said. “He’s extremely intelligent, and he understands the deal when it comes to relying on pro scouting and relying on analytics…I think he’s done a good job. This team that we’ve put together, leaving spring training, was a very, very good team. They just haven’t played up to their potential that I believe we still have…That’s been the big problem. At least they haven’t done it consistently.”

However, unlike his late father, George, Hal Steinbrenner is not looking to blow things up. He also noted that he would be willing to exceed the tax, should the right player become available.

“Am I mad at what I see? Absolutely. I’m aggravated. Frustrated. Angry. But that’s not going to push me to a knee-jerk reaction to get rid of somebody,” he said. “…If I feel we're not good enough and we need another piece to be the championship-caliber team that we want to be and expect to be, then I'm going to seriously consider doing whatever I need to do.”

The Yankees host the first-place New York Mets (41-35) for a three-game Subway Series this weekend.