Since the New York Yankees hired Aaron Boone as manager in 2018, they have been good, but not quite good enough. They finally reached the World Series last year, but a number of laughable gaffes cost them at least making things competitive against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
While the players love Boone and he has done a fine job of at least keeping the Yankees in legitimate contention, he has some obvious shortcomings that have been beyond frustrating to the fan base.
Perhaps the most notable detriment to Boone’s managerial style is his constant diplomacy when it comes to his players, as he seems to fiercely defend them no matter what.
That’s certainly admirable to an extent, but there comes a time when every manager needs to step up and reprimand his players when he sees fit, and sometimes, that involves giving transparent answers to the media rather than covering for his guys every step of the way.
Thomas Carannante of Yanks Go Yard recently published a piece on Boone’s steadfastness in standing by his players to a fault, more specifically referring to a recent series of mistakes shortstop Anthony Volpe has made, both in the field and on the basepaths.
Carannante mentioned how Yankees broadcaster David Cone — who had a storied pitching career in the Bronx — took Volpe to task for a crucial error he made against the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday. Meanwhile, Boone did not want to rock the boat.
“Why couldn’t … Aaron Boone just say this in the postgame?” Carannante wrote. “Why does everything have to be ‘I Stand With [Insert Player Name]’ and not ‘I see what you’re saying there, but this is an important player on this team. That said, we know this needs to be cleaned up because we always want to get better on defense.'”
Carannante makes a great point. Boone is a staunch player’s manager, and the team loves him for it. However, in some cases, it can actually harm the team, such as Boone refusing to admit Jazz Chisholm was at fault for his most recent tirade against the umpires, which was followed by a subsequent ejection.
Boone does a lot of things well, but his questionable decision-making and not having his players mentally sharp at all times are definitely major dings on his otherwise solid resume.
