The Yankees haven’t had a worse record or a worse losing streak since the early nineties. What they need, what they’ve needed, is a skilled manager able to spark a turnaround for the team. What they have instead is Aaron Boone. He did attempt to do his job by holding a team meeting last week to try to reach the players. He was so successful that the team immediately went out and got swept by the Red Sox. This guy has got to go.
The Yankees front office likes Aaron Boone. The Yankees players like Aaron Boone.
Yankees fans? Not so much. And that’s because he’s guided them from a team of overachieving, almost-cheater-beaters in 2017 to whatever the hell kind of team they are now.
You know who else likes Boone? Opposing teams. They love to play the Yankees these days! They’re the team you play to fatten up your record. I think the Yankees should stop wearing their own jerseys and just wear the ones for whichever team they’re playing. That way, it’s clear their both trying to help the same team win.
But apparently, the fans and the front office have two different ways of evaluating managers. You see, Brian Cashman just wants a puppet for his analytics front office and a buddy for the players. Fans, those darn persnickety snobs, want, what is it again?
Oh yeah, a WORLD SERIES WINNER!
Yeah, I'm Going to Jump to Conclusions
I hate to jump to conclusions and judge Boone’s performance before the season is over, but that just seems unlikely this year. And it’s gotten more unlikely every year Boonie the Clown has managed the team. Once again, this trend that always looked likely to lead us all to where we are today seemed obvious to the fans. But not so Mr. Cashman. Why just last year, after the Yankees went from mid-season world beaters to watching the World Series on TV, he had this to say:
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman was pleased with the performance of manager Aaron Boone this season despite another early exit in the postseason.
"I think Aaron did a great job," Cashman said on Friday during his end-of-season presser at Yankee Stadium. "I think he's got a great demeanor, a great rapport with his players. When we were firing on all cylinders—and healthy—we were tough to beat. It was fun to watch."
"He's really good," Cashman said of Boone. "I support him 110 percent."
That was fun to watch? Which part? The part where they went from the best team in baseball to getting swept in four by the Astros? Because that's the part Yankees fans remember most. The point is not that the team started the season strong but that Boone had no answers as they fell apart down the stretch.
Wow, we all knew Cashman had lost the plot when he dumped Joe Girardi, but that’s just beyond the pale.
And the results speak for themselves.
That’s not to say Boone hasn’t tried. He just sucks at his job. A prime example of his inadequacies as a manager just played out before our eyes. He held a team meeting Friday after the first brutal loss to the Red Sox, and man, did he feel good about it.
“I mean, definitely wearing it. Not fun going through this, right? But I feel like we’re ok. And I do feel like the turnaround is coming,” said Boone, adding his messaging was aimed more at his players’ headspace than tactics.
“Look, there’s been different circumstances of why we’ve been in these situations. And you also can’t run from ’em. You’ve got to embrace them, and just make sure you feel like everyone is in the right frame of mind coming in to work and try to turn it around every day. And I do feel good about that.”
The Yankees went on to lose the next two. Boonie also had this to say in an article at ESPN:
Boone said that it's his job as manager to "paint the picture that this thing is not over."
Really? Who told you that, the manager fairy?
Because that might be what the front office says, but it's not what the fans say. They think your job is to help guide the team to a World Series victory.
Yankees Fans Want Big Changes
To be fair, Boone and the fans might have different ideas of when this turnaround will happen. The fans thought that meant the next day or even the one after that. Boone must think it means anytime in the next four months. How exciting it will be to see this team playing playoff-caliber baseball in mid-December.
I have another idea of when it will happen: right after the Yankees fire Aaron Boone. That is not one the Yankees fans want, though. They want it to mean after Boone AND Cashman are fired. Their reasoning is that Boone will just be replaced by another useless puppet; they might be right.
I doubt Hal has the cojones for that, however. It would mean he’d actually have to think about the team instead of the dollar signs they produce. That seems unlikely. So we have to settle for what we can get, and what we can get almost has to be better than what we have. Right?
Maybe–just maybe–Cashman and his front office staff will give themselves an honest evaluation. And just maybe they’ll realize they’re part of the problem. Maybe they’ll realize they need to hire a manager who can actually MANAGE the team. I mean, it’s right there in the guy’s title!
I don’t know how likely that is. But at least I look forward to seeing the process of choosing the next manager play out. At least there’s some small bit of hope there.
And hope is all we have left.
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