New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone hasn’t reached the World Series since arriving in the Bronx in 2018. That lethargy has earned him a lot of criticism in recent years, and with good reason.
And the 2022 season is no exception. According to team owner Hal Steinbrenner, some questioning is fully justified. For my part, I would tell you that they all are.
Yet, according to Steinbrenner, Boone remains the go-to man for the New York franchise. Why? Because he would always have the respect of his players and they always want to play for him and win for him.
“If I didn’t think it was – like years past – I would have made a change. But Aaron Boone was not responsible for our attack. The slide they experienced in the last two months of the playoff season was not his fault. And again, we had a lot of injuries. But, the players respect him, they want to win for him. It is an important thing. »
It is true that injuries did not help the cause of the Bronx Bombers in the second half of the campaign and during the playoffs, but that does not take away the responsibility of the skipper regarding his management of the bullpen, the composition of his line-ups and the decisions made during important meetings.
And Steinbrenner knows this very well.
“Every coach, if you watch five, seven games or ten games, is going to make mistakes. Obviously, in the playoffs, they are amplified and I’m not saying he makes the right decision every time. I think some of the criticism is justified. But overall, I think he does his homework pretty well. He manages his coaches very well, listens to their advice, even in the game, and makes a lot of good decisions. »
Despite what the son of the great George Steinbrenner may say, I don’t believe that Boone’s good decisions outweigh his bad ones and that he’s the man for the job.
Likely the two years remaining on his contract (and an option year) hang in the balance when it comes to making a move that could propel the Yankees to the next level, one that fans have been eagerly awaiting since 2009.
