The New York Yankees more closely resemble the Bad News Bears recently than the American League's World Series representative from a season ago. For weeks, defensive miscues and bullpen meltdowns have plagued the club as they slide further and further in the standings.
The club has tried to address these issues, bringing in glove-first players like Ryan McMahon and Jose Caballero in addition to a trio of shiny new bullpen pieces, to little avail.
Every time it starts to feel like the club has hit rock bottom, they somehow seem to find a new low. In addition to all the fielding gaffes and bullpen struggles, the team added boneheaded baserunning to its ridiculous resume during a miserable sweep at the hands of the Miami Marlins.
This is a team that routinely beats itself, and it's becoming clearer and clearer that the man standing in the middle of the trainwreck is none other than skipper Aaron Boone.
Aaron Boone's constant defense of the Yankees' fundamental struggles is putting him firmly on the hot seat
The Yankees know that they have problems, yet nothing ever improves, and the man in charge is all too quick to come up with a plausible excuse for each inexcusable gaffe. Now, a pair of former Yankee greats are calling him out for that lack of accountability.
Boone is talking the talk, saying, "Look, we’re the Yankees, and when we lose games, if it’s in and around a mistake, that criticism is fair, It’s fair game, I guess. At the end of the day, we have the pieces I think to be a really good team and that’s on me and all of us to get the most out of that."
But then he goes on to say, “I would disagree a little bit with the accountability factor. But the reality is we’re focused every day on being the best we can be. That’s how we have to do it. But I understand when it doesn’t happen, or we don’t have the record I think we should have or certainly people think we should have, that comes with the territory. It’s on us to change that thought."
Therein lies the problem. Boone can't even fall on the sword for his guys correctly, shirking accountability for himself and everyone around him.
These aren't new issues. The Yankees lost the 2024 World Series largely because they couldn't execute on fielding fundamentals. This should not be continuing in 2025, yet it is.
Moreover, Boone has allowed players like Anthony Volpe and Austin Wells to stagnate and even regress. Remember when Volpe's biggest strength was his baseball IQ? Now, even if he's not making an error, you see him back up on balls he should be charging and making horrible swing decisions at the plate (despite his surge in home runs recently).
Remember when Wells was lauded for his rare offensive potential as a catcher? His walk rate from last year has nearly been cut in half, while he's struggling to consistently put bat to ball with any effectiveness, batting just .212 on the year and getting on base at a laughable .271 clip.
Yet these two are in the lineup every day, despite other options, with no clear message being sent. It's no wonder then that the team that was supposed to be a juggernaut in a weak American League looks lifeless far too often.
Fans and pundits have been saying this for some time. The biggest issue the team needs to fix is the lack of accountability coming from the manager's office. Now that folks with actual connections to the organization, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, are saying what we've all been thinking, the seat Boone sits on should be getting a whole lot hotter. If something doesn't change fast, he might get burned.
