Seven years later, New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone has still yet to elevate the team. The 51-year-old was hired on December 4, 2017, and hasn't won a championship despite being blessed with uber-talented rosters.
Boone, though, is expected to return in 2025, via SNY's Andy Martino.
The former third baseman has made plenty of costly mistakes over the years, most recently bringing in starting pitcher Nestor Cortes to close Game 1 of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, even though the southpaw hadn't pitched in four weeks. Fellow lefty Tim Hill, who had allowed just one run over his last seven appearances, was available to come in for the lefty-on-lefty matchup with Shohei Ohtani, but Boone went with Cortes anyway.
Cortes, of course, got Ohtani out, but gave up a walk-off grand slam to Freddie Freeman.
New York's higher-ups, though, didn't view Boone's decision as the reason the team lost, via Martino.
“Yankees brass did not view Boone’s call for Cortes as a blunder, but as a close decision that could have gone either way,” Martino said. “If some folks in the building would have left Luke Weaver in the game (as Boone suggested he might have), or called on lefty specialist Tim Hill, Boone’s bosses understood the solid rationale behind the Cortes move.”
“In other words, it was a million miles from a fireable offense, in the eyes of the folks making that decision. As such, Boone is expected back as manager in 2025, despite how the World Series went, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the team’s thinking. That would have been the case even if the Yankees had been swept.”
For most organizations, six playoff appearances and one pennant in seven years is considered a great run. However, the Yankees aren't most organizations.
The Yankees are too lenient with Aaron Boone
New York's lack of fundamentals were on full display against the Dodgers, from sending the slow-motion Giancarlo Stanton home from second base on a shallow hit to left in Game 4 to the fifth-inning meltdown in Game 5. That reflects badly on the coaching staff.
However, scouts criticized two of Boone's biggest blunders in Game 5, via the New York Post's Jon Heyman.
“1) Not bringing in closer Luke Weaver to start the eighth (with the bottom of the order up, Boone presumably figured Tommy Kahnle, who’d been very solid, could suffice, but Kahnle allowed all three Dodgers to reach before Weaver was called upon),” Heyman said.
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Weaver had been lights-out for two months, recording a 1.50 ERA in September and a 1.76 mark in October. The 31-year-old was the unquestioned closer at that point, and the man to bring in with the season on the line. Instead, Boone brought in Kahnle, an admirable setup man, but not the right option to bring in with a one-run lead and six outs to go facing elimination.
“2) Eschewing a mound visit during the fifth-inning, five-run debacle that lasted 21 minutes. ‘How the [heck] was there no visit to the mound in — 36 pitches, three errors (actually two plus the failure of Anthony Rizzo or Gerrit Cole to get to first base)?'” Heyman continued.
Cole still managed to stop the bleeding on his own after New York's defensive meltdown, no thanks to Boone. The ace pitcher is simply a special talent, and stepped up in the biggest of moments, minus his mental lapse of not covering first base on Mookie Betts' grounder.
This essentially summarizes Boone's managerial tenure with the Yankees. The 2003 All-Star has been carried by the likes of Cole, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and now Juan Soto, all future Hall-of-Famers. However, he has an endless history of bad decision-making, while presiding over a team that doesn't play cleanly defensively or on the base paths.
The Yankees, an organization that used to accept nothing less than championships, would benefit from a manager that has better baseball sense. When will enough be enough?
