About the Off-Season: Repair or Replace?

by Tim Kabel

October 16, 2023

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Whether you own a house or a car, at some point or another, something will go wrong. Something will break or stop working or have some other type of malfunction. You will then be faced with a dilemma as to whether you should repair the malfunction or replace the item. For example, one of the front burners on my stove is no longer working. I found out that if I were to replace it, it would cost almost as much as a new stove because it is part of a bridge burner. I would need to replace the front, back, and bridge burners together. Consequently, I am working with three burners without any real trouble. Sooner or later, we will all face this type of decision in our lives. Heck, these days it can even be applied to the human body. If you have chronic knee pain, for example, you may reach a point where it's better to have the knee joint replaced than simply trying various methods to ease the pain. The Yankees find themselves in that situation right now.

Aaron Boone is an ineffective and inadequate manager. There is really no arguing that. People can point to his won-lost record all they want. He has a very good team every year. However, he has never led a team to the World Series, let alone won one. In 2022, the team collapsed in the second half. This season, they were not very good all year long. They finished with 82 wins. If you look up the words inadequate and ineffective in the dictionary, there would be a picture of Boone, blowing a bubble next to the words.

Aaron Boone is under contract for one more year. He has managed the Yankees for six years. The management and fans of the Yankees set the bar high every season. Playing in the World Series is the goal every single year. Actually, winning the World Series is the goal. Playing in one would be acceptable but only as a worst-case scenario. Boone has come up short every season he has managed the team.

We were told that one of the reasons Boone was hired in the first place was because he was a magnificent communicator. He had worked as a broadcaster and was considered to be well-informed, glib, charming, and witty. Apparently, he used it all up in his interview because as a manager, he has been none of those things. He has been condescending, virtually inarticulate, brusque, dismissive, and uncommunicative in public. Based on the reports we hear, he doesn't communicate well with the players and quite possibly, the front office. If that was considered to be his greatest attribute when he was hired, and he has failed miserably in that regard. It seems that he is not up to the job.

Since I began writing for SSTN, I have been advocating the theory and practice of "Boone- proofing", which involves insulating the team from whatever mistakes, errors, or inanities Boone commits. No amount of "Boone-proofing" seems to be effective.

Going into this offseason, we have heard a lot from Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman about changes that will be made. The rumors indicate that Boone Is not in jeopardy of becoming one of those changes. But that is not certain. There have been some rumblings that Boone is on the hot seat. There have also been a lot of rumors that the Yankees want Boone to be tougher next year and to be more of a disciplinarian. In other words, they want to fix him. I don't think that's a very good idea.

I have worked in leadership roles for over thirty years. I have been a teacher, a coach, and a supervisor. One thing I learned very early on was that it's better to start out tough and to be a disciplinarian and then relax as you become more comfortable in your role. It is easier to loosen up than it is to toughen up. If you try to become a disciplinarian after not having been one for six years, no one is going to take you seriously, and the situation will only get worse. I'm not suggesting that the Yankees need a disciplinarian as a manager. Perhaps they do. The point is that asking Boone to become one suddenly is not realistic.

I think at this point the Yankees have to determine whether it is better to attempt to fix Aaron Boone as a manager or simply replace him. If their notion of fixing him is making him tougher, that won't work. Therefore, for many reasons, it is time to make a change. If they are bringing in new players and want a new attitude, a big part of that will be replacing the manager with someone who can communicate, make reasonable decisions, and actually manage a baseball team.

"Boone-proofing" is no longer a reasonable course of action. "Boone-removing" is the way the team should go now.