by Paul Semendinger
February 15, 2025
***
My Thoughts - In this, Brian Cashman is delusional. He is absolutely wrong. Or, if he's correct there are a bunch of owners and General Managers who do not know a whole lot about baseball and leadership.
Aaron Boone has not done much to impress. At all. Aaron Boone seems like a nice guy. But, he is certainly not a great baseball manager.
Boone has been the Yankees manager since 2018. He has won no World Series. In the only World Series in which his team appeared, the Yankees were oput classed, out hustled, out played, and out managed. This has been par for the course during Boone's tenure. In big games, he is often overmatched and unable to make proper decisions. His team has never, ever, been one that has played good quality baseball. The Yankees are known to be poor fundamentally. When I started saying that, on this site in 2018, many argued with me. Now, that point is accepted as fact by all who follow the game. Aarone Boone does not prepare his teams well to play good, smart, fundamental baseball.
If the Yankees want more of this, they're just being foolish. If Brian Cashman thinks this is excellent managing, he is wrong. If other teams would go on a frenzy to have this style of play, they too are wrong.
The Yankees, a team that built its empire around winning, has a manager that has a below .500 record in the post season. Against the best, Aaron Boone isn't up to the task. We have seen this year-after-year-after-year.
Let's also remember that before Aaron Boone became the manager of the Yankees, he had managed no team. He had also coached no teams. He had no experience as a leader. Boone had been involved with the game, as an analyst on television, but no teams, none, absolutely none,had hired him for any type of coaching, managerial, or leadership role. He wasn't asked to coach in the big leagues. He wasn't asked to coach in the minor leagues.
Further, when Aaron Boone interviewed for the Yankees' manager position, it was the first time any team ever interviewed him for any leadership position. Brian Cashman must have saw something in Boone that no other team saw. Boone wasn't ever seen as a future leader by any other team. The only one who thought differently was Brian Cashman. He saw Aaron Boone as a great manager.
He must still be seeing it.
But one thing he isn't seeing are World Series trophies.
As for me, I'd love to see another club hire Aaron Boone. I'd like to see the frenzy to hire him.
I would love another team to sign Aaron Boone to manage them. That would be great for the Yankees. I would hope that he goes to a team in the AL East... or maybe the Dodgers. But, rather than speculating that there would be a frenzy for Boone, maybe Brian Cashman should let Boone mange the team in 2025 and after the season let him become a free agent. Why don't they let Aaron Boone bet on himself. I'd like to see all the teams that line-up to hire him (if any).
But, alas, what Brian Cashman is saying is that Aaron Boone will soon sign an extension to remain the manager of the Yankees. Mr. Cashman can't find a third baseman, but he's going to lock up his manager for a few more years. Maybe Boone can play third as well as manage. It was his position after all. Boone once had a big hit, much in the same way that D.J. LeMahieu once led the league in batting. (All of that, for both, was a long time ago.)
At some point, results have to matter for the Yankees. At some point following the same path year-after-year with no World Series championships is the wrong path.
At some point, fans can draw no other conclusion than for the Yankees good enough is good enough, but that they do not care about greatness. At all. There was a time when the Yankees defined themselves by World Championships. Those days are long gone. I have been saying, for years, that the Yankees care about being good, not great. Aaron Boone personifies that approach. Brian Cashman as well.
(Of note - Cashman used to be the face of success, one of the greatest general managers in the game - a man who knew how to get his teams to championships. That, too, is no longer. And Hal Steinbrenner has never been seen as a winner. As I have written before these are these men's legacies. They run the greatest team in all of professional sports and they oversaw a period of no championships. For the Yankees, except when CBS owned them, and the message then was that they certainly didn't care, that had never before been the case. Oh how the mighty have fallen.)
As fans, we'll get more of what we've endured for the last seven years. We will hear press conferences full of fluff and sometimes half-truths. We'll see players defy their manager (we're seeing that already with Marcus Stroman saying he won't pitch in relief). We'll see players failing to run or back-up plays. We'll see players confused on the basepaths. On and on. Fans have seen this for the entirety of the Boone era. And he is about to get rewarded with yet another extension.
Aaron Boone is already the manager of the Yankees who has managed the most games without ever winning a World Series, and it's not even close (see list below). I suspect that streak will continue even longer. For Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner, Boone's record is one of success. That says a great deal about this team's priorities and their commitment to winning championships. In fact, it says it all.
***
Most Games Managed By Yankees Managers Without Ever Winning A World Series
(since 1920)
Aaron Boone - 1,032
Buck Showlater - 582
Lou Piniella - 324
Bill Virdon - 266
Stump Merrill - 275
To me, it doesn't matter who the manager is as long as Cashman has full control, and not forced to change his processes, methods, and philosophies.
I said it after 2023, I want to call Toronto for permission to talk to front office exec James Click (the Astros GM who won the 2022 WSC, fairly, but really was fired after that year, and see if Donnie Baseball wants the Manager job at this point in his life (I think he's off to Philly sooner rather than later, as his son is their incoming Baseball GM).
Of course, Brian Cashman publicly will tout Boone.... would you or anyone else expect him to diss his manager? Cashman keeps the Yankees competitive within the confines of Hal's budget.so as long as Hal sees the money filling the coffers.... no changes are required ... were good! On this site, we Yankee fans care more about winning the WS than management or ownership!
i carefully scrolled down only to the point that i could make my comment, because i did not want to see any other comment first.
clearly, Alan will make a comment about Boone not being a true manager. and to some degree, i am sure he is correct. i do believe that BY FAR the biggest reason BC wants Boone to stay is that Boone is his chief lackey
at the same time i agree with every single word you said!! even if BC pulls many strings with Boone. it is and ALWAYS has been 100% true- players DO NOT play hard for Boone. BC has nothing to do teaching the fundamentals of the game. that falls on the mana…
And if Boone survives the season as usual, he'll have more managed games without a championship than the next 3 managers combined.
In the only World Series in which his team appeared, the Yankees were oput classed, out hustled, out played, and out managed.
but the more important thing was that they hadn't as many extremely talented players.
Boone pushed the team in order to get to the World Series and had to lean hard on his guys.
far as I could see, the more talented, more experienced Dodgers deserved to win
and It's somewhat to be expected that the deeper team would win.
if you wish to compare managers, an entirely reasonable thing, it is to be expected that the more experienced manager
the one who had previously managed in a World Series would have the advantage over the rookie
IIRC,…