Why Change Managers? Ask Mookie Betts...

by Paul Semendinger

November 2, 2024

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This photo says it all.

I will have a lot more on this topic in the comming days, as so many writers will..

It is absolutely time for the Yankees to change their manager. Absolutely. 100%. There are many reasons for this - and many will be (and have been) articulated on the pages. But there is one reason, above all, that cannot be denied. The photo (from Getty Images) above tells the story clearly and plainly.

There are thouse that say that Aaron Boone is just a puppet of the front office and that he does and says only what they say. While I don't believe that, at all, a change of managers would do some things that the front office has no control over.

1. The Yankees of the Boone Era have been a poor fundamental team from the start. I started writing about that in 2017. Right from the start. I stated that the Yankees didn't have any experienced leaders at Spring Training. And the Yankees began play that year making obvious fundamental mistakes. It was apparent that fundamentals were not stressed nor focused on. And that hasn't ever changed. For years so many argued with me on this point, but no longer. The Yankees are, and have been from the start, a bad fundamental baseball team. This has cost them wins, pennants, and probably World Series Championships. This aspect of the team falls entirely on the manager. 100%. A new manager would, if nothing more, bring a different approach to how the team is prepared and how they excuse on the field, at bat, on the bases, and etc. Aaron Boone has demonstrated, clearly, for seven years, that this is not, and had never been, his strength. In fact, it is one of his biggest weaknesses. Aaron Boone presides over a team that is consistently and continually unprepared.

   
   

   But there's an even bigger reason why a change is necessary...

   
   

2. Aaron Boone's team lack hustle. That has also been a hallmark of his clubs. We have also seen this from the start. Players loaf after balls in the field, they loaf on the bases. There is a lethargy to the Yankees that is also very clear and undeniable. This approach, which we have seen from the start under Aaron Boone is a huge reason why they lost the World Series. This is also very clear and undeniable.

When Mookie Betts hit that low ground ball to first base (the one that basically changed the entire game and the World Series), what happened?

• Anthony Rizzo did not hustle

• Gerrit Cole did not hustle

• Mookie Betts ran hard down the first base line.

That one play illustrates all one needs to know about the Yankees of the Aaron Boone Era. It is not a stand-alone. It is a representative sample of the way the Yankees have played for seven seasons. They do not hustle. They do not play with any sense of urgency.

Which current Yankees would have run hard down the line as Mookie Betts did in that situation: Team is down, it's the last out of the inning, and one that killed a potential rally? Think about it.

There are not many... or probably any. Maybe Anthony Volpe would have run hard on that play. Maybe. Possibly Oswaldo Cabrera. Maybe Juan Soto. That's it. But I don't think any of them would have run the way Mookie Betts did. When the Yankees hit weak ground balls, they jog slowly to first...

Mookie and the Dodgers played hard. They played to win. They hustled. And that made all the difference.

If nothing else, a different manager would bring a different energy to the team. A different manager would teach his team to hustle (at least one would hope). A different manager would teach the team to play smart fundamental baseball. These are not things Aaron Boone has done. Ever.

Other teams make plays happen. The Yankees do not. At all.

Why did the Yankees lose the other night? In part, because Mookie Betts ran hard.

Why should the Yankees change managers? Ask Mookie Betts. I'm sure he knows.