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.
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...
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.
If you want Boone gone, or even a facsimile of him not to replace him, it is my opinion that Hal has to either demand certain fundamental changes from Cashman, or just fire the bozo (Cashman) first.
Again, I ask: With Brian Cashman still Head Baseball person, and allowed to do as he pleases with both the big club and the minor leagues, what will changing managers really do? Will Cashman suddenly hold the new guy more accountable? Will Cashman allow guys with contracts that have money in them, but show at best they belong in the bench, will let the manager bench him? Since this really is Cashman's coaching staff as well, is he going to saddle the new guy with Rojas as his 3B Coach? I still can't get Larry Rothschild's between games of a DH in Detroit in 2019, telling the reporters that the Yankees don't let him coach his way? Really? Why not?…
i was not here until fairly recently, but I have never argued that the Yankees hustle or play fundamental baseball under Boone and there would have never been ANY time that I would have
I was first of all disgusted when they fired Girardi, BUT there were some decent options at that time, IF they truly believed that the team needed a new voice. but I NEVER believed that was the real reason they let Girardi go. it was obvious at the time and it has become more obvious every year under Boone, that BC is the MLB version of Jerry Jones. he wants a manager who will put up with his constant meddling. he wants to prove tha…
it'a good argument for having Betts rather than the a different, non-hustling RFer.
can't castigate Rizzo for correctly playing a weak, but skewed ground ball
the failure belongs to Cole, the pitcher who had brilliantly pitched his team out of peril
before he failed to cover the bag
there was also an egregious fielding failure by the centerfielder, a guy who had busted his bunions to make a brilliant catch in the earlier inning.
the two best, most heroic players failed to maintain their brilliance and it was severely costly
quite pain-inducing to witness
the manager must be blamed
field managers are easily replaced
and Boone is far from the best of them
the players will already have learned from…
Agree with Paul 100% and would add, Aaron Judge not using two hands to make a simple catch was also very costly, as were Volpe's mistakes. Yankees pretty much beat themselves in this series.