Yanks’ Lack of Fundamentals...

Yankees’ Lack of Fundamentals Will Continue To Haunt Them Under Aaron Boone

By Derek McAdam

November 13, 2024

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It has been two weeks since the New York Yankees’ 2024 season came to a disastrous end, in part due to a 5th inning in Game 5 that will haunt Yankees’ fans for many years to come. It seemed as if the Yankees were on their way to forcing the World Series to head back to Los Angeles, but it was not meant to be.

Unpopular to what many Yankee fans may think, when it came to managerial decisions, I did not think Aaron Boone did too badly in the World Series. Sure, bringing in Nestor Cortes Jr. in Game 1, who had not pitched in six weeks, to face Shohei Ohtani in the 10th inning was an interesting decision. Ultimately, he got Ohtani out but walked Mookie Betts to load the bases for Freddie Freeman, who jumped on the first pitch for a walk-off grand slam.

I did not think Cortes looked bad in his appearance. The fastball he threw was not exactly right over the heart of the plate, but more towards the inside. Freeman was simply waiting on a fastball, and connected. Regardless, Boone was going to get ripped for any decision he made if the Yankees lost that game.

And sure, Boone was not on the field for the Yankees’ dreadful Game 5 fifth inning for the three errors. However, the defensive mistakes this team has committed time and time again over the years fall right back on him.

Whenever Boone or players were asked about defensive mishaps, it seemed as if they would mostly say that the issues were worked on during Spring Training. So what? A football team does not just practice during the pre-season and wrap up the Friday before Week 1. They practice throughout the season to work on certain issues and improve.

It’s not to say that none of the Yankee players did not work on certain issues throughout the year, but as a team, the results did not show. Aaron Judge’s error that started the disastrous 5th inning was an interesting mistake. Judge is not one to get lazy in the field, and often showed throughout the season and the playoffs that he would use two hands to make catches. This particular error was not one of those circumstances, and it cost the Yankees.

Gerrit Cole not covering first base was also bad, and yes, that falls on him. Even if a pitcher is 99.9% sure that the first baseman will get to the base, they should still do their due diligence and get over, particularly if some freak accident occurs, such as the first baseman tripping over himself.

How many times this season did we see Juan Soto poorly play a ball in the outfield or Gleyber Torres mishandle a simple ground ball? It happened way too often, although, in Torres’ defense, he did improve defensively after he was sent to the bench for a couple of games during the middle of the season.

One of the biggest fundamentals I have yet to mention is this team’s awful base running. This was not something that happened exclusively in the playoffs, but something that has been going on for several seasons. And it is the basic fundamentals that this team lacks when it comes to base running.

I have never played baseball in my life, but there is one key base running rule that I know: unless there are two outs or runners behind you, do not advance to the next base if the ball is hit in front of you. How many times this season were Yankee baserunners thrown out, either at third or at home, when balls were hit right in front of them and they simply made a bad judgment? Way too often.

How many times in the playoffs were players picked off or got caught in a rundown? It got so bad that Yankee radio announcer John Sterling said the Yankees looked like “drunks” running the bases. I think John summed it up very well. And it isn’t just the younger players that are making the mistakes, but even some veterans such as Anthony Rizzo found themselves making these devastating errors on the bases.

All of this falls on Boone. No, he isn’t out there every day working with these players to improve their game. That’s simply because it isn’t his job. He has a coaching staff that is supposed to take care of these issues, but they have failed to do so. And while I don’t necessarily want to point fingers at any particular coach, but since Luis Rojas has been the Yankees’ third base coach, base running has been a disaster.

Joe Kelly ruffled Cashman’s feathers when he said that the Yankees were the eighth or ninth-best team in the playoffs. He wasn’t entirely wrong. The Dodgers destroyed the Yankees in terms of fundamentals and looked like a much better team all around. It wasn’t a fluke that the Yankees lost in five games.

I get that Boone makes a lot of questionable decisions as manager, but the team’s lack of fundamentals is the one thing that I can’t stomach more than anything else. Sure, he may bring in a reliever that blows a lead or rest a player after a multi-home run day. The fact of the matter is that Cashman is running the show and would hire another “yes man” if he got rid of Boone.

However, Boone can control these other aspects of the team. And until the simplicity of fundamentals gets resolved, this team is not going to win a World Series, no matter how much talent they have.