Aaron Boone’s name doesn’t always get the loudest applause in the Bronx, but it should.
The Yankees are back in the postseason again, and that part can feel routine in New York. But if you strip away the annual expectations and look at this season on its own, Boone has done a lot of heavy lifting to keep this team standing.
Start with the injuries. The last time Aaron Judge missed most of a season, the Yankees were sunk.
This year, they kept moving. And Judge wasn’t the only key piece knocked out along the way.
The rotation never had a clean stretch of health, either. Gerrit Cole, Cam Schlittler, Max Fried, Carlos Rodon, Will Warren and Ryan Weathers were never all healthy at the same time.
Even with all of that, the pitching numbers have stayed elite. The Yankees own baseball’s best overall ERA at 3.22.
Their 3.28 starter ERA is also first in the sport, ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who sit at 3.48. The bullpen has been strong too, ranking second with a 3.14 ERA, just behind the Boston Red Sox at 3.12.
That kind of success doesn’t happen by accident. The front office deserves credit for finding the right arms, but Boone has been the one making the day-to-day calls with almost no room for error.
By and large, he has pulled starters at the right time and found the right reliever to hand the ball to next. That matters even more because the offense has been so limited.
One bad move, and a three-run hole can feel like a mountain.
In another market, a manager doing this job would be getting a lot more praise. Boone has the kind of results that usually earn real recognition: another playoff berth, plus a team still 3.5 games out of first place with a big series against the Rays coming soon. The division is slipping a little more each day, but it’s still there to chase.
The strange part is that Boone may be judged more harshly because he manages the Yankees. Around the league, Manager of the Year often goes to the skipper who wins big with a low payroll, even when the front office deserves much of the credit. Over the last decade, outside of Dave Roberts in 2016 and Buck Showalter in 2022, that’s been the pattern.
Boone’s case is stronger than that. If payroll is supposed to matter, then consider how much money the Yankees have had on the injured list this season.
Then look at how many at-bats rookies and depth pieces like Max Schuemann have had. It has often looked like a small-market operation wearing pinstripes.
And the supporting cast hasn’t exactly been glamorous. The trade deadline didn’t fix the pitching side the way the Yankees probably hoped, but Boone still made it work with Paul Blackburn and Brent Headrick as setup guys. Those roles don’t look nearly as steady without a manager willing to trust them in big spots.
Boone is easy to criticize in New York. That comes with the job.
But before the postseason starts, he deserves credit for getting the Yankees here at all. If he can get the championship, then maybe his work in New York will finally get the appreciation it deserves.
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For the Yankees, the possibility matters because the Red Sox are expected to meet them in a Wild Card Series at Yankee Stadium. A bench player who can change a game with his legs can alter how a team handles the late innings, from pitch selection to defensive positioning, and New York may need to account for that wrinkle if Boston decides Ward is worth carrying into October. [Read more 🡒]
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Yankees Suddenly Have A Real Luis Garcia Jr. October Question
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The bigger question now is whether Garcias work at first base can hold up under postseason pressure. Former manager Joe Girardi and broadcaster Michael Kay have both praised the defensive adjustment, but October has a way of testing every new wrinkle, and the Yankees suddenly have to decide how much trust to place in a player whose recent surge has made him a far more important part of the roster than anyone expected when he arrived. [Read more 🡒]