Before the New York Yankees' summer swoon continued via Tuesday's 5-3 loss at the Tampa Bay Rays, Yankees senior vice president and general manager Brian Cashman suggested he's confident manager Aaron Boone will right the ship sooner rather than later.
New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone
"He’s charged every day with pushing the right buttons the best he can with what he’s got," Cashman said about Boone before Tuesday's game, per Greg Joyce of the New York Post and Max Goodman of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. "I think he’s navigating that as well as he possibly can. It was a tidal wave of success here for the first two months, and then here, as we closed out June and entered July, we’ve hit a really rough patch for an extended period of time. Ultimately it all comes together with what our current record is, but we gotta be playing better than we currently are right now as an entire unit."
The Yankees began June 13 at 49-21 on the season but fell to 55-38 on Tuesday night. Pockets of frustrated fans are calling for team owner Hal Steinbrenner to replace Boone before the All-Star break gets underway on Sunday evening and before things get even worse for the club amid what was a promising season roughly one month ago.
Perhaps most worrisome for the Yankees is that there may be more buyers than sellers ahead of the July 30 MLB trade deadline thanks largely to the National League's crowded wild-card playoff picture.
"My deadline plans are to see if we can run into as much that can improve our team as possible," Cashman explained. "You’re always evaluating what you’re watching and staying in touch with our manager, our coaching staff, as well as our scouts about what this team’s strengths and weaknesses happen to be. ...Hopefully, we’ll be able to take care of business when it counts by the end of the month."
Boone guided the Yankees to the playoffs each year from 2018 through 2022, but the Bronx Bombers missed the postseason in 2023 before the skipper entered the last guaranteed year of a contract that includes a club option for 2025.
If the Yankees don't turn things around beginning with Wednesday's matchup at 45-46 Tampa Bay, it may become fair to wonder if Boone will hold onto his job through the trade deadline.
"It starts with me," Boone said after Tuesday's defeat, as shared by the Associated Press (h/t ESPN). "I filter into the coaches, and it's about us trying to get these guys prepared the best we can, setting a tone with how we present ourselves. It's on us as coaches to put our players in the best position possible to go out there and be successful. We got to continue to try and do that to the best of our ability and trust that the ball is going to start to bounce our way a little bit and we can get it rolling here."
