Let’s begin this positively — that like, say, Bill Walsh in the NFL or Gregg Popovich in the NBA, the Yankees have done a good job with a managerial/coaching tree.
That 107 miles away from where the Yankees will begin their playoffs Saturday, two of their former longtime employees — Mets manager Carlos Mendoza and Phillies manager Rob Thomson — will be meeting in a Division Series of their own. Another guy who apprenticed on staffs in The Bronx, Joe Espada, has already come and gone from these playoffs, but just to get here after a 12-24 start made his first season as Houston’s skipper a successful one.
Brian Cashman has long accentuated that the Yankees are teeming with quality employees —and this is just another example.
But there is another way to look at this. These are men who have been passed over in some form so Aaron Boone can manage the Yankees — or keep managing the Yankees.
Aaron Boone is pictured during the Yankees’ workout on Oct. 3.
And if there weren’t enough pressure on Boone this postseason, there is this:
- What would another pre-World Series playoff knockout look like for Boone’s job security when the Yankees finished this season with a $309.4 million payroll (Spotrac) and the other three remaining AL teams (Kansas City, Detroit, Cleveland) finished with a combined $327.8 million?
- How would it play if Thomson concurrently leads the Phillies to the World Series for a second time in three years after replacing Joe Girardi, something Boone has yet to do since replacing Girardi in 2017, when he beat out, among others, the then-Yankees bench coach for the job? That was Thomson, who wanted to continue his 28-year association with the franchise, but was worried that Boone would not want him on the staff and so took a job in Philadelphia.
- Or what would it mean if the bench coach who sat next to Boone the past three seasons (Mendoza) leads the other New York team to the World Series in Year 1 with the Mets? Mendoza had been with the Yankees since 2009.
The AL portion of these playoffs have opened up for the Yankees. They have home field and after the elimination of Houston and Baltimore, all that remains are the kind of AL Central opponents that the Yankees have been using as sparring partners for years.
They are heavy favorites to reach the World Series for the first time since winning it all in 2009. So what would falling short bring? Hal Steinbrenner greatly appreciates and likes Boone. So does Cashman. Heck, everyone likes Boone. That is his grace.
But Steinbrenner has a business to run and can he just do the status quo yet again? It is why in this postseason where players like Gerrit Cole and Aaron Judge have large legacy issues, they also have long-term job security.
Aaron Boone and Aaron Judge are pictured during the Yankees’ workout on Oct. 3.
“No,” Cashman told me when asked if Boone was managing for his job this October. He explained that Boone is signed beyond this season. But that is an option. Are the Yanks really just going to pick up an option and make Boone the lame duckiest of lame ducks?
“That [is he managing for his job?] was your question and that was my answer,” Cashman said.
As for Boone, when I asked if he felt he were managing for his job, he replied, “I don’t care.” I asked why, he said, “Because it is out of my hands.” But it really could be in your hands, depending on how the team does? Boone countered, “You are always managing for your job. I didn’t get into it for that and I am at total peace with whatever happens.”
Look, there is no joy in plumbing this subject. The fan base might want red meat, especially if another October goes wrong. But this is not some bad guy anyone is hoping fails. To know Boone is to like Boone. One executive who debriefs players who join his team about experiences elsewhere told me, “Every ex-Yankee tells me the same thing — Boone is a great guy.”
That is a clubhouse consensus. They know Boone always has their back publicly. This would be a good time for them to have his.
Aaron Boone and the Yankees will face the Royals in the ALDS starting Saturday.
Because this is not a traditional Yankee team. Boone is going to have to do a lot of managing about who is playing first base, left field and closing. He will have to pick when to deploy pinch hitters for his southpaw-challenged offense against a Royals pen with four lefties going well. There are players to defend for and run for.
And he has a team that has played sloppy — on the bases, in the field. The greatest baseball charity was the Yankees just giving away 90 feet on both sides of the ball. Those are areas that traditionally are seen as the manager’s responsibility. Sure, the Yankees see hitting it hard and throwing it hard as more central to winning. But for $300 million-plus, the Yankees should have it all.
The Royals are big underdogs and will wage a guerilla operation built around challenging Jazz Chisholm Jr. in his third base infancy with bunts and running, running, running at every opportunity. The Yankees need to be fully alert and at high baseball IQ for the Royals — and also for the manager.
He has had their back. Are they going to have his?
