New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone is in hot water in the 2023 season.
Recently, Yankee fans have been hard on manager Aaron Boone. Are the boos and the "fire Boone" chants warranted?
It isn't surprising that fans are frustrated with the Yankees being in last place in the American League East. The Yankees have to be frustrated, too. To be fair, though, they are playing in the toughest division. The AL East is the only division where all five teams are over .500. But the Yankees are barely over .500, which on paper is shocking considering they have the highest payroll in the American League.
Undoubtedly, the team has a lot of talent, and many of their struggles have come from injuries to important players. Despite this, Boone's management has come under fire for decisions he's made. His management of the pitching staff has been particularly puzzling.
Here are three times the Yankees could have fired Aaron Boone so far this season.
Yankees: 3 times Aaron Boone could have been fired…and 1 reason to keep him
3. Clay Holmes blowing the save in a gut-punch loss
There have been many games so far this season that feel like the worst loss of the season. Yet it's never long before another brutal loss feels like even more of a gut punch than the previous one.
The loss on May 1st was one of those punches. Domingo German pitched into the 9th inning. At just 88 pitches, German only gave up 2 hits all game. One out into the 9th, Boone overmanaged, going to the bullpen, despite German looking strong. With other relievers like Ron Marinaccio and Michael King available, Boone mismanaged the bullpen and turned to Clay Holmes.
Since the second half of the 2022 season, Holmes has not looked like a closer. His command has faltered, and he hasn't looked sharp in high-leverage situations. Boone still trusts him to close. Holmes didn't record an out on May 1st before being pulled. Wandy Peralta came in and walked in a run. The Yankees lost 3-2.
Just a few days later, on May 3rd, Boone pulled Marinaccio who was pitching well and again went to Holmes in the 9th inning to close. The inning was a disaster, which leads us to our next fireable offense.
2. Playing Isiah Kiner-Falefa in the outfield
The "stick Isiah Kiner-Falefa anywhere on the field" experiment needs to end. Stop forcing him to be a utility man.
He's a third baseman, a backup shortstop, and an emergency catcher. The IKF starting shortstop experiment lasted too long, but at least then, he was clearly a stopgap. Getting him a couple of reps in the outfield so he's prepared for an emergency is fine, but Boone running IKF out there regularly is a joke. Although IKF has made a few great catches in 17 center field appearances, Harrison Bader's return from the I.L. should've spelled the end of IKF in the outfield.
IKF made his first career start in left field on May 3rd. During a disastrous 9th inning, IKF collided with center fielder Bader, nearly sending him back to the I.L. IKF had no business going full steam for that ball. Boone made a couple of bad decisions in this game, including bringing Clay Holmes into that situation, but IKF in left field is inexcusable. The Yankees won that game off a Jose Trevino pinch-hit walk-off, but Boone's mistakes were glaringly obvious.
If IKF contributed offensively, the Yankees might get away with him playing the outfield. A player can hit his way into the lineup. That's what's even worse about the IKF outfielder experiment. He's not hitting. IKF has one extra-base hit and two RBIs in 26 games and is batting .203. He's not hitting his way into the lineup.
Even with starting outfielders injured, there are better options for the outfield than IKF. No, not Aaron Hicks. Oswaldo Cabrera hasn't been hitting either, but at least he's proven himself as a true utility man. With Bader back, IKF shouldn't be in the outfield.
1. Too much latitude for Gerrit Cole when things unraveled
An ace is understandably given more latitude than another pitcher. Boone trusts his ace, Gerrit Cole, as he should. Cole has been dominant so far this season. Cole entered the game on May 7 with a 1.35 ERA and a 5-0 record. But sometimes, your ace just doesn't have it. Sometimes, things unravel and a game gets out of hand quickly, and the manager needs to stop the bleeding.
On May 7th, Cole had a 6-0 lead over the Rays in the fifth inning. He looked good through four before giving up two runs in the fifth. The Rays hit back-to-back doubles in the sixth, cutting the Yankees' lead to 6-3. Cole was losing command, and the Rays were making hard contact. Boone stuck with his ace with the tying run at the plate rather than going to the pen, and it was a costly move. Cole gave up a game-tying 3-run home run.
Wandy Peralta and Michael King were rested, and one of them could have come into the game before it was too late. With the game tied, instead of turning to Peralta or King, Boone went to Jimmy Cordero. Boone mismanaged the bullpen, not choosing a high leverage guy in that spot. Cordero allowed the go-ahead run to score on a chopper by not looking the runner back.
Despite the Yankees' effort to battle back, they lost 8-7 in the 10th inning, wasting a great day at the plate from Harrison Bader with three hits and two RBIs.
Lastly, let's look at a reason why Boone shouldn't be fired.
Why Aaron Boone shouldn't be fired: He is dealing with his options
On the flip side, Boone is working with what he has. The team has been without three expected starting pitchers. They're missing key pieces of the bullpen. They've been without some of the biggest bats in the lineup, and the outfield has been in shambles. Fans might be tired of hearing the injuries excuse, but Boone can only make a lineup with who is available.
Although Harrison Bader has returned, there was a time when the team was without Bader, Stanton, and Judge. With all three of these players on the shelf, Boone didn't have much flexibility when making a lineup. Someone had to play.
Sometimes managers push the right buttons and sometimes they don't. Using the pieces he has, Boone can still push the right buttons, like on May 3, with Trevino's pinch-hit walk-off single.
This team doesn't have the same magic as the 2019 Yankees, the "Next Man Up" era. While the injury bug bites every team at some point or another, 2019 was the year the Yankees faced more injury woes than ever before, and Boone had to get creative with the lineups. "No matter who Aaron Boone puts in the lineup, it's just been a tidal wave, an avalanche," Alex Rodriguez said at the time. It seemed every guy Boone wrote into the lineup created some magic. That just hasn't happened this year with the Yankees' depth pieces.
Fans want someone to blame for the current last-place Yankees. A lot of the blame falls to the manager, but perhaps eyes should look further up to the general manager. Brian Cashman put this roster together. Boone isn't responsible for the lack of a true closer on the roster or for the lack of depth. And let's be real, if Boone is fired, the next manager selected would be someone who would also follow the front office's way of running things.
Time will tell if the Yankees can straighten things out. It's a long season, and this one might feel a little longer than usual.
