Was hiring Boone the right choice?

With a lot of the same players as last year, the New York Yankees aren’t that impressive so far. Sure they have the second-best record in the MLB but the team is far from constant. Absolute low was yesterday’s game against the Baltimore Orioles.

So what’s going on with the Yankees? They have practically the same team as last year but still, they underperform at times. When you look at the team, you can draw one conclusion: lack of motivation. You can see it in every part of the game. Sloppy defense, lack of (clutch) hitting and lack of hustle.

It all started with the hiring of Aaron Boone. With him, the Yankees hired a yes man, a puppet. Even though he is a purebred baseball man from a true baseball family, he doesn’t have any experience. And it shows. He doesn’t know how to handle his bullpen, he keeps pitchers on the mound too long, he does not act when players are not running.

Take yesterday’s game for example. With Sonny Gray on the mound, it was batting practice for the Orioles in the second inning as he allowed five runs. Before they could blink their eyes, the Yankees trailed 7-1 against an AAA team. Knowing his reputation for not pitching well in Yankee Stadium, Boone should have pulled Gray much sooner.

What is really worrying is the fact that the Yankees do not hit in clutch situations. Yesterday they left the bases loaded twice after they had a good shot to cash in with only one or no outs. Many players are chasing bad pitches or go after first pitches. Isn’t it Boone’s job to teach them some plate discipline? Or else, what do the Yankees have a batting coach for?

And of course, there is the lack of hustling. Afterwards, you can say “Hey, Sanchez was injured” but he has a reputation to uphold for being lazy. Under Joe Girardi, he would have been benched and even been sent down to the minors. And that is the big difference between Joe Girardi and Aaron Boone. Girardi knew how to motivate his team. Since 2008, Girardi did not always have the best teams to manage but he always managed to get the best out of them. Last year the team was already loaded with talent and even though nobody expected them to make the playoffs, they did, thanks to their manager. Yesterday, Boone, in a feeble attempt, threw his third base coach in to play the bad cop and tell the players what a lousy performance it was. Why his third base coach? Didn’t he have the balls to do this himself?

A manager has to work with the material that is given by the GM so he cannot always be blamed for poor results. But in the case of Boone, he has a team stockpiled with talent. But still, the team doesn’t live up to its possibilities. It is only because of that talent the Yankees have the second best record in the Majors. It is very likely that the team would have played better with Joe Girardi at the helm but with a manager that is clueless (at times), you will get what you pay for. Let’s make sure Girardi’s contract wasn’t extended as many of the youngsters didn’t like his style of managing, something he got the boot for by the Marlins as well. So even Girardi had his flaws but still he was a better manager than Boone in my book.

There are people who come up with the argument that Boone still has to learn. True as he is very inexperienced. But with a team like the Yankees, a manager doesn’t have time to learn. Results are expected. And you don’t get results if the manager is clueless. You don’t get results when a manager pulls his pitchers too late. You don’t get results when a manager doesn’t know how to motivate his team.

The season is still long, so the Yankees can still turn things around. But so far it is clear that the club made a mistake by hiring Boone as their manager. He is simply too soft for this team.