(This story originally appeared in the Spring 2019 edition of Yankees Magazine)
When the Yankees hired Aaron Boone, my first thought was similar to a lot of other people’s: Why? Only, I think I was coming at it from the opposite side of most people who were confused by the move. Why, I wondered, would Aaron Boone want this job?
Obviously, there aren’t too many managing positions that compare in fame and prominence to the top job in the Bronx. But why would you want your first job to be replacing a guy who was fired after taking an overachieving team within a game of the World Series? Why would a guy such as Aaron Boone, whose short career in pinstripes included a basically perfect, singular memory, want to change that? Becoming a manager is basically just starting the clock until you inevitably get fired. Even Joe Torre left under not so great terms.
Again, why would you want this job?
I spent a year watching Boone pretty closely, trying to get a measure of the guy, before I got to spend some time with him on what was almost exactly the one-year anniversary of his hiring. We chatted in his office, as Boone — smiling, enthusiastic, ready for the new year — talked about what went right for so much of the 2018 season, and what went wrong when the games meant the most. It’s difficult to fully and honestly judge the year. On paper, so much went right. Even in the ALDS loss to Boston, Boone’s players were right there in all but one game, the absolute laugher in Game 3.
But Boone clearly took a different philosophy into the playoffs than his counterpart, Alex Cora, did. Cora threw away the book, making aggressive pitching changes without a second’s thought. Conversely, the knock on Boone after the series was that he took too long to react, leaving pitchers in to fight through trouble, letting the clock tick toward midnight instead of acting. I wanted to take the manager’s temperature with a few months of perspective.
I’m not sure how much new ground we broke. He basically met me halfway on my questions about the playoffs, admitting that there are some things he has second thoughts about, but insisting that the process was sound. And I’m not sure he’s wrong about that. Cora got the last laugh because his team won, but if, for example, the Yankees had come back to win Game 4, after Chris Sale had pitched the 8th inning (because Cora was managing to win every single pitch), I’m not sure who would have pitched in the deciding Game 5. Maybe then we’re talking about Boone being a genius for remaining patient, for going with what had worked. Perhaps we’re just overthinking all of this.
Anyhow, I hope you’ll read and enjoy.