Analyst defends Yankees' Aaron Boone amid job security doubts

As recently as for a piece published Thursday morning, Randy Miller of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com touched upon the fact that New York Yankees skipper Aaron Boone is likely managing for his job this year. 

Former player, well-known analyst and MLB Network personality Harold Reynolds defended Boone while speaking with WFAN hosts Brandon Tierney and Sal Licata. 

"In all fairness, I don’t think Boone has had a chance to manage yet," Reynolds explained, as shared by Ryan Chichester of Audacy. "The governor is on him. It’s been front office deciding personnel, for one, but also decisions. They’re scripting games out in meetings the night before. That’s not just the Yankees, that’s industry wide. It’s hard to judge the manager."

While much has been said and written over the years about how much say Yankees senior vice president and general manager Brian Cashman allegedly has regarding certain game-day decisions, the fact remains that Cashman signed a contract that runs through the 2026 season back in December 2022. 

Boone, meanwhile, is in the last guaranteed year of a deal that includes a club option for 2025 after he missed the playoffs for the first time since he took the job ahead of the 2018 season. 

Fair or not, the offseason acquisition of outfielder Juan Soto from the San Diego Padres made the Yankees a win-now team. 

Last month, executives, former executives, coaches and scouts noted that Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner could part ways with both Boone and Cashman if the club doesn't at least complete its first trip to a World Series since it won the 2009 Fall Classic. 

"I think they had a big conversation, the Yankees have brought in some people to kind of move away from all the analytics," Reynolds added about Boone. "...They’re turning back towards, 'Let’s watch the game instead of just the information given to us.' Boone, I think he gets to talk baseball a little more and gets to manage a game. I hope he gets the freedom to see what he can do."

That's all well and good, but Chris Kirschner of The Athletic pointed out in February that the Yankees "had 28 players spend a total of 2,154 days on the injured list in 2023." 

Most notably, All-Star slugger Aaron Judge missed nearly two months of action because of a torn ligament in his right big toe. 

Boone can only do so much to limit player injuries, but he nevertheless likely won't get another mulligan if the Yankees again fail to make a significant playoff run under his watch.