MARIANO BACKTRACKS AFTER KING DEREK LAYS GROUNDWORK FOR BOONE NARRATIVE

Before I get into this, let me state once again for the record the I am a GIANT Derek Jeter fan these days, and it has everything to do with him letting us into his life and personality after many years of him not.  Bottom line, I didn't get him back then, I don't think many did. But now, knowing what I know from his own words on how he dealt with the spotlight and the press and the fans... it all makes sense. "The Captain" documentary was eye opening for me and allowed everyone to see Derek as a real person. And I loved every minute of it.  So why I was very unhappy a few years ago with how he dealt with my kid at a charity event, I understand the context of it now, and so he is forgiven.

And that being said, it's important to let you know that when Mariano Rivera was speaking out against Aaron Boone yesterday, and we reported in MARIANO RIVERA DROPS A TRUTH BOMB ON BOONE & CO., I knew that he would back track over his comments suggesting that Boone would be gone if he were the owner of the New York Yankees.

Today Mariano said this. ESPN writes:

"The Hall of Fame reliever told The Associated Press on Thursday that he was speaking generically about teams and managers when he answered questions Tuesday during a videoconference session with Panamanian business executives.

"I said when a team like this, the New York Yankees, is expected to win, the season that they had, and they don't make it to the end, always the manager is the one that always ends up paying," Rivera said during a telephone interview with the AP.

"Although the manager doesn't hit, the manager doesn't pitch, the manager doesn't run, the manager doesn't do nothing but manage and make sure everybody's ready to play, unfortunately they never fire the whole team, they always fire the manager. I was giving a generic estimation. And obviously they took it out of context."

Yesterday I wrote: 

"Now Steinbrenner doesn't care about us, this is clear. But I am sure his people are calling Mariano's people and some discussion will be had at some point. But Mo is his own man, and I am thrilled that Mo came out and said what he said."

There is no question in my mind that this happened today. And couple that with Derek Jeter being the class act that he is, he said this to Bryan Hoch last night at an event, couching controversy and toeing the Yankee line. And we even saw a glimpse of the old Jeter where he distanced himself. Check this out:

Now Jeter is right in some regard. Ask Hal because Hal knows. Jeter? He just said he had his head down in Miami and couldn't add to any real discussion about Boone. That's fair.  But what happened next in my estimation was this...

Jeter's quotes came out right around the time that Mariano's did. Hal's people either reached out to Mariano's people, or Mariano saw that Jeter took the lead and decided that he probably overstepped and then Mo decided to back track.  Bottom line, the Yankees are like a huge corporate compound. You don't speak out against them, and you don't go against the grain. We as fans are so angry with Yankee brass that it was a breath of fresh air that Mariano said what he said. But today, after all that happened in 24 hours, decided that it's not worth it to pick a fight with the Yankees over something he's removed from. And so, Mariano followed Jeter's lead. While I respect them both for their opinions... I wish Mo stuck to his guns. Because I firmly believe that his quote was NOT taken out of context.  I really believe that. He can say the comments weren't about Boone. But he's right about it. So, I'm positive it was.

Whatever the case, it doesn't change the fact that Boone still needs to be fired.  He did a lousy job this year and the Yankees know this.  But they will continue to have him hang around and manipulate him for the next 2 year.  Shoot me now.