Joe Torre is the latest guy to back up Boone (or I guess any manager who has struggled.) I mean look, the big thing happening for the past four years when it comes to Aaron Boone is that he just doesn't know how to get over the hump.
When players are clicking, pitching well, hitting well, that's always a great thing for a manager, because, well, things are just working. But a manager's job is the hardest when they have to manage through tough stretches. Boone don't know how to manage through tough times. And that's where I have my biggest beef with Boone.
He's not good at the ultimate challenge of righting the ship. He doesn't know how to navigate through tough times and that is evident when you see him losing his mind in front of the press with profanity. He's been exposed at that point, and he knows it. And so, banging on the desk and suggesting that "It's right in front of us" may be a true statement, but you're never gonna achieve it if you don't know how to manage your players.
Fans will say "this is Cashman's fault, fire him." I am not a big Cashman guy these days either, but he got the players that he could because he thought he could get us moving this year. In essence, he really only got Soto and Verdugo. It just so happened that the Yankees went on a tear in the beginning of the season... call that luck.
But in the end, the players leveled out, as we predicted here at Bleeding Yankee Blue, and now, with the team in turmoil, you need a manager to lead. A manager to take the reins, to dictate what needs to be done... not just saying "It's right in front of us" every night.
Enter Joe Torre who makes a great statement, but an obvious one. And to be honest, he really didn't move the story forward in my eyes as much as I love the guy. Audacy has this:
"You don’t know what happens behind closed doors," Torre explained, as shared by Ryan Chichester of Audacy. "You may be sitting there in your seat saying, 'You have to do something about this guy,' but you don’t know if he has done something. 'Boonie' doesn’t miss anything. He understands what’s necessary to go out on the field and not necessarily win, but get the effort on a regular basis."
Torre suggested it's important for a manager to know how to interact with different players at different times.
"They’re not all the same, so you can't really treat them all the same," Torre continued. "
You have to treat them all fairly.""You have to gain perspective here by saying that it’s 162 games," Torre added. "
Yeah, you hate to lose to the crosstown rivals. There’s a certain embarrassment to that…you’re the Yankees."
So break this down.
First off, Joe and
Bob Boone are buddies. You don't think Joe's doing a favor there for the old man's kid? Of course he is, but there's more to it... Boone misses a lot. Torre is wrong about that. Boone makes terrible personnel changes, pitching changes, horrible lineups batting
JD Davis fourth. He doesn't go by feel, he goes by analytics and that idiot Michael Fishman in the analytics Yankee office needs to be bound and gagged and thrown in the women's room because he's wrong all the time. That's one.
2. Manage a game by feel. Watch the way Bruce Bochy works... analytics is important, but so are matchups in the moment. The best hitter in the game could come up to the plate, but you don't know how he's truly feeling. Same with the pitcher pitching to him. And is it cold, warm, rainy? Whatever analytics were compiled in a matchup, think about it, BUT THINK ABOUT THE MOMENT YOUR'E IN. Sometimes you need to make adjustments based on a gut check. Boone doesn't leave the book of analytics... Boone follows it like a bible and at this point it has really hurt him.
3. Manage the team, don't be managed. Aaron Boone is a puppet. He is told what to do, how to build the lineup, who to play. This has been going on since he got there and the reason why we know this is because when
Joe Girardi started to do it his way, he was asked not to come back. We all knew when Boone was being interviewed for the Yankee managerial job, he wasn't qualified, and I think that's what bothers a fan like me most. No experience... just a puppet mentality.
Now Torre is right to say that we don't know what he does behind closed doors with his players. Sure, makes sense, but what we also know is that he coddles, and he coddles more than most managers. He's a player's coach, not a manager that commands respect.
There is a difference;
Bochy is "buddy-buddy" with his guys, but his guys respect him to guide him through the tough times. I personally feel like Aaron Judge saying Boone "backed up his guys" last year was a pretty surface thing, meaning, it wasn't that deep because Boone isn't that deep. Sure,
Judge is right to back his manager, but Boone "backing them up" and commanding respect from his guys are two very different things. Boone doesn't command respect. Boone just likes to have the title of manager of the New York Yankees. It doesn't mean he actually knows how to do it.
In the end, I love
Joe Torre, but let's face it, it doesn't change my mind and it shouldn't change yours either. Boone is no leader.
He never was, he never will be. We won't win a championship this year. And it's all because of him.
Boone ain't no Patton. He's more like Paddington Bear and that's exactly how the Yankee front office likes it.
Just keeping it real. Now go buy my new design below!
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