Aaron Boone

Yankees’ Gary Sanchez doesn’t think he should be benched

by
New York Yankees, Gary Sanchez

I’m not sure that there’s anyone more unpopular right now with the New York Yankees than Gary Sanchez. Well, maybe Aaron Boone takes the cake there, but they are in a heated battle for the most disliked among the fans.

Sanchez has all the talent in the world, yet he’s arguably been the worst catcher in baseball this year by a long shot. Sanchez has been pitiful defensively, and shockingly, he’s been better defensively than he’s been offensively.

The Yankees catcher is batting .125 on the season with 7 home runs and 15 RBIs. In 118 plate appearances this year, Sanchez has struck out an astonishing 49 times. He’s been so bad that Yankees manager Aaron Boone decided to bench him. A decision Sanchez didn’t agree with.

Yankees Internal Drama?

In a Zoom call, the Yankees catcher stated, “I wanted to keep playing, I’m always ready to play and I wanted to keep playing to find a way out of it. But he (Boone) came and told me (I was being benched).”

It was clear based on the tone that Sanchez was not happy about having his chance taken away. However, what were the Yankees supposed to do. I’m going to be honest in saying Gary Sanchez has sucked this year. There is no way around it.

The Yankees catcher did state that it’s been difficult on him personally. Sanchez told reporters, “It’s been tough for me not to be able to get the rhythm… A lot of our teammates have been down for a while with injuries, and not to be able to contribute and help the team. It’s been hard.”

While the Yankees have been spiraling out of control, they have desperately needed Sanchez to step up, but he has completely failed. In his first game back following the benching, Sanchez went 0-4 with a strikeout showing no improvement whatsoever.

I’m honestly at a loss with Gary Sanchez. There are some people who are saying the Yankees shouldn’t move on until he plays a full season in 2021. I would remind those folks that he’s hit under .200 since 2018 so these struggles are not something new.

While the Yankees catcher believes he should be given the time to figure things out, I think the bombers need to look elsewhere after this season is over. I wish they could move on now to be honest with you.

 

The New York Yankees: When It Rains, It Pours

by
New York Yankees, Aaron Boone

2020 was supposed to be the year that the New York Yankees took back their spot at the top of the mountain. They finally had the missing piece (Gerrit Cole) to winning a championship. They had the lineup, the pitching staff, and the bullpen.

The Yankees seemingly had everything you needed to win a championship. All they needed to do was stay healthy and play to their talent level. Well, with just a few weeks left in the season, neither one of those things has happened.

The Yankees have been dealt devastating injuries, and the players who have played haven’t played well outside of a couple exceptions. A team that seemed to be a World Series favorite, is now just 1.5 games ahead for the last playoff spot in the AL.

Keep in mind that the only reason the Yankees would make the playoffs is the COVID playoff expansion. If it wasn’t for that, the Yankees would pick up their ball and go home in a few weeks.

The Yankees crushing defeat

Last night, the Yankees hit a new low. Recently, the Yankees were surpassed by the Toronto Blue Jays for second place in the division. The majority of their remaining games come against Toronto.

The Yankees have struggled mightily over the last few weeks entering last night 5-13 in their previous 18 games. The Yankees came out of the gates hot with a couple of home runs. They took a 6-2 lead into the sixth inning.

The Yankees had it setup perfectly for their best bullpen arms to close it out. You had a feeling that this could be the game that turns it around. However, the Blue Jays scored an astonishing ten runs in one inning to deal a knockout blow to the bombers.

I couldn’t hardly believe what I was watching. The Blue Jays scored ten runs off Chad Green and Adam Ottavino before the Yankees recorded two outs. There is horrific performances, then there’s what we witnessed last night.

Granted, the blame cannot go completely to the Yankees relievers. With the bases loaded, Luke Voit got a ground ball right to him which would have recorded the second out of the inning. He booted the ball, and the onslaught continued. The Yankees lost the game 12-7.

Where to go from here

Just when you think it can’t get worse for the Yankees, it does. When they get great outings from their pitchers, the offense can’t generate more than a run or two. Whenever their offense gives them a lead, the bullpen can’t hold it.

At this point, I’m not even sure I would feel comfortable if the Yankees were winning a game 10-0. That’s how bad it has truly become. This team can turn it around, but I’m not sure anyone believes that they will at this point.

There has to be some heat on Brian Cashman. The Yankees were spiraling out of control last week and Cashman did nothing at the deadline. No reinforcements for the bombers, just praying they get better.

Unfortunately for Cashman, not only have the problems continued, they’ve become worse. If the boss were still alive and running the team, I would not want to be anyone in the Yankees organization. I’m not sure what the answer is, but it’s truly dark times in the Bronx.

New York Yankees News: Yesterday was a very difficult day for Yankee Manager Aaron Boone (video)

by
New York Yankees, Aaron Boone

New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone had a very tough day yesterday.  First, one must understand that everything that went on yesterday, happened under the shadow of the great Jackie Robinson.  Number 42 paved the way for black players to enter the major leagues. Jackie Robinson was an African American professional baseball player who broke Major Leagues Baseball’s infamous “color barrier” when he started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. Until that time, professional ballplayers of color suited up for teams only in the Negro Leagues.

Yesterday MLB celebrated Jackie Robinson day.  The celebration usually takes place on April 15th, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, the celebration of his life was pushed forward to when baseball was actually being played. Yesterday on the Diamond Vision screen at Yankee Stadium images of Jackie Robinson’s career was shown. The bases were all marked with the number 42. All the Yankees and Mets players wore the number 42 on their backs. Famous New York Yankee and Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera was one of several active players who wore No. 42 when he began his career. Those active players already wearing the number were permitted to wear it until they retired. Rivera retired in 2013, and when his number 42 was finally retired in Monument Park, Jackie Robinson’s widow and daughter were at his side.

In a horribly ironic occurrence, the black star that played Jackie Robinson in the movie “42”, Chadwick Boseman died yesterday on Jackie Robinson day.  The talented star was just 43 years old. He died of colon cancer, which he had been battling since 2016.  Jackie Robinson died of a heart attack at the age of 53, at his Stamford, Connecticut home.

For Aaron Boone, the day started with the hope of curbing the slide, that the Yankees have suffered over the last several days, losing five games in a row.  That hope was dashed as the Yankees slipped to third place in the East Division, after losing two more, making it seven in a row.  This was particularly hard for Boone as the Yankees had the lead in both games of the doubleheader. In both cases, the Yankee bullpen gave up the lead. In game one Jordan Montgomery pitched five solid innings, only to have the Yankee’s most dependable reliever, Chad Green come into the game, and give up five runs that the Yankees could not recover from.

Game two was more of the same, being the seventh loss in a row, something the Yankees hadn’t done since Joe Girardi’s 2017 team. For the Yankees, it was an “opener game” started by Jonathan Loaisiga, who pitched one-run ball for three innings, striking out three on 39 pitches. Adam Ottavino, Nick Nelson, and Luis Cessa turned over a 3-2 lead to Chapman, who has yet to record a save after opening the season on the COVID-19 injured list. Zack Britton who covered for Chapman saved all of his eight tries. Chapman allowed a two-run walk-off homer to Amed Rosario.

Following the games, in a post-game interview, a clearly dejected Boone was asked a difficult question, that he became very emotional over and could not answer, abruptly leaving the room.

 

He recovered shortly thereafter, and stated about the games: “you have to quickly move on.”  On the matter of his black children, he said, his eyes puffy from just having fought back tears, had been asked if the Black Lives Matter movement may have resonated more with him because two of his four children are adopted, and black. “It’s been a hard and heavy year,” Boone said. “A heartbreaking year in so many ways.”

A very tough day for Boone for sure. Today the Yankees will again try to end the slide when New York Yankee pitcher J.A. Happ takes the mound in a matinee game at Yankee Stadium.

Yankees’ Aaron Judge suffers injury setback, here’s the latest

by
New York Yankees, Aaron Judge

Following last night’s loss against the Atlanta Braves, New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone said that Aaron Judge could possibly be headed back to the Injured List after being removed early from the second game of the doubleheader. The club is going to reevaluate him today and make a decision from there.

First reported by Marly Rivera, Judge apparently tightened his calf while rounding second base. Boone said, “Doesn’t seem to be serious, but we’ll see tomorrow.”

A week ago Judge told the media that he was feeling 100% and was ready to get back in the lineup. It’s difficult to say if this injury was rushed or if he just reaggravated it again.

Judge was having a great year before having this injury stint. He’s currently batting .290 with nine home runs and 20 RBIs in just 17 games.

The Yankees are notorious for having injury problems and this year isn’t any different. DJ LeMahieu, James Paxton, Gleyber Torres, Zack Britton, Giancarlo Stanton, and Kyle Higashioka are all out for at least a couple more weeks. Star pitchers Tommy Kahnle and Luis Severino are both out for the whole season with Tommy John.

The Bombers have lost the last five games they’ve played, being swept in the last two series. They fall to a 16-11 record and after being atop comfortably in the AL East for the first few weeks of the season, the Yankees are now second behind the Tampa Bay Rays.

New York Yankees: Boone continues to make the same lineup mistake, DJ LeMahieu injury update

by
Mike Tauchman, New York Yankees

The New York Yankees are facing off against the Tampa Bay Rays in the second game of a three-game series on Wednesday evening. On Tuesday, they fell 6-3, with Masahiro Tanaka having a poor outing. The offense simply wasn’t able to get going either, and with three of their best players absent, things won’t get better for at least another week.

Nonetheless, the Yankees have plenty of reserve options to utilize in the meantime.

Manager Aaron Boone deployed an interesting lineup on Wednesday, one day after he gave Luke Voit the leadoff spot. Voit drove in three RBIs and hit a home run. On Wednesday, he moved Aaron Hicks to the top of the order, placing Mike Ford at clean up as the DH, and Brett Gardner in left field. Interestingly, Thairo Estrada received the start at second base over Tyler Wade.

Where is Boone making a mistake?

The mistake revolves around Gardner, who continues to gain reps over Mike Tauchman despite the obvious difference in production. So far this season, Gardner is hitting .167 with three homers and six RBIs over 48 at-bats. Tauchman is hitting .333 with seven RBIs and five walks over 45 at-bats.

Tauchman is also a fantastic defensive player, and while he isn’t the slugger that Brett somehow has managed to become, his ability to get on base and high contact rate makes him more valuable at this point in time. Tauchman has been a supplemental piece the past few games, receiving minimal starts. I don’t know what it will take for Boone to finally realize that Tauchman is the better player and deserves more playing time over Gardner.

Injury update on New York Yankees in filter DJ LeMahieu:

LeMahieu overextended his thumb several days ago against the Boston Red Sox.

Ultimately, the second baseman has been “sore” and is still in the 2-3 week return timeline. He suffered a similar injury back in 2018 with the Colorado Rockies and is once again dealing with a thumb issue. Giving him as much time as needed is essential, but luckily the Yankees are close to gaining slugger Aaron Judge back. Judge featured in batting practice yesterday but was placed on the 10-day IL as a precaution.

New York Yankees: Aaron Boone talks matchup with Tampa Bay Rays

by
New York Yankees, Aaron Boone

Following their four-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees, 16-6, hold a two and a half-game lead on the Tampa Bay Rays for first place in the American League East; the Yankees begin a three-game series with the Rays at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday.

A week and a half ago, the Yankees dropped three out of four on the road to the Rays. The two teams each scored 14 runs in the series.

Despite their struggles against the Rays earlier in the season, Yankees manager Aaron Boone is optimistic that they can play well against them this week if their offense capitalizes on opportunities (quotes per George King III of the New York Post).

“I thought we did a lot of things in that series pretty well. Even though we didn’t score a ton of runs outside of the one game we played I thought we gave ourselves a lot of opportunities and that is what you have to do against them,’’ Aaron Boone said Monday of his team that went 4-for-27 (.148) with runners in scoring position during the series. “Give yourself as many opportunities as you can because you know it is going to be challenging to score and score big against them but if we give ourselves opportunities and capitalize when we have those chances and to continue to pitch well against them then we will like our chances.’’

The Rays have won eight of their last nine games and accumulated 90-plus wins in the 2018 and 2019 seasons. Last season they won the AL Wild Card Game and took the eventual AL pennant-winning Houston Astros to five games in the AL Division Series round.

The Yankees are expected to send right-hander Masahiro Tanaka to the hill while the Rays are expected to send left-hander Blake Snell to the hill on Tuesday night. The Yankees are currently without Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, and DJ LeMahieu due to injuries.

Yankees: J.A. Happ frustrated over being blindsided by Aaron Boone in rotation

by
New York Yankees, J.A. Happ

The New York Yankees have a J.A. Happ problem on their hands. Happ has a long way to go before triggering a 2021 testing option. At 37 years old, the right-handed pitcher would have needed to start 27 games or pitch 165 innings if he wished to cash in on a $17 million deal for 2021.

However, given the abbreviated season, the prorated levels would be 10 starts or 61 1/3 innings. With three starts already on the board, the Yankees are doing everything they can to stay away from that vesting option, which would take a large chunk of cash away from their available monies.

Ultimately, the Yankees want no part in that contract extension, considering Happ has been lackluster since the beginning of last year. He finished 2019 with a 4.91 ERA over 161 innings pitched. This year so far, he has a 6.39 ERA over 12 innings, allowing nine earned runs and striking out just six batters. With his velocity down and control inadequate, teams have been slugging the former Toronto Blue Jay regularly.

Last week, the Yankees skipped Happ in the rotation, given his lack of consistency and confidence from the coaching staff. When asked about the Yankees trying to steer clear of his vesting option for next season, Happ stated:

“That is a subject that I think I am going to stay away from right now.”

Happ had two conversations with manager Aaron Boone regarding the situation.

“One of them went very well and the second one I didn’t think went very well,” he said. He didn’t want to elaborate much more.

Conclusively, being skipped in the starting rotation frustrated J.A., who fully expected to be a consistent contributor this season. He has been quite poor over three starts, but his last one against the Boston Red Sox on Sunday evening was motivating. Over 5.2 innings, he allowed just three hits and one run. This was his best outing of the year by a large margin, but it was against a lowly Boston team that could barely fair in Triple-A.

His vesting option for next season is the biggest concern, as it is illegal for major league teams to manipulate player usage. They have to have legitimate reasons to skip a player in the rotation, and considering how poorly he had been performing, they have a pretty good justification.

New York Yankees: Aaron Boone is playing a dangerous game with the media

by
New York Yankees, Aaron Boone

Typically, the New York Yankees utilize the media as a building tool and growth orchestrator. Curating stories to keep attention from fans and expand their reach is how sports grow in general. In recent years, baseball has done a poor job of expanding to younger demographics and capturing the minds of young potential fans. However, it’s not because of a lack of New York media coverage, as the Yankees have been relatively good despite failing to make a World Series appearance in over ten years.

It is crucial for managers to understand how they can utilize the media to brew excitement within their team. That is what Aaron Boone has been doing with Gary Sanchez, on his weekly spot with Michael Kay on ESPN 98.7. While Sanchez has been struggling mightily to begin the season, Boone always has a silver lining to portray. Whether it be how he’s framing pitches or taking more balls at the plate, any way to bolster his catcher is a go.

However, New York fans are highly investigative with their team and know as much as possible. Every player is in the spotlight, and there’s nobody that goes unseen in New York. Boone has to understand that the media will utilize anything against the team.

The New York Yankees created a hostile environment with Judge’s injury:

This past week, after star slugger Aaron Judge was pulled from a game in the fifth inning after a solo home run, Boone blatantly lied to the media.

While it is quite difficult to navigate these circumstances, as Judge might not have appeared injured at first, being honest with the scrum is a necessity. Fast forward a few days, and Boone stated that Judge was dealing with some “lower body tightness.”

The worst of it came on Friday evening when Judge was placed on the injured list with a calf strain, and everybody was up in arms. People believe Boone lied to the media and the fans, which, in their eyes, is unacceptable. While it might have been a way to suppress the noise from Judge’s injury as they prepared for Boston, it had more of an effect on Boone’s trustworthiness.

After he pushed his usual press conference from 4 PM to 5:20 PM on Friday, the New York Yankees’ media begin to speculate on the situation. Of course, it was never going to be good news when the lineup was released, and Aaron Judge was not in it.

Things really began to percolate when Boone stated that Judge was feeling the “wear and tear” of the season. Many felt that playing 17 games with multiple days off should not result in “wear and tear” for a 28-year-old player. However, the reality is simple; Judge is injury prone, along with Giancarlo Stanton. Most fans expect them to go down at some point during the season, and Boone remaining honest with the media is something that will only help him. Either way, people will be upset over these injuries.

How do you feel about Aaron Boone withholding this information from fans and the media? Comment below!

New York Yankees: Peculiar situation indicates Aaron Judge could have a slight injury

by
New York Yankees, Aaron Boone

The New York Yankees overcame a strong Atlanta Braves team 9-6 on Tuesday evening in the first game of a two-game series. After taking an 8-0 lead entering the sixth inning, starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery gave up a three-run home run to draw the Braves within five. Luckily, the Yankees bullpen was able to stifle a comeback attempt by Atlanta, with Zack Britton securing the save.

However, after a fifth-inning homer by Aaron Judge, a slight wince rounding second base confused the masses. Manager Aaron Boone immediately pulled Judge from the game but did not indicate any concern over an injury.

The New York Yankees are finally out of the Trop:

After enjoying an off day on Monday, the Yankees travel back to the Bronx for a home series, finally. They had previously lost a four-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays on the turf at Tropicana Field. Playing on turf is oftentimes tough on your joints and knees, due to the lack of cushion from artificial grass.

Following the contest, Boone stated he is “just trying to be smart with everyone,” regarding the decision to pull Judge from the game.

With the Yankees leading by a significant margin, taking him out could be justified by the lead. Judge was seen hanging out in the dugout during the bottom half of the sixth inning but then went to the clubhouse for the remainder of the game.

It is possible that Judge could be working through a slight injury, but it doesn’t seem that to be anything serious. Judge missed a few days of work with a stiff neck a few weeks ago, but his stellar performance at the plate, hitting .290 with a .758 slugging percentage, indicates that he is at the top of his game. Hopefully, nothing serious will come of this peculiar situation, and he will be back in the starting lineup on Wednesday.

New York Yankees: Aaron Boone speaks out on Gleyber Torres’ struggles

by
New York Yankees, Gleyber Torres

Through the thick and thin of the early season, New York Yankees shortstop Gleyber Torres has struggled in the batter’s box.

Across 12 games (45 plate appearances), he has totaled five hits, one home run and two RBIs which equates to a .119 batting average, a .368 OPS and a six OPS+. Torres is hitless in his last 23 at-bats.

Despite the dragging start, Yankees manager Aaron Boone isn’t “really worried” about his shortstop (quotes per Zach Braziller of the New York Post).

“I’m not really worried about Gleyber too much,” Boone said over Zoom before the Yankees opened a four-game series against the Rays in Tampa with a 1-0 setback. “He’s been probably a little over-aggressive, probably expanding the zone a little bit, chasing [pitches]. We’re all human, even as great of a player as Gleyber is.”

“So I feel like he’ll break out sooner than later,” Boone said.

Torres has mostly hit in the three hole for the Yankees this season but was moved to sixth in their 1-0 loss on the road to the rival Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night. Torres went 0-for-4.

Last season Torres totaled 38 home runs and 90 RBIs while hitting .278 and posting an .871 OPS and 128 OPS+. He has started at both middle infield positions across his three seasons at the big-league level.

The Yankees began the season 8-1, going 5-0 against divisional opponents (Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox). They have since lost three of four games, being held to seven runs over their last three games.

The Yankees offense is second in Major League Baseball in home runs (24) and OPS (.782), eighth in batting average (.244), ninth in runs (65) and 16th in hits (99).

New York has a doubleheader with Tampa Bay on Saturday, the continuation of a four-game series concluding on Sunday. It will be the second doubleheader of the season for the Yankees.