Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner has not yet discussed Aaron Boone’s job status with the front office, according to people familiar with the matter, so everything you hear about the manager’s future is speculation.
But it’s informed speculation. Even some of Boone’s good friends in the game acknowledge that the pressure on him this postseason is greater than ever. The Yankees hold a club option on Boone for next year. They should have extended him last winter in order to prevent yet another exhausting year of this conversation. But they didn’t, and now a feeling hangs in the air around this team that he needs to win this series at minimum in order for the Yanks to pick up that option.
As Boone’s baseball and human acumen in handling Alex Verdugo over the past month demonstrates, his skills would be difficult to replace. This would have been true no matter how the first game of the American League Division Series went, but the fact that Verdugo keyed a 6-5 win over Kansas City with a diving catch and huge RBI double underscored the manager’s value.
One Yankees person recently mused that both Verdugo and Marcus Stroman have clashed with management elsewhere — and that this month, both remained wholehearted members of the team after difficult conversations with Boone.
That person ran into Boone immediately after the manager told Stroman last month that he was out of the rotation; Boone looked shaken, because he felt badly about it, but said that Stroman handled it like a pro. Not every manager or coach has elicited that type of response from Stroman in the past.
Ditto for Verdugo, for Juan Soto, for Carlos Rodon. The Yankees gambled on a set of unique personalities because they knew that Boone could create a culture that brought out the best in them.
“If you really want to have a real conversation with him, he’ll do that for you,” Verdugo said of Boone. “If you have anything you want to address or, you know stop beating around the bush and just go straight to the source, he will always have that conversation with you, to talk to you and let you know what’s going behind those decisions.”
Few of Boone’s detractors would doubt his human touch, but one only has to turn on the radio on log on to the internet to see the knocks that he is not tough enough, or lacks acumen.
The evidence suggests otherwise. While the world howled for the talented Dominguez to take over in left field, Boone saw a defender who gave the team a better chance to win in October.
That was the easy part; most anyone could see that. But he and the hitting coaches also noted subtle improvements in Verdugo’s swing starting in early September, which they believed suggested an increased capability to produce in the postseason.
The culture that Boone and captain Aaron Judge built helped Verdugo to feel supported and to recommit to his craft. He hired a personal chef to improve his nutrition, and made sure to stay ready for whatever opportunities came his way.
“This team, they really, really care for me,” Verdugo said. “They have my back. I appreciate it a lot, and it goes a long way.”
It’s not all Kumbaya with Boone’s Yankees — nor should it be. In the ninth inning of Game 1, the manager provided an accidentally public glimpse of the hot temper he almost always reserves for the clubhouse and his office.
Pitching coach Matt Blake, who Boone highly respects, barked at home plate umpire Adam Hamari over balls and strikes.
“Hey!” Boone yelled, gesturing down the bench at Blake. “Stop it!”
On this night, the yin and yang of edgy yet empathic that defines Boone’s Yankees was on full display.
If the team drops this round or the next, and the front office — which, by the way, still backs him strongly — finds itself interviewing new candidates for the job, it will be hard pressed to find another leader who strikes that balance.
