believe it or not, there was a time Aaron Boonemanagerial career of Yankee Fans wondered if he was too passive, if he had enough fire.
Who knew that by his sixth year Boone would become a modern day billy martin Or Lou Piniella,
Thursday night in the Bronx, Boone 3–1 Yankees loss to Baltimore To argue balls and strikes. It was his second ejection in four games, third since May 10, and MLB-leading fourth this season.
Boone has been struck out 30 times since starting management in 2018, the most in baseball during that span.
First, to get the nuts and bolts out of the way on this one, despite home plate umpire Edwin Moscoso’s allegation that Boone was spitting in his face, Boone is unlikely to face a suspension for this.
Physical contact with an ump deserves a suspension, but in this case Boone was clearly only spraying while yelling, and not spitting intentionally. The only other contact came when crew chief Chris Guccione stood in front of Boone to block him from Moscoso (bench coach/suddenly part-time captain). carlos mendoza also stood in front of Boone to make sure he didn’t get into any nutrients). Boone shouldn’t expect any more discipline.
Zooming out, Boone’s brash behavior has two positives and one primary negative.
Positive: Word is, Yankee owners have no problem with Boone’s semi-regular exit, considering him an excellent manager and chalking up the arguments to his passionate attachment to the game.
Plus, the Yankee players appreciate that the manager stands up for them. In this game, Moscoso was missing clear strike calls on pitches by the New York starter. Clark SchmidtAnd Boone saved a young player the stress of having to argue for himself.
Schmidt said, “I insisted on thanking him.” “We are going to fight there. All the players, we are fighting with our lives. So it is a great feeling to see your manager out there fighting his heart out for you. I know he’s always going to have our backs, and you saw that tonight.
Now for the downside: Men in blue clearly don’t like Boone. Indeed, one cannot help but wonder whether his reputation as an umpire earned him a hook which he felt was premature.
Umpires tolerate a certain degree of grip on balls and strikes from the dugout before considering an ejection. In this case, Boone firmly believes that he did not cross any boundaries.
Boone said, “I shouldn’t have been thrown out of that game.”
After the ejection, which came while Boone was in the dugout, he lost his temper—which he said was not because of the missed call, but because of Moscoso’s behavior toward him, specifically his refusal to engage.
Boone said, “I got out of there quite calmly after I was thrown out.” “Again, I shouldn’t have been thrown out of that game. I was very quiet, didn’t do anything special. (Guccione) was holding me back, just telling me — so, I didn’t need to be restrained.
“(Moscoso’s) dismissive attitude and walked away, I objected. I didn’t really need to be restrained. I was being restrained, and he was putting it in front of me. Nothing bad could happen.” Was gonna
It’s a manager’s job to rally and unite his players, and Boone certainly does that. And the Yankees seem to be playing with an edge this year, which those around the team attribute to Boone and center fielder harrison bader, another passionate and animated character. Boone has become a culture-defining manager for the franchise.
If the umpires, being human, refuse to give Boone and his team the benefit of the doubt on future calls because of arguments – well, that’s not going to be so good for the Yankees.
Hey, when Earl Weaver Jr. is your manager, you take the bad with the significant good.
