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Yankees manager Aaron Boone continues to anger fans.
On Thursday, the Pittsburgh Pirates fired their manager Derek Shelton, who after five full years at the helm won 307 games, lost 441 and never got his team into the postseason.
Could New York Yankees Manager Aaron Boone be the next to go? On first glance, the move would hardly make sense. Boone’s Yankees teams have won 625 games while losing just 446.
Now in his eighth year as skipper, Boone’s Yankees have missed the postseason only once, in 2023. After getting the World Series in 2024 — for the first time in Boone’s tenure — the Bronx Bombers appear well on their way to another postseason bid, sitting atop the American League East at 22-17 heading into Sunday’s MLB slate, two games in front of their longtime arch-rivals, the Boston Red Sox who occupy second.
What could possibly be wrong with that?
Boone Sets Yankees Record For Failing to Win World Series
Plenty, according to a contingent of Yankee fans who are using their online platforms to call out Boone for what they say are repeated mistakes — and worse.
Fansided Yankees blogger Mark Powell last weekend declared that Boone was now “on the hot seat,” and worse, “so cooked,” after a Yankees loss to the Tampa Bay Rays which Powell attributed to Boone’s managerial blunders.
“Boone is still making mistakes with the New York Yankees. Boone acts like a rookie manager despite being the head man in the New York dugout since 2017,” Powell wrote. “Boone has plenty of experience on his side, but he has yet to win a World Series in The Bronx. If that is the Yankees ultimate goal, then what are they waiting on?”
On Friday, Bleacher Report published a list of six MLB managers who, analyst Zachary D. Rymer said, were “on the hot seat.” Rymer’s list included one manager who has actually won a World Series, Brian Snitker of the Atlanta Braves who did it in 2021.
But Boone, who commands a franchise that has won more World Series, 27, than any other in baseball (the St. Louis Cardinals are a distant second with 11, followed by the Red Sox at nine), has yet to accomplish the feat in the Bronx where championships have become the standard.
Of the 27 managers who have steered the Yankees ship since the legendary Babe Ruth joined the club in 1920 and the team won its first-ever World Series in 1923, no manager has lasted as long a Boone — seven years and counting — without winning a single championship.
Former Yankees catcher Ralph Houk managed the team for seven straight years from 1967 through 1973 without winning one, but that was Houk’s second term in the Yankees dugout. He also managed from 1961 to 1963, reaching the Series all three years and winning twice.
Writer Demands Yankees Front Office ‘Wake Up’
But the depth of online Yankee fan animosity toward Boone goes beyond the lack of titles. One longtime critic, Bleeding Yankee Blue founder Robert Casey called out Boone for his overall managerial style, in a post published on Saturday.
“Let’s cut the crap — Aaron Boone is not just bad at his job. He’s a liar to the fans, a terrible master-wanna-be of spin, and the most unqualified manager in New York Yankees history. Yeah, I said it. He’s worse than Stump Merrill. At least Merrill didn’t insult our intelligence,” Casey wrote.
“Bad bullpen calls, dumb lineup switches, and scapegoating young players like Jasson Dominguez when his “gut” decisions fail. The front office needs to wake the hell up. Enough of the fake leadership act, unless of course they’re in on it, in which case we just gotta clean house,” the blogger continued.
Casey concluded his rant by labeling Boone a “fraud” and warning, “until the Yankees put someone in charge who knows what the hell they’re doing, we’ll keep calling him out.”
Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. Vankin is also the author of five nonfiction books on a variety of topics, as well as nine graphic novels including most recently “Last of the Gladiators” published by Dynamite Entertainment. More about Jonathan Vankin
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