Aaron Boone has heard a variety of complaints throughout his four years in the Bronx. More often than not, however, those criticisms have pertained to analytics.
The Yankees manager has been described as numbers-obsessed, a puppet for New York’s analytics-driven front office, or some combination of the two. When day-to-day decisions such as lineups and pitching changes are ripped, fans and pundits typically wonder what influence data had on those calls.
But Boone and his family are baseball lifers, and he’s bothered by the perception that he has no natural instincts for a sport he’s been around since he was a child. “Certain things about that get to me,” Boone told the New York Post’s Joel Sherman in a wide-ranging interview before expressing discontent for the idea that baseball has become a tug-of-war between old school and new school. Rather, he told The Post that believes that he and the game have evolved:
“Narratives that get started that maybe have some sliver of truth to it, but in the end are kind of bulls–t. I have a hard time … it bothers me just as a sport, as an industry, as someone who has been in the game forever and loves it, sometimes the old school-new school rub. There is this built-in angst declarative.
You are missing the boat if you are not all-in on all of it and understanding the importance of all of it. I try to bring that down here all the time. One thing rubbed me wrong, I heard something — I listen to things a little more in the offseason, during the season I don’t see much; I am not oblivious to things — but they called me a ‘data applicator.’ Like I am not a baseball guy and just some ‘data applicator.’ I have been in this game all my life, bro. I am as baseball through-and-through as anyone. Just because I have been open-minded and grown in the game doesn’t mean I am any more old-school or new-school than I have ever been. You are an idiot if you are not aware of all of it.”
This is not the first time this offseason that Boone has forcefully pushed back against the persisting narratives surrounding his managerial career.
Shortly after signing his new deal with the Yankees, Boone acknowledged the public’s perception of him. But he dismissed the idea that he’s simply doing what the front office tells him to do.
"We've built this strawman, that this is what happens. We call up and ask for permission to push this button… It’s not the case,” a frustrated Boone said in October. “We have a powerful front office that provides me and my staff with a lot of tools, but ultimately we’re charged with going out there and making difficult decisions on a daily basis. People like to think they know exactly how it goes and have done a good job of creating this perception, or sometimes even this boogeyman, for how it all looks. I would say it's not quite like that."
Boone is not the only Yankee that has been questioned for these notions. Brian Cashman and the front office have also been accused of being over-reliant on analytics. Cashman also addressed these beliefs in October. He likened New York’s flow of information to a “buffet table” – in other words, there’s no singular way to do things – before adding, “We want to make sure people are making informed decisions."
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