The New York Yankees are among the most disappointing teams of the 2021 MLB season, and the uneven start has led to speculation that manager Aaron Boone’s grip on his job may be becoming tenuous.
According to Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, such an inference could not be further from the truth. Cashman instead said Tuesday that Boone and the coaching staff are the least of the Yankees’ issues.
“Losing invites scrutiny on us all,’’ Cashman said prior to Tuesday’s game against the Blue Jays at Sahlen Field, per the New York Post. “We are all in this together. We made this bed and we’re gonna sleep in it and make sure we find a way to fix this together.”
The Yankees sit at 34-32 following Tuesday’s 6-5 win over the Blue Jays, and the team has hovered around .500 for most of the season. Heading into Wednesday’s game against Toronto, the Yankees are eight games back in the AL East behind the Tampa Bay Rays (43-25). Not close by any measure, but not completely out of the division race, either.
Cashman admitted navigating the up-and-down season is “frustrating,” but the Yankees GM stressed that it’s inappropriate to blame Boone or the coaching staff.
“It is easy to throw somebody under the bus,’’ Cashman said. “It’s not something I believe in. It doesn’t mean I’m not willing to make changes if I felt they were warranted, but I don’t feel they’re warranted. This is something we all believed in when we started, but I also know I have to attack this with some urgency.”
Boone, while admitting it’s been a stressful start to the season while trying to get the Yankees rolling, said he was “appreciative” of Cashman’s vote of confidence.
“Certainly, I’m feeling the pressure,’’ Boone said. “It’s been a hard year. We got off to a very difficult start the first few weeks of the season. We righted the ship and then the last couple weeks have been tough. I wear that. I feel that. You care about what’s going on. You care about the guys in that room. I think you’re not human if you don’t feel that."
Cashman went on to stress Boone and the staff will be allowed the time to get the season on the right track.
“We’ve got really good coaches that know what they’re doing and I think we have a really good manager who knows what he’s doing,’’ Cashman said. “That doesn’t mean you’re gonna get the results you want. You’ve got to stay at it. We’re in this together and I’m trying to figure this thing out. We have what it takes in this clubhouse already.”
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