Yankees players defend Aaron Boone amid future uncertainty

New York Yankees All-Star slugger Aaron Judge has repeatedly offered public support for Aaron Boone and again backed the manager amid the club's woeful season. 

"He’s a good friend of mine," Judge said while detailing his love of playing for Boone, per Brendan Kuty and Chris Kirschner of The Athletic. "He’s been with me here since 2018. We’ve built a strong relationship." 

The Yankees were 59-55 and four-and-a-half games back in the battle for a wild-card postseason berth when it was reported earlier this month that "a last-place finish...would all but doom Boone" even though this likely will be the first time the club misses the playoffs since he took over after the 2017 season. Last-place New York (61-66) entered Friday sitting 10 games back in the wild-card race, and one couldn't be blamed for viewing the team's meltdown as an indication that the clubhouse needs a new voice at skipper. 

Infielder DJ LeMahieu views things differently. 

"It’s not an easy job," LeMahieu explained. "I think he handles it great. The players respect him. They enjoy playing for him, but they also respect him." 

Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner noted this past spring he could "make a change" at manager if he felt those on the roster no longer "want to play for" and "win for" Boone. Steinbrenner is also a businessman who likely understands at least some paying customers won't warmly welcome the returns of both Boone and general manager Brian Cashman following what Cashman recently referred to as a "disaster" of a season. 

During a podcast appearance earlier this week, former MLB All-Star and current podcast host Bret Boone, Aaron's older brother, insisted that players and not managers typically are responsible for winning and losing games. Yankees utility man Isiah Kiner-Falefa echoed Bret's take. 

"It’s more on the players," Kiner-Falefa said about the coaches' impact on the current state of the Yankees. "I feel like there’s nothing different they can do. We go out there and get two or three hits — they don’t have the bat. At the end of the day, we just haven’t been able to frickin’ score more runs than the other team." 

Such words don't erase the fact that Steinbrenner and Cashman can't fire all the players or rebuild the American League's most expensive squad overnight. Simply put, those wearing Yankees pinstripes need to produce quite the September to remember if they want to guarantee that Boone is still their manager by the time they report for spring training this coming February.