Don Mattingly a Bad Fit for Yankees?

"Putting Mattingly in the dugout would instantly turn him into a successor-in-waiting," Klapisch writes. "Mattingly would never be party to such palace intrigue, and like it or not, Boone would become an instant lame duck.

"The "Fire Boone!" chorus, which has been building for years, would turn into a full-blown mutiny if the Yankees were under .500 on May 1. The fan base is in an especially predatory mood with the championship drought now in its 16th season."

Klapisch is right. A beloved figure in such close proximity to Boone, one of the faces of that 16-year drought in the Bronx, would hinder the team more than help. For every loss, Camilo Doval bases-loaded walk in the seventh, and Anthony Volpe strikeout with runners on, those boo birds would be aimed directly at the manager, and with it would come chants of "Fire Boone."

Mattingly vs. Boone in the public eye

That comes with the territory of being manager in New York but the problem is that having an iconic figure sitting next to him would be like dumping kerosene on those flames. That would be followed by Mattingly's name being chanted from the bleachers.

That isn't good for Boone, and it's also no better for Mattingly. A longtime veteran of the game and former manager himself probably doesn't want to put a colleague in such a compromising position. It wouldn't be what he wants if the roles were reversed.

Plus, these Yankees aren't a Mattingly away from having their fortunes turn around. It won't be Mattingly standing in the box, as his team stumbles to put up runs in October. It also won't be Mattingly on the mound if his two aces, Max Fried and Carlos Rodon, fall apart in October. Mattingly would not have changed a thing if he were skipper in the latest postseason bungling by these Yanks.

The Manager Won't Fix a Flawed Roster

All the noise surrounding Mattingly in this hypothetical situation would ultimately be misdirected anger. The fact is, it will be up to Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner to field a better team around their star and current beloved captain, Aaron Judge.

Dusty Baker was always regarded as one of the great managers in the game, but he couldn't seem to win the big one as skipper. He finally got his ring during the twilight of his career, though. That happened because he led an elite Houston Astros team to the promised land.

That was more about the roster and less about the man penciling in names into a lineup. It was nice to see Baker get the big one, but at one point, he and Boone were in the same position, sitting in the dugout with their players, having no championship to their name.

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