Isiah Kiner-Falefa Doubles Down on Yankees Comments

Doubling Down

When asked again about his comment, Falefa didn't hold back. He just reiterated what his old team felt, effectively doubling down on his answer.

"They asked the question — I just gave the honest answer," Kiner-Falefa said, according to Newsday's David Lennon. "It is what it is. I love the guys over there. I have nothing bad to say about anybody over there. It was just a matchup thing. (Garrett) Crochet is an unbelievable pitcher, and we did not want to face Crochet after he went eight innings against us (Sept. 24, 3 hits, 0 runs, 6 Ks). And we really felt like he had our number. He kind of had everybody's number."

At first, Aaron Boone had been miffed by the remarks, mentioning that he was surprised at how forthcoming Falefa had been about his old team. Boone said it was "surprising" to hear IKF say that, followed by a frustrated "whatever."

Now, weeks after the critiques, Boone eventually came around to what IKF said.

“The more I thought about it, though, maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised,” the manager told Lennon. “Because IKF is very honest and real. And I don’t think he meant any slap at us. I frankly didn’t take it that way.”

Whether IKF meant anything malicious is up for interpretation. This is the original statement.

"We thought it was a better matchup for us the other way to face New York," IKF said. "We were watching that series and we were watching Garrett Crochet just dice up. I think we had just lost two out of three to Boston and it put us behind the Yankees or tied us with them for the AL East lead in late September."

Just Hate the Yankees and They'll Love You

While the manager may not think much of what his old shortstop said, going after the Yankees is something new players do when the Sox sign them. The Yankees' version of currying fanfare is for a player to say they were lifelong fans. Gerrit Cole held up a sign, is just one example.

Up in those New England states, though, you don't have to have an iota of fandom to make those people happy. Just say you hate the Yankees.

Aroldis Chapman, the closer who walked out on the Yankees before the 2022 postseason, and seems to have forgotten that, said he'd rather retire than play for them again. Most fans would want that.

Sonny Gray, another former beleaguered Yankee, followed in the footsteps of IKF and Chapman. For Gray, he said he never wanted to go in the first place. It didn't matter that, in 2017, he used back channels to communicate to the Yankees that he would be happy to come to the Bronx.

The funny thing all of these players have in common — outside of smiling during catastrophic moments in is that they all struggled and it was Boone who went out of his way to defend them. Now, years removed from their initial stints, they're all coming together like jilted lovers, ripping their old team lead by a manager who did nothing but shield these players from the responses that were garnered by their poor play.

If they stink it up in Boston, it likely won't go any better for them. They might get invited on a podcast by Jared Carrabis at first, but if Gray struggles, or IKF costs Boston games the way he did on the basepaths in the World Series, they'll rip them just the same.

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