Yankees Manager Takes Accountability for Failures

Heading into their third game in a losing series with the Miami Marlins, the New York Yankees are struggling against a free fall that has now dropped them down to third place in the AL East. Ahead of today's series closer, Yankees manager Aaron Boone took responsibility for the team's performance.

"The reality is, I think we should be better than what our record is and that starts with me," Boone said, per Greg Joyce of the New York Post. "We got to own that."

Boone has been blamed for Yankees losses and failures throughout the season, particularly for strange lineup choices and perceived mismanagement of the bullpen when it's counted most. After the litany of acquisitions by the Yankees at the trade deadline, it feels like there are no excuses anymore, and Boone's role is taking center stage.

Boone has been criticized for approaching the team with a perceived gentleness, which fans blame for their lack of discipline. This season, he has made excuses for several players' shortcomings on defense, particularly shortstop Anthony Volpe, who currently leads the league in errors with 16. Because the team is stacked with talent on paper, it's easy to see the role mismanagement is playing. Still, Boone isn't the one making the errors, and these professional baseball players have to be to blame as well.

In yesterday's 2-0 loss to the Marlins, Boone got into a heated altercation with the Yankees' first base coach after Jazz Chisholm's baserunning blunder on a routine pop up to second. Chisholm has stated that he wouldn't do anything different in the future, which is being met with backlash online as fans clamor for accountability. Because Boone kept him in the game following the mistake, Boone is under fire with him.

Throughout the season, Boone has taken something of a "nothing ever happens" attitude, consistently telling press that a winning streak is "right in front of us" and expressing his firm belief that the Yankees are the "best team in the league". Now that the team is third in the division, it seems Boone is beginning to crack. Will this acknowledgement lead to meaningful strategic changes? That much remains to be seen.

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