Boone The Robot

I’m still struggling with Aaron Boone and his “management style” if that’s what you want to call it. It might not be the right word but I just find him to be too nonchalant for my liking. It makes me wonder if he’s just blindly walking through each game like it is a day-to-day routine. The Yankees had a long free fall. There is nothing day-to-day or ordinary about that. Does he have what it takes?

I would say the “honeymoon stage” on Boone’s new managerial gig is over. He had early success and now he is in the hot seat. Will he conquer these new challenges like he conquered his Yankee interview by beating everyone else out? I don’t know where his fire is right now because we haven’t seen any of that emotion. It has to be there somewhere.

A long time ago he did hit a walk-off home run in the 2003 ALCS so he has to remember that spark. Any association with the Yankees is going to come with high expectations, pressure and of course emotion.

The emotion is something that is missing especially after 10 years under Joe Girardi. Some people say he came across as stoic, or cold, or angry at times but he was dynamic.  He had intense moments in press conferences and he got tossed out of games. There are a lot of Girardi moments we could talk about. Maybe he wasn’t everyone’s favorite manager but at least he wasn’t a robot, Boone acts like a robot.

This team is trying to regroup after a disastrous series with the Red Sox. They are 20-20 in their last 40 games while the Red Sox have pretty much crushed everyone in that same time span. The Yankees now lack the leadership that had for many years.

Gone are guys like Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada who were leaders in the clubhouse. Now our seasoned Yankees are Brett Gardner and CC Sabathia which is no knock on them but, it’s not the same.

Think about it, if this happened when Posada played there would be “epic” Posada closed door meetings, but according to THIS Boone isn’t doing that. WHY? Not to say his meetings would have to be Posada or Girardi-like. Just be “leader like” Boone have one! It’s a show of leadership, which is something this team lacks now. It’s going to be a long, hard road ahead. The Yankees are an entirely different team now. The only thing that is the same as it has always been are the expectations….and Boone has to manage and succeed.

Maybe I am being too hard on Boone. I guess it’s just because I don’t understand his methods….but I really wouldn’t care about his methods this much right now if we weren’t  9 1/2 games behind the Red Sox. I guess in Boone I must trust, for now.

–Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @nyprincessj