Boone's Theater Means Nothing If He's Not Commanding Respect

You know what I do when someone points a finger in my face in a ridiculous moment? I rip it off.  Who do you think you are Aaron Boone?

As ridiculous as it was for Brett Gardner to bang his bat on the top of the Yankee dugout a few years back, please tell me what the hell Aaron Boone was doing with his continued theatrical appearance of  

LET’S UNDERMINE THE UMPIRE ON TV BECAUSE I AM A MANAGER.  

By the way, I’d never go to a theater to see that flick. I wouldn’t even see that off-off Broadway. And at a stadium, it would be funny for the moment until you actually think about how stupid it was.  It’s clear Aaron Boone’s disrespect for the game has reached new heights.  He’s trash.

The Yankees are not great this year. This is a fact. You can preach, “Well players need to swing the bat and make their own destiny.” Blah, blah, blah… we know all that.  Clearly there have been some signs of life in our offense recently because Sean Casey is there and that’s good. But we need to keep this in the leadership realm. I have said this a million times… leaders make great teams. It’s their philosophy, their mindset and their approach that brings out the best in teams.  It’s pretty simple.   Having the title of manager means nothing if you don’t know how to do it.

Phil Jackson. Joe Torre. Bruce Bochy. Vince Lombardi. Earl Weaver. Good leaders bring the team out of themselves to believe they can be unstoppable.  Good leaders find a way when times are tough. What they don’t do is show their frustration card in front of a Yankee TV crowd and in an away ballpark and put on a show to not only embarrass their team, but to embarrass a fan base as well.  What a pathetic display of bad leadership.  It shows Aaron Boone’s immaturity. It shows Aaron Boone is unfit to lead.

Think about your life for a second.  Think about the manager you have or had in the past.  Now think about that bad experience you had with a manager because I know you’ve all had a crap manager in your life at some point.  If a manager was constantly not available to speak to you or unwilling to give you positive re-enforcement, never tell you “Good job” or sit with you and talk about development and your future with the company and instead you sat in your cubicle all day wondering, what happens? You decay. You’d over think. You would wonder “am I any good?”  

Now think about that same manager doing that, but then when the president of the company comes around your office, that manager is smiling, kissing up to them, talking about all he or she does in that regional office, essentially taking all the credit and giving you none. How would that make you feel? Even worse.  

Now imagine a manager that has a team lunch once a week.  A manager that praises good work, constantly props you up, motivates you and the team and most of all, thanks you for your hard work.  Would you work harder for them knowing you are appreciated?    Look… life isn’t always fair and sometimes work can be thankless, this is true.  But the point is it’s all in a manager’s approach.  You want to get the best out of your team.  Whether it’s yelling but praising or just making sure the team knows they’re keeping things steady, and profits are up, communication and approach is vital in leadership.  

Will it change things in the Yankee clubhouse if Boone was fired? Only if they go out and find experience and leadership and a guy that players will respect. Finding a guy that had one important Yankee highlight back in the early 2000s isn’t cutting it.  You can suggest that firing Boone at the end of the season is just making him a Scapegoat all you want.  I say a changing of the guard proves a seriousness and a willingness to change this team for the better.

Aaron Boone strikes out Laz Díaz 😭 pic.twitter.com/kmiBvnXosa

— MLB Nerds (@MLBNerds) August 8, 2023

The New York Post writes:

“Aaron Boone made sure Laz Diaz knew the exact spot the latter blew two crucial strike calls.

During the Yankees’ series-opening 5-1 loss to the White Sox on Monday evening, Boone blew a fuse on Diaz — the home plate umpire — over what appeared to be an egregious strike zone…. Volpe saw four pitches, although the called strikes did not appear out of the strike zone.”