Baseball-lifer Aaron Boone awaits Yankees’ post-lockout chaos
The pictures on the walls of Aaron Boone’s Yankee Stadium office are a collage of a life. There are those of his wife and kids, and there is Mike Mussina with an arm around Boone at the height of his playing career, not long after Boone homered off Tim Wakefield to beat the Red Sox and give the Yankees the 2003 AL pennant.
And there are many of his dad and grandfather. One is from an Old-Timers Day at the Vet in Philadelphia, circa 1977-ish, when Boone was 4 or 5 years old. He is side-by-side with his older brother, Bret, and flanked by father, Bob, and grandfather, Ray. All are in uniform perched on the dugout steps. All in the black-and-white photo were former, current or future major leaguers at the time.
It is why nothing can turn Boone’s normal good-nature sour as quickly as questioning his baseball bona fides. He knows that is part of his portfolio now — the notion that he is addicted to analytics and is a dugout puppet of a numbers-crunching front office. That gnaws at Boone because they are saying it about Ray Boone’s grandson and Bob Boone’s child and Bret Boone’s brother. Baseball is literally the family business and metaphorically in his blood.
“Certain things about that get to me,” Boone said last week while sitting at his desk in his Yankees manager’s office. “Narratives that get started that maybe have some sliver of truth to it, but in the end are kind of bulls–t. I have a hard time … it bothers me just as a sport, as an industry, as someone who has been in the game forever and loves it, sometimes the old school-new school rub. There is this built-in angst declarative.
“You are missing the boat if you are not all-in on all of it and understanding the importance of all of it. I try to bring that down here all the time. One thing rubbed me wrong, I heard something — I listen to things a little more in the offseason, during the season I don’t see much; I am not oblivious to things — but they called me a ‘data applicator.’ Like I am not a baseball guy and just some ‘data applicator.’ I have been in this game all my life, bro. I am as baseball through-and-through as anyone. Just because I have been open-minded and grown in the game doesn’t mean I am any more old-school or new-school than I have ever been. You are an idiot if you are not aware of all of it.”
Boone is aware of all of it. He regularly watches for fun (and knowledge) old games that are replayed on YES or the MLB Network, yet he can speak about “center of mass” when it comes to explaining the keys to a catcher’s balance while blocking a baseball. Before you jump on the nerdiness of that term, you may remember that Boone grew up in the home of one of the all-time great defensive catchers (Bob was behind the plate in the third-most MLB games ever).
So the disruption in the natural rhythms of the sport resonate with Boone, because they are developed over a life. His baseball routine screams that he should be at his desk in Tampa right now, readying his fifth Yankees team as manager. Instead, he escaped over the weekend for a family ski trip to Utah, hoping that next week will bring hints of a labor settlement that will get him into his car heading south.
For now, he fills the time by trying to improve himself or his team, as the rules allow. His soul sinks a bit each day because of what the current rules do not allow: contact with his players. Boone prides himself on connectivity with his roster, knowing what makes them tick and what ticks them off.
He goes into the office during offseasons three days a week, and his best days were always when he didn’t have plans, but would just bump into a rehabbing player or a veteran in town using the stadium to get in swings or work out. Suddenly, they would be talking baseball or family or what is good on Netflix and the ties would be growing more familiar, personal and stronger.
Early in the offseason, before the Dec. 2 MLB-issued lockout, there was Jameson Taillon rehabbing after ankle surgery or Michael King or … That ended, but Boone decided to maintain the practice even with the players gone — because there are still plenty of Yankees personnel around, and because he likes a baseball stadium, and because he is trying to fill time productively.
To that end, he participated in the search for his coaching staff and still is interviewing candidates for the third hitting coach spot left vacant when Eric Chavez took the lead hitting coach position with the Mets. A hire (perhaps of another former major leaguer) could come as early as this week (or maybe not at all if the right person is not found).
Boone also has participated in a series of Yankees informational Zooms designed to increase knowledge and further bond what is a coaching staff with lots of new members. So there have been:
• One-hour sessions on hitting, pitching, infield defense, outfield defense and baserunning, held for coaches throughout the organization in every discipline, and some support staff. The design is to have those in charge explain organizational philosophy in their areas of expertise, not only to enlighten other coaches on how they do things, but also to have a free flow of information and debate to see if there is knowledge to be gained across disciplines and if there are better ways to operate.
• A session was spent with Yankees assistant general manager Mike Fishman, going over the rules that govern transactions. Boone recognized that often he would go into the coaches’ room after games to update his staff about who was coming up or going down or both. He would see blank faces or meet some resistance asking about why another candidate was not picked. But this could be a zoo-like period of activity, so explanations are never full enough. Now, there has been time to explain the nuances of options and how precious a 40-man roster spot is and go through some moves from a year ago to explain why this move was made and that one was not.
• Boone, with coaches and staff, is doing deep dives on in-game strategy. Boone even admitted something came up Thursday in one of these sessions that made him realize he would have done something different in a game — and probably would do it that way now if it came up again. He would not say what it was.
• There are ongoing meetings to discuss how to handle a shortened spring training. As Boone said, “Right now, the best-case scenario, we are looking at a month spring training. We are thinking in terms of that. Not having communications with guys, feels like most are going to be in a really good spot and are doing what they need to do to be ready. But we are going to have to make honest evaluations of guys who might be a little behind.
“That calendar is going to make you want to worry and rush, there is going to be some urgency to the calendar. We also have to guard against that, too. One of my messages will be that we need honest feedback, too. Hopefully we are walking into a 162-game season, and if we only have a four-week training period, we have to be smart here, too. So being able to make those good evaluations from a medical standpoint, a strength-and-conditioning standpoint and an on-field standpoint is important.”
No matter when it starts or what the rules are, Boone knows what rules matter the most around here. He is one of seven managers in history with at least 500 games and a better-than-.600 winning percentage. But these are the Yankees. The 27-time champion Yankees. The Canyon-of-Heroes-or-bust Yankees. So, the fact Boone is 4-for-4 getting the Yankees to the postseason does not resonate nearly as much as the absence of a ring.
“One of the overwhelming reasons I took this job was to win a world championship,” Boone said. “So, of course, there is that frustration because we have been one of the teams probably, legitimately in the running for that year in and year out. There is frustration in that. I want to be in the parade. That is one of the driving forces of being here. I know we’ve done some really good things, and I know we have stubbed our toes along the way. I am human so I feel everything to some level, but I am also pretty good at dealing with it and just being consumed with today and tomorrow as opposed to always looking back.
“I feel like we know what we are doing. There’s always things to learn. I honestly don’t feel like I am the smartest guy in the room. I am not arrogant enough to. But I feel like we are running a pretty good ship here and are going to give ourselves a chance to run this thing down this year.”
Does the guy who feels as if he knows what he is doing also think he is an excellent manager? He laughed at the question, then said: “I think I know what I am doing. I’d rather leave that to other people to make their judgments. I feel confident in what I’m doing.”
So the question was rephrased: Do you think your players believe you are making the decisions and are an excellent manager?
“I think stuff leaks in [to the clubhouse] all the time,” he said. “Some guys in different times of the year are going to think, you know, that a decision is being … all you can do is be upfront with guys as best you can. But I believe in my relationship with them, and I believe they know who I am each and every day when they walk in.”
Boone mentioned many times that last season was difficult, the hardest of his four years. There also was an outside perception that the group was more discordant and more unconnected than “The Savages” who were better bonded in Boone’s first few seasons.
“It was a tough year,” Boone said. “The last two years have been heavy for different reasons. Obviously 2020 was 60 games and no fans, pandemic, all the protocols and that. We were all learning about [the virus] to understand it. Last year, there was more understanding, but you are still getting this guy or that is out for 10 days with COVID. All those shocks. And it was such an up-and-down season for us. That wave was rockier or heavier and made it a more difficult year. Every year is going to present challenges.”
But was last year rockier or heavier?
“I don’t know, I would just say rockier at times. But I do feel we are in a very good position. Because I really do believe in the people we have and the core guys and I feel like we have all grown through a lot of successes and failures, a lot of 2020, a lot of ups and downs in 2021. I feel like it is making us more resilient, more refined, more prepared to deal with all you have to deal with, especially being here.”
Boone looked at one of the pictures. And noted his father, Bob, was the primary catcher on Phillies teams that lost the NLCS each year from 1976-78, then missed the playoffs in 1979, and that main group gained the reputation as unable to win The Big One. The Phillies then won the World Series in 1980.
“I believe this at the core, and every year I felt this at the most painful times when it ends, we will be better for it when we finally do bust through,” Boone said. “I believe it will be this year, and I look forward to taking that shot. But I do feel like all the positives, negatives, adversities, thrills that we have been through, we are a more defined group, and I do believe that our focus will be what it will need to be.”
For now, though, he does not know exactly when the shot will begin. Boone was in Tampa recently for two days and met with Hal Steinbrenner and some of his coaches and saw some of the non-40-man prospects working out. He is not planning to return until he hears a signal that camps are likely to open. He has yet to make a list of what he will do first or in order when the lockout ends, then goes, “It is a good idea, maybe I should make a list.”
“As far as when it is go time, it is going to be madness from the front office on down because, for us, there are still probably things to be done or considered, coming out of the break,” Boone said of a team that currently has no clear starting shortstop or first baseman. “We are in position to hit the ground running. I feel like we are fairly buttoned up when that go signal is there.
“Biggest thing I will do immediately is start to have conversations with the players individually. There will be a lot of text messages and phone calls. With guys down there ahead of time, there is an ability to get together. Talk to some of the leaders. I know some of our guys are down there working out somewhere. When that breaks, it will be madness. It will be exciting and as much as can be from our standpoint, coaching standpoint, we will be ready.”
Boone said as untraditional as it might be, he is ready to help recruit free agents during spring training if necessary, but mentioned he already had talked to a few candidates before the Dec. 2 lockout. He would not name names. In fact, the only three full player names he used in an hour chat were Michael King, and two members of the 1980 Phillies: Steve Carlton and Mike Schmidt. He is following the rules not to talk to or about the current players. He said there have been no coincidental bump-ins, just radio silence.
He misses it. The players. The action. The game, despite any analytic caricature is in his blood. So, it is February. He is wearing a down vest in The Bronx. He adjusts a hat that has the word “Blessed” with a cross on it and says: “My clock is definitely ticking that I am supposed to be somewhere … warm.”
