New York City is the epitome of a “what have you done for me lately” market.
The media pressure never lets up, and the second performance dips, everyone from those in uniform to the concession worker handing out peanuts gets thrown under the bus.
Even with baseball’s place in the sports hierarchy not what it used to be, the city still revolves around the Yankees.
After winning the American League pennant last season, the club has taken a step back, clinging to the final Wild Card spot with the red-hot Cleveland Guardians breathing down their necks.
Manager Aaron Boone has emerged as the scapegoat for this drop in performance, but one of his former players has come to his defense in a way that might surprise you.
During the first episode of his self-titled podcast, ex-Yankees outfielder Clint Frazier suggested Boone is far from the problem in the Big Apple.
“I want to emphasize that I have no reason to back up anyone on the Yankees—as a person inside that locker room who’s been around that guy, if you fire Boone, you have to fire a lot of other people too,” Frazier said. “Boone is just the mouthpiece inside the organization.”
That’s a pretty telling comment from someone who knows the inner workings.
Frazier went on to suggest that even a daily lineup is a collaboration between Boone and the team’s analytical staff.
The overreliance on numbers without factoring in the human element is an issue across MLB, and it seems like, from Frazier’s comments, the Yankees are at the forefront of that problem.
What makes this different is that we’re hearing it from someone who was actually in that clubhouse. Frazier doesn’t have any reason to protect the organization at this point.
The way I see it, the only way New York gets back to winning rings is with an organizational shift.
Not firing the skipper who allegedly barely gets a say in crucial matters.
