NEW YORK – New York Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner is not heeding outright calls from fans to fire manager Aaron Boone despite seeing his club go from World Series contenders to one of the worst teams in your division.
Fans in the Bronx are calling for Boone’s firing after the Yankees were just 41-39 midseason and fourth in the AL East, just ahead of the Baltimore Orioles and 8.5 games behind him. archrival Boston Red Sox.
“Am I mad at what I see? Absolutely,” Steinbrenner said in a video conference with reporters Thursday morning. “I’m upset, frustrated, angry, but that’s not going to push me into a knee-jerk reaction to get rid of someone who I think the players respect, want to play, want to win, and overall, he has done a good job of keeping the clubhouse together. during these difficult three months. “
Steinbrenner used words like “aggravating” and “maddening” to describe the Yankees’ poor season, but he supported not only Boone but also general manager Brian Cashman and the entire coaching staff. And while Boone may be the bettors’ favorite pick for the first MLB manager to be fired this year, Steinbrenner made it clear that it is unlikely to happen under his supervision, where “changes need to be made for more than just the simple made to make changes. “
“Everyone on the coaching staff has taken care of these players in the past. No one works harder than the coaches,” Steinbrenner said. “And the most important thing for me, always, in any year, is that the players respect the coaches, believe in the coaches. And that’s absolutely the case here.”
Steinbrenner didn’t hesitate to point out the Yankees’ lack of offense. Nonetheless, he stood firm in his preseason assessment that, in their current structure, the Yankees are a championship-caliber team despite not doing the one thing the offense is designed to do: score runs.
“The offense … is unnerving. It really is,” Steinbrenner said. “This team that we formed coming out of spring training was a very, very good team. They just haven’t played to their potential. And these are not aging players; these guys are in their prime. They just haven’t played to their potential. and that has been the big problem. “
The Yankees are a slow, dexterous, heavy, and powerful team designed to do one thing. And they’re not doing that very well right now.
“We are responsible. We are in charge. We can all share the blame,” Steinbrenner said, referring to his analytics team, main office and coaching staff. “But make no mistake about it. In my opinion, most of the responsibility falls on the players. They are the ones on the field.
“They need to fix the problem because everyone including our fan base has rightly had enough … We can all share the blame, but most of the blame is theirs.”
The Yankees fan base has become used to drawing comparisons between Hal and his late father George, who ruthlessly made 21 managerial changes while running the team as “The Boss” from 1973 to 2008.
Fans believe George Steinbrenner, who infamously fired Hall of Famer Yogi Berra 16 games entering the 1985 season, would have very little tolerance for the current underperforming club.
Hal Steinbrenner said he understands the comparison and has learned to accept it.
“It’s a very justified question to ask and always ask, because he was one of the best at what he did,” Steinbrenner said. “There is no question that I am a little less spontaneous than him in many ways. But all I can assure you all is that I do the best I can. And it is a legitimate question that I should always ask. It never bothers me. I love the man. He was the best and it’s understandable. “
However, Steinbrenner noted that there is a bit of revisionist history when it comes to evaluating some of his father’s more controversial decisions.
“I think what people forget is that a lot of times it didn’t help, it didn’t work,” Steinbrenner said of her father’s radical changes. “And many times, frankly, he was criticized for it.”
The Yankees have the second-highest payroll in the majors at roughly $ 207 million. Steinbrenner said he would not be against exceeding the luxury tax threshold ($ 210 million) before the July 31 trade deadline.
“Any given year, there are a number of reasons why it makes sense to be below that threshold. But if I feel like we’re not good enough, we need another piece to be the championship-caliber team that we want to be and hope to be.” Steinbrenner said, “then I’m going to seriously consider doing what I have to do.”
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