If this doesn’t work for Aaron Boone, he can make it in politics. Or better yet, in diplomacy.
Or, if he were to take the 97 percent pay cut (fair guess), he could write for one of those websites that focus on positive team news.
Meanwhile, you can count on the Yankees manager to find the nicest way to describe every mistake and misplay. While it’s worked well for him — he’s in his seventh year as Yankees manager, the longest stretch in that role without a championship — he’s sometimes been too soft on his troops, as was the case this week.
That is where we need to intervene. A counterbalance is necessary. Reality needs to come back to the surface. Unwashed honesty can be healthy. (Here is some of it.)
Boone drew the ire of some fans when he essentially passed to his Gold Glove backup center fielder, Trent Grisham, after Grisham’s obvious carelessness cost the Yankees a base in Game 3 of Thursday’s sweep of the also-run Reds. (As he fielded a single, the normally stellar outfielder looked like me picking up The Post delivered at 6 a.m.) And even the next day, Boone continued to argue that the play didn’t look good because Grisham is so talented and plays so easily.
While that’s undeniable — Boone is remarkably good at avoiding lies — it was also a shockingly bad piece that deserved to be labeled as such.
As for the bigger point, Boone did talk to Grisham, and he apparently said it to him straight in the face. Either way, Grisham got the message, and that’s what matters most.
“I should have made the play,” Grisham told me bluntly.
Boone, whose team opened a series at Yankee Stadium against the rival Red Sox, isn’t going to bash his team or players for no reason. Not in public, he won’t.
“I try not to be so emotional because we’ve lost or won a couple of games,” Boone explained. “I have the conversations that I need to have.”
Managing a team comes down to a series of calculations, and Boone clearly decided long ago to keep things positive when talking to the press about his players. In fact, this has been the overwhelming trend in baseball for decades, and to varying degrees, nearly every manager uses the microphone to put a cheerful (or at least better) spin on whatever is going on.
Expressing happy thoughts is not difficult for Boone, because he is a very nice person by nature (except for referees) and sees the positive side of every situation. Boone is not going to bash City; he just doesn’t. That’s what we’re here for.
Boone’s approach requires some verbal gymnastics, and Boone, a USC graduate who can make anything sound hopeful and is better with words than I am (no jokes, please), will always find the nicest way to describe what’s happening. Of course, Boone brushed off the social media banter of Aaron Judge’s private hitting coach Richard Schenck, who noted the team’s poor performance and blamed the organization. (Boone is even nice to dissenters.)
They clearly have different jobs and probably different personalities. And while I can’t say I know enough to blame the Yankees’ development people for addressing issues with players who have come through the system (other than the great Judge, of course), it’s also refreshing to hear a raw perspective every now and then.
Now, let’s get some reality. The Yankees are 4-13 in their last 17, and they look worse. In their last 11 losses, they haven’t led. Not an inning or a moment. You don’t have to be a mathematician to know that’s at least 99 innings without a lead. That feels about right for where things stand.
Boone, meanwhile, used the phrase “rough patch” Friday to describe the past few weeks, which have been nothing short of abominable (not a word he would use). While I like Boone a lot (and I’m not just diplomatic), it’s time someone found words that better describe the situation.
Boone also noted how “unfortunate” it is that their starters’ mistakes get hit. But that’s what major leaguers do with mistakes: they hit them.
The rotation, once easily the best in baseball, has been underperforming of late, with Carlos Rodon, Luis Gil and Marcus Stroman regressing after stellar starts.
Let’s face it, almost nothing is going right, except 1) Judge, who is still on a Babe Ruth-esque pace, 2) Juan Soto, who is not too far off, and 3) Gerrit Cole, who is back.
While Boone talks as if a few guys have been underperforming lately, the reality is that it’s almost everyone except the two MVP candidates. Of the 10 active Yankees with the most plate appearances, only two — Judge and Soto — have an OPS+ above 100. That’s right, the other eight are all below average.
“They have 13 of their [17] while [Judge] hits like an MVP. The Yankees offensive player development is terrible,” Schenck wrote on X, formerly Twitter, in response to the YES Network account.
While he may or may not be right about that second part, it still felt good to hear an honest and sincere opinion.