Hal Steinbrenner made it clear immediately after the season that there wouldn’t be a change at manager, telling the Associated Press that he is still happy with the job Aaron Boone has done.
Talking with Meredith Marakovits of the YES Network on Monday, Steinbrenner reiterated his praise for Boone.
“The players respect him; they want to play for him and they want to win for him,” Steinbrenner said. “If I didn’t think that was the case, as in years past, I would have made a change.”
Boone heard plenty of criticism for the way he deployed his pitching staff in the ALCS, going to the likes of Frankie Montas and Clarke Schmidt in game one, and pulling Gerrit Cole with the bases loaded in game three. But Steinbrenner believes that overall, Boone presses the right buttons.
“Any manager, if you look at five games or seven games or 10 games, is going to make mistakes,” Steinbrenner said. “Obviously in the playoffs, they’re magnified. I’m not saying he makes the right decision every time. Some of the critique is justified. But overall, I think he does his homework quite well, deals with his coaches quite well and listens to their advice, even in game, and makes a lot of good decisions.
“Aaron Boone wasn’t responsible for the slide our offense experienced the last couple months of the season rolling into the postseason. That was not his responsibility. And Aaron, we had a lot of injuries. But again, players respect him and want to win for him. That’s the important thing.”
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