Yankees manager Aaron Boone finally seemed to let his temperature rise in a post-game Zoom after Sunday’s Yankees loss, offering this when asked by one reporter about the state of the team:
“We’re gonna find out what kind of character we’re made of. We’re clearly in the midst of tough times, we’ve faced it all season, and we’re going to find out what we’re made of and find out what we are.”
Well, Yankees superfan Nick Turturro joined Moose & Maggie to talk about the team on Monday, and as much as that rise showed from Boone, Nick thinks maybe the team needs more – like, perhaps, Moose’s suggestion that he go in and go bananas the way he does on Twitter after losses?
“I like Boone, he’s a good guy, but at some point, you have to pull a guy aside and go, ‘what’s wrong with you?’” Turturro said. “I can go down the line with their issues, and they have to start having accountability, and maybe that’s where Boone is lacking. Someone needs to get in their faces, and it’s sad; do I even want to watch this team? They care? Well care a little more! Sometimes you have to give tough love, but if I go in there, by the end of it, I know I could make something happen, I can feel it!”
In all seriousness, Turturro thinks it may be time for “a new voice,” whether that be replacing Boone or GM Brian Cashman, because the team has become “soulless.”
“What is going to turn this team into a watchable team?” Turturro asked bluntly. “We’ve won one token championship in 20 years, and we’re getting embarrassed by organizations that put out better teams,” Turturro said. “I don’t know, but in the old days if the old man was alive, (Cashman) would’ve been toast. Maybe it’s time for a new voice, some new blood. There’s no soul. You watch them, and you can see it – there’s nothing there. Someone go insane, light a fire somehow, but I think it’s probably time. Maybe Hal (Steinbrenner) needs to get involved and say enough is enough.”
Long-heralded for his shrewdness as a GM, it seems more of Cashman’s moves have been hits than misses lately, at least in Nick’s mind – and especially this year, with Nick singling out Jameson Taillon, about whom he said flatly, when Moose expressed dismay at his performance, that “this guy stinks.”
“They try to sell us on these retreads guys, saying ‘oh, they have potential’ – this guy stinks!” Turturro said. “Kluber was actually good, but it backfired because he has injury problems. I remember the ‘80s and ‘90s with Joe Cowley and Ed Whitson and those guys – (Taillon) is in that group.”
And as for that soulless comment, well, Turturro, being an actor, knows very well how natural chemistry can improve a product, but sometimes, lack of cohesion can’t always be overcome.
“They’re brutal to watch, just brutal; from ’17 on, they’ve made all the wrong moves. They had chemistry, and that’s what you need on a team: chemistry and balance,” Turturro said. “Guys like Didi (Gregorius), he fit – and guys like Stanton, he’s a good player, but he’s not right for this team, and it’s hurting them. They have issues, and now they have to chintz on guys to bring them in…they’ve been going in the wrong direction, and going continuously bad, and I’m not sure they’re even going to make the playoffs.”
Turturro drew on some of his own experiences to illustrate his chemistry point.
“When I was on NYPD Blue, Dennis Franz and David Caruso don’t like each other, but it didn’t matter, because it worked,” he said. “Look at DeNiro and Pesci, the way they are together, it’s magic. You can have four or five stars in a movie and it’s a dud because they have no chemistry, and you can see it. And sometimes, you can have just a bunch of people, but the feeling is right and it’s magic. That’s what great acting is about: one person working off the other, and not trying to one-up each other. You see that camaraderie and chemistry, and that’s important.”
So, then, what are the Yankees to do?
“You have to look at the pieces going forward, and look at who you can get rid of to bring in some guys for the future. If they make the right moves, maybe they can turn this thing around – maybe not this year, but they have to do something,” Turturro said. “They may just have to dump something and pay for it, because it’s not working, and maybe bring up some of these guys in the minor leagues we hear about but never see. Like Florial, why not keep him up? What have you got to lose? Do like you did in 2016 – be realistic, and make some smart moves to make this team better for next year.”
Check out Turturro’s entire segment with Moose & Maggie below!
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