Every year there's a conga line of managers who are fired a few days after the baseball season; last year, that total was seven. This year could be different since the season is so much shorter, but the weight on the MLB manager's shoulders is always epic.
There was a time when no team liked to can its manager more than the Yankees. In George Steinbrenner's furious heyday, there was a virtual turnstile in the dugout, through which managers whisked at warp speed: 20 total skippers in the 22 seasons between 1973 (when The Boss bought the club) and 1995.
Things have certainly settled in the years since Joe Torre was hired. There have been only three managers since Buck Showalter was booted in '95, with the first two both lasting at least a decade each. By baseball standards - and certainly Yankees standards - that is serious job security.
But still, Joe Torre left under ugly conditions when he and the team couldn't agree on a contract in 2007. And his successor, Joe Girardi, didn't have his contract renewed in 2017 after 10 fruitful seasons as manager, and a résumé that includes a World Series title in the Bronx and a Manager of the Year award with the lowly Marlins. And we're still not entirely sure why. At the time, GM Brian Cashman gave opaque answers about "connectivity and communication" in the dugout. It seems an odd thing to say right after Girardi led the Yankees to Game 7 of the ALCS to the Houston Astros, who were illegally stealing signs on the way to their only World Series title.
Since the Yanks replaced Girardi with Aaron Boone - who had never managed an MLB club before - the club hasn't lost its victorious touch. Boone has won at least 100 games in each of his first two seasons, though his Bombers got bounced from the playoffs each time. So it does make you wonder: if the Yankees can fire far more experienced and accomplished managers, what they would do with Boone if, heaven forbid, the team struggled this season?
It's quite unlikely, of course. The Yankees are loaded like no other team in the majors, and are expected to steamroll the American League no matter the number of games. But what if some strange alchemy of mangled limbs and rotten luck pulled the Yanks to the middle of the pack? How will any team react to 30 home games with a freckling of fans, incessant social distancing, and all the other alterations that come with COVID-19?
Maybe the Twilight Zone nature of this season shields Boone from the Yankees' renowned managerial axe. Maybe the affable Boone - who has always been more welcoming to the media and masses than Girardi - is fire-proof. Maybe Boone is here and Girardi is not because he's much more willing to take orders from his bosses. Heck, maybe Boone is the best guy for the job.
Just remember that the Yankees just went a full calendar decade sans a World Series appearance for the first time since the 1910s. When your club is valued at $5 billion (according to Forbes), which is more than double what the team across town is worth and $1.6 billion more than the second-most valuable team (the Los Angeles Dodgers), and you have 27 World Series trophies under your corporate arm, you don't get to hide from any failures.
Aaron Boone is just one part of a baseball behemoth. But even as managers are routinely marginalized by their bosses, and the archetypal manager has mutated over the last 15 years, the Yankees are the emblem of success. And with that success comes outsized expectations, and drastic measures when those expectations aren't met. Heck, the Mets canned Mickey Callaway after finishing the second half of his final season 20 games over .500. So what if the Yankees stumble, or even crumble?
It's most unlikely, but in a year of endless oddities, you wouldn't be bonkers to wonder about the Bombers, or their skipper.
Follow Jason Keidel on Twitter: @JasonKeidel
