Aaron Boone deflected criticism of Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s shaky defense throughout the first three games of the ALDS, but on Sunday, he made a statement by benching IKF in favor of Oswaldo Cabrera at shortstop and Aaron Hicks in left field.
And in being asked about it, he seemed to change his tune from the previous week on IKF’s issues.
“I just feel like in this series that, you know, he's been pressing a little bit out there, playing a little bit kind of not to make that mistake, and I think that's gotten in his way a little bit,” Boone said prior to Game 4. “I just felt like I needed to do this today. Still expect him to play a huge role for us in what we hope is a couple more weeks of baseball, but I felt like today it was something that was the right thing to do.”
Of course, the immediate follow-up question that was asked was about how the eye test has not been kind to IKF all year, it seems, given his troubles on routine plays all season – and to Boone, it’s not about that, but about how his shortstop performed after them.
“Tithe thing I would say to that is when he has had those moments of, you know, making a misplay on a real routine play, he always bounces back. I feel that in some big pressure spots throughout the season he has made big-time plays,” Boone said. “So he's always answered the bell really well after a mistake. This time I feel like it snowballed a little bit on him in this series, so that's kind of going into this.”
Defensive metrics, however, had IKF as a mixed bag; he was tied for sixth among MLB shortstops with 10 defensive runs saved, but was a -2 in outs above average and runs above average – fifth on the Yankees alone and fifth-worst of the 22 shortstops with at least 900 innings at the position.
Unfortunately, perhaps the best defensive shortstop the Yankees employed all year, top prospect Oswald Peraza, wasn’t called up until September and was left off the postseason roster, meaning it’s Cabrera – an infielder by trade who has almost exclusively played the outfield over two months in the majors – getting just his fourth MB start at shortstop in a postseason elimination game.
That notion led others to wonder if the Yankees maybe should’ve taken a look at Peraza earlier, which, apparently, was a tougher call than not using Clay Holmes in Game 3.
“I don't know. I mean, that's a tough call. You know, at the time after the break, I don't think we necessarily viewed Oswald as a finished product in kind of his minor league development. So it ended up with him coming up in September after the full season at Triple-A,” Boone said. “I think we kind of view Izzy as what we feel like has been a really good defensive season on balance and feel like, man, this guy's our shortstop. And, you know, I think we have viewed Oswaldo as still working to get to that point and obviously have some opportunities in September and I thought played really well for us and handled himself really well.”
Boone then side-stepped a question that directly asked him if he would rather have Peraza or Cabrera at short tonight if he had the option of either.
“I wouldn't say it like that. I have a ton of confidence in Oswaldo Cabrera at shortstop, and what he brings to the table as an infielder, how he's established himself in the back half of this season,” Boone said. “So I have high hopes on Peraza but also feel like Cabrera is starting to establish himself and at a more advanced level.”
Regardless of who is where, the Yankees are the final Division Series in play, and need to win two straight to avoid being the fifth of six division champions to be knocked out before the LCS round.
“It’s the playoffs, and best-of-five against other playoff teams, it’s intense and pressure-filled,” Boone said. “This is a new format, and at the end of all this, everyone is going to analyze it and probably frankly overanalyze it some. I think you have to do it for years to really get a real firm grasp on it. But, there's nothing for us that's been, you know, like, we shouldn't be able to be successful.”
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