The Yankees’ busy trade deadline did little to spark the team, as the weekend saw an embarrassing sweep at the hands of the Marlins, starting with a colossal meltdown on Friday night where a 6-0 and 9-4 lead were both blown.
The frustrating losses have turned up the volume on the questions surrounding Aaron Boone’s future, and two former Yankee stars contributed to that noise on Saturday.
During FOX’s baseball coverage before the first-ever MLB Speedway Classic, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez both sounded off on the culture of accountability, or lack thereof, in the Bronx as the Yanks had just suffered another loss of the year candidate.
Jeter said the Yanks make “way too many mistakes,” while Rodriguez agreed with the mistakes issue, adding that “there’s no consequences” when those miscues are made. The Bombers responded by losing another game on Sunday to complete the sweep, and when asked about Jeter and Rodriguez’s comments, Boone accepted the criticism. Well, most of it.
“Look, we’re the Yankees,” Boone said, via MLB.com. “When we lose games, if it’s in and around a mistake, that criticism is fair game. At the end of the day, we have all the pieces to be a really good team. That’s on me and all of us to get the most out of that.”
The only part Boone pushed back on what the accountability issue from Rodriguez.
“The reality is, we’re focused every day on being the best we can be,” Boone said. “That’s how we have to do it. But I understand when it doesn’t happen, or we don’t have the record that I think we should have, or certainly people think we should have – that comes with the territory.”
Boone added that there are no excuses and the Yanks simply need to play better, but so far, it hasn’t happened. The Bombers are now in third place in the AL East and hearing noise from all over on the accountability front after a bad misplay by Jazz Chisholm on the bases and an awful send from third base coach Luis Rojas that led to Trent Grisham getting easily thrown out at home plate one day later. Boone may not agree with Rodriguez’s sentiment, but many others seem to believe the criticism is on point.