MAJOR WRINKLE

Addition of Stanton adds new dimension to Boone’s media-savvy world

When Brian Cashman hired Aaron Boone to manage the Yankees, he may as well have handed him a learner’s permit and said: “Now you can drive my Maserati, don’t wreck it.” When the GM acquired Giancarlo Stanton, he may as well have handed the manager an instruction manual and said: “Now you can pilot my rocket ship, don’t crash it.”

Prior to acquiring Stanton, Cashman gave Boone a pretty good team to manage, one that would enter the 2018 season with grand expectations. Now with Stanton, those expectations are over the moon. The Yankees’ old World-Series-orbust mantra is back in vogue. Stanton now ups the ante for the novice manager.

Not only will Boone have to learn how to manage the Yankees on the fly, he will have to learn how to manage a Bombers media circus that Stanton brings, something he didn’t expect to deal with from the get-go. Going into Spring Training, the Yankees featuring the Wrecking Crew — Stanton and Aaron Judge — will be THE story. The national media will descend on Tampa to examine these pinstriped stars and the former TV guy who will manage them.

This could turn into a huge distraction — and migraine headache — for Boone and his team. The Yankees PR staff, led by director Jason Zillo, had its share of “high profile” situations to deal with (i.e. A-Rod and all he brought to the party) in the past so it’s not without experience when it comes to dealing with fundamentals like large interview requests.

But it will be Boone who will have to deal with keeping the focus on the field and keeping the distractions to a minimum. And what happens if (more likely when) some kind of controversy is thrown into the equation? Judge has already had to deal with the New York media’s rapid fire questions, over and over and over again, when he was stuck in a horrendous August slump. He handled himself well. How will he handle things if he is constantly compared to Stanton?

And how will Stanton handle a local media contingent that is more aggressive, a much bigger group than he dealt with in Miami?

It’s going to be up to Boone to manage the media in these situations. It’s going to be up to him to provide insight, spin, and clarification when necessary. At the least, he must convince his audience he is handling these “events” with sincerity while maintaining his own likability. Considering Cashman hired Boone, in part, for his communication skills and his ability to connect, this should be easy for the novice Yankees manager, right?

Sorry, the broadcast booth is a long way from the dugout. Providing insight on the fly, with two other voices to bounce things off on ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball,” is much easier than figuring out how to explain (for the 100th time) why one of his big bats is not hitting. Or why his team is underachieving. Or why he left a pitcher in too long. These were the kind of questions that made Joe Girardi bristle.

From what we’ve heard Boone, the great communicator, will provide thoughtful answers with a smile. Wait until a reporter asks him about some gossip column item concerning Stanton. Or some other “non-baseball” Yankees nugget. What happens then?

Will Boone’s media honeymoon abruptly end?

WFAN POST-POPE

When Mike (Sports Pope) Francesa exited his WFAN balcony for the final time Friday, when all the verbal genuflecting ended, there were a variety of emotions. For some, a 30-year air pollution alert had been lifted.

The rest of the unwashed masses were left with an emptiness in their heart, knowing they would never again hear the pontiff insult them on a terrestrial radio format.

One thing is certain. Over the coming months, WFAN is going to sound much different. Would we be surprised if the updates are dumped, going the way of the Dodo Bird? No. Eventually they will be gonzo. The winds of change will also bring in a different sound. Looking to attract a younger audience, the shows will try to be more conversational with less micro-analysis. Those hours of second guessing and unrealistic trade-talk will be cut down, giving way to conversation about issues and not always confined to hardcore sports.

Will this drive FAN’s traditional audience away and bring in younger listeners? The flexible format worked for Norman Julius Esiason’s morning show, which eventually was getting higher ratings than Francesa’s soiree. Now it will be up to The Replacements — Maggie Gray, Bart Scott, and Chris Carlin — to see if they can move the needle.

Their show is already economically sound. The trio is splitting $1.5 million while Francesa was making about $3.5 million per.

As solo acts, the new FAN trio can yakk. It remains to be heard how they will perform together. Still, whatever sound they develop will be much different than the Pope’s, which in terms of where WFAN suits want to head, is not a bad thing.

MA AND PA BACK AGAIN

The changes at FAN under Entercom Communications, the new owners, won’t filter down to the Yankees broadcast booth.

John (Pa Pinstripe) Sterling and Suzyn (Ma Pinstripe) Waldman, will return under new one-year deals.

While there has been some discussion about adding a third “fillin” voice, that won’t happen this season. Gee, now we have to look forward to hearing what Sterling’s Giancarlo HR call will be. This was actually a topic of fierce debate in the Valley of the Stupid, which is why it is called the Valley of the Stupid.

PHIL UP!

While CBS’ Tony Romo has received major gagas in his rookie season working with Jim Nantz, the man he replaced, Phil Simms, deserves some big-time credit too.

Making the transition to a seat on “The NFL Today” panel, Simms has been informative, opinionated, energetic and funny. Look, Simms wasn’t happy about losing the No. 1 analyst gig, but judging solely from his studio performance, he didn’t let his disappointment affect his work. At this late point in the season, he is one of the premier NFL studio analysts on TV.

Making Simms’ accomplishment even more amazing is that he did his thing working with The Human Frown, Bill Cowher, and the One Man Filibluster, N.J. Esiason.

ATLAS SHRUGGED ASIDE

They held this big meeting at Bristol Clown Community College last week, attended by most of ESPN’s “talent.” It appears no one asked why Teddy Atlas, the network’s No. 1 boxing analyst, was removed from his ringside duties with time left on his contract.

This isn’t hard to figure out. ESPN cut a deal with Bob Arum’s Top Rank to supply the network with marquee matchups. Shortly after the deal was cut, ESPN brought in Mark Kriegel, former Daily News sports columnist, to work alongside Atlas. Clearly the skids were being greased for Atlas.

The two worked together on a show and debated/argued. We thought it was great TV, kind of reminiscent of HBO’s Larry Merchant and George Foreman going at it. Guess Arum and his crew were not as impressed. Nor have they ever been impressed by Atlas’ honesty and candor.

So, like it has in the past, ESPN caved to Arum like it has to the NFL on a few occasions and moved Atlas to a studio role. This now puts a cloud over anyone who serves as an ESPN ringside boxing analyst on Top Rank shows.

If Atlas was not allowed to speak his mind, what are they allowed to say?