Media’s Torre-like love is blind to guy with no experience

Just when you thought the outlook could not get any brighter for the Yankees, the media decided to compare Aaron Boone to Saint Joe Torre, sending those expectations to another planet. Consider that Torre, who had plenty of managerial experience, entered the Bronx as “Clueless Joe.” Boone, despite having no on-the-job experience, comes in on higher ground. Yes, he lands on a lofty perch as a canary who could define a new breed of Yankees manager, whatever that is. Boone, without even managing one exhibition game, has already passed benefit-of-the-doubt status landing on the square marked Budding Managerial Genius.

High anxiety. That’s what those sky-high expectations for the manager of baseball’s most storied franchise produces.

Fools rush in and this fool knows this is all premature, but it is now Boone’s reality (he spent the last several years second guessing managers from ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” booth). Now, the fingers will point in his direction. It is Boone who is the marked man, the target for second-guessers inside The Valley of the Stupid and other media precincts.

“He was very cool and calm in the booth while delivering criticism of players,” said one current MLB TV analyst. “Let’s see how cool Aaron is when the tables are turned.”

Ah, no big deal. No problem, right? When he selected Boone to replace the exiled Joe Girardi, Brian Cashman, a paint by numbers guy, wanted a manager who could communicate. It’s one thing to have a plan, quite another to have the ability to explain it, make it sound good, when it fails.

Throughout his career, Cashman has been able to work the media on a number of levels. Now with the glib Boone, he has a front man who can deal with the day-to-day stuff better, or so Cashman believes, than the frosty Girardi. Yet even with the Cashman Seal of Approval and a few good media sessions under his belt, Boone is in deep.

He has a team that, according to serious Seamheads, is set to win now. He’s got a team that contains, according to the Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network, a modern day Murderers’ Row. He has a bullpen deluxe and depth on the bench. The only question marks are in the rotation, but Boone should be able to find a way to explain that away and show why those arms will ultimately prevail.

Barring any unexpected issues, Boone should have a pretty good spring. The questions should be easy. Not only will he build his relationship with his players but the media as well. Still, it’s best that the Bombers get off to a quick start. Starting on the fast track is good for business and bound to prolong his honeymoon with boss scribes.

The alternative is not good. Especially if those comparisons to Torre quickly revert to the “clueless” variety.

YOU DUG THAT HOLE, SAWX

If Red Sox suits are so concerned with the miscreant mouths on WEEI, their flagship radio station, why don’t they get out of their rights fee contract?

Sox CEO Sam Kennedy recently said the team has a “growing level of concern” over the past year with the controversies caused by WEEI Gasbags. In 2006, Entercom, owners of WEEI, signed a 10-year deal (which started in 2007) paying the Red Sox a whopping $200 million for Red Sox radio rights. The deal did more financial damage to the station than any filthy, sexist, or racist statements made by a WEEI Gasbag du jour.

At that time the Red Sox were clearly not concerned over taking Entercom to the cleaners. In 2016, the two parties signed a seven-year extension, which they all claimed was at a more reasonable rate.

Bottom line: The Red Sox took the money from a station that can’t stop its mouths from playing in the cesspool. Deal with it.

MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE

If Dino (Mastermind) Costa was trying to get a reaction out of his former SXM colleague Chris (Mad Dog) Russo, he has succeeded — big-time.

It’s no surprise Costa has continued his early morning verbal assaults on Dog during his 970AM (The Answer) show. He’s trying to put a spotlight on himself. The latest salvo had Dino accusing Russo of stiffing a Minny cab driver during his Super Bowl week shows. Coincidentally (or was it?) a regular SXM caller (Mario From Minnesota, who is a cab driver) dialed up Russo’s show on Thursday to dispute Doggie’s version of how Dino departed SXM after five years on the job.

Russo claims Dino was fired. Costa said he split on his own terms.

Incredibly these two Yap Flappers have something in common. When they speak about each other they do it in tones of disdain/disregard bordering on hate. It’s impossible to stop listening to either of them. If it’s any consolation, Dino has not been much kinder to 98.7’s Michael Kay, to whom he derisively refers as “Baby Huey.”

And when it comes to Kay’s quest to be No. 1 in afternoon drive ratings Costa, after referring to Kay “as a TV guy masquerading as a talk show host” and “thin-skinned,” said: “Number one of what? A sports radio castle someone like me can huff and puff and blow over.” That’s not very nice, is it? Anyway, as long as Russo is booking a reunion with Mike (Sports Pope) Francesa every other month, Doggie should get together with Dino for an hour or so. At least that would be worth listening to.

NIGHT DRIVE

Larry Hardesty, Alan Hahn and Wally Szczerbiak have created something special.

For most of the Knicks’ disastrous season, the 98.7/MSG trio has gone mobile, doing a radio postgame autopsy as the analysts drive home from the Garden. It is funny and provocative.

Hardesty asks the questions from the studio and Hahn and Szczerbiak do their thing from the car. The sessions are more candid than TV when they talk about Knicks issues. The mouths seem looser, livelier. Hard to believe they can turn in these consistent performances after working a Knicks postgame with Al (Wiggy) Trautwig.

While listening to these sessions we often wonder if the fellas will ever give Wiggy a lift home. Anyway, keep it up. You’ve got a good thing going and possibly some automobile endorsements in your future. WFAN’s Afternoon Nap crew provided a major wakeup call Wednesday when they (Chris Carlin, Maggie Gray, Bart Scott) opened a show putting a verbal beatdown on not only snowboarder Shaun White, for calling allegations of sexual harassment “gossip,” but also NBC’s USA Olympics propaganda extravaganza that didn’t exactly go in-depth on the lawsuit, containing those allegations, filed against White. The Gasbags displayed true passion without morphing into screaming skulls. It was CMB’s finest moment since taking over afternoon drive... On the other end of the tunnel was the Norman Julius Esiason/ Jerry Recco interview with a couple of SI swimsuit models on FAN. Two words describe the spot: Cringe inducing.