Hal backs Boone, blames the players
NEW YORK — In the early morning hours Thursday, walking off the field from pulling Aroldis Chapman after the closer blew a four-run lead, Aaron Boone had to hear the very intimate crowd who had stayed through two hours of rain delays to watch the worst loss of the season.
“FIRE BOONE,” they chanted.
In another day and age in the Bronx, those passionate Yankees fans might have gotten their pound of flesh.
But George Steinbrenner is gone and managing partner Hal Steinbrenner is not going to be pushed into acting like his dad.
“Everybody on the coaching staff has dealt with these players in the past, we’ve had some great offenses, and some great things,” Steinbrenner said in a long-scheduled meeting with reporters. “So nobody’s working harder than the coaches. And, the most important thing to me, always any given year, is that the players respect the
coaches and believe in the coaches. And that’s absolutely the case here.”
Thursday, Steinbrenner addressed the struggling Yankees in his reasoned and measured way. He said that if there is a deal to be made to make this a playoff team he would “absolutely consider” going over the luxury-tax threshold. He is not even thinking about being a seller at the deadline at this point. Also, Steinbrenner expects to see the attendance at Yankee Stadium — which has not responded to the reopening to 100% capacity — come back by the mid-July homestand that begins with the Red Sox out of the All-Star break.
Thursday night’s game against the Angels at home in the Bronx was postponed due to the threat of inclement weather. That game was rescheduled to Aug. 16.
Steinbrenner, who said watching this team does make him feel angry and frustrated, spent most of the time defending his staff, including Boone and GM Brian Cashman. He put the blame on the players on the field.
“Myself, Cashman, Boone, the coaches, we’re responsible,” he said. “We’re in charge, so at some level we’re responsible for what’s going on. But make no mistake about it, the majority of the responsibility, whether it’s the responsibility of inconsistent offense or bad baserunning, that responsibility lies with the players.
“They’re the ones on the field. They’re a group of very talented professional athletes that are playing this game at the highest level in the world. They need to fix this problem. They need to fix the problem because everyone, including our fan base — rightfully so — has had enough quite frankly. It’s enough. And they know that, and you’re seeing them say that.”
He was not as forceful with Cashman, the architect of this team he said was “maddening” and “aggravating” to watch.
“Brian and I have been doing this a lot years together. He’s extremely intelligent … He understands the deal when it comes to relying on pro scouting, relying on analytics and also of building areas that all teams are building, like analytics and performance science,” Steinbrenner said via videoconference from the team’s Tampa facility. “We communicate very well, there’s not much that happens without him running by me first. He knows that’s the way I want it. I think he’s done a good job.
“This team that we put together leaving spring training, was a very, very good team, and they just haven’t played to their potential. Potential that they still have, of course, because it’s essentially the same team. I’m talking about the starting lineup that we had last year and the year before. And these aren’t aging players, these guys are in their prime. … The big problem is that they haven’t done it consistently.”
Steinbrenner pointed the finger at the players, citing injuries to Corey Kluber and Aaron Hicks as big hits.
“It’s aggravating. I mean there’s no doubt about it. I don’t need to tell you that it’s absolutely aggravating and you choose the word. It has been tough to watch,” Steinbrenner said. “The players know that. They’re better than this. This is not the product that we expect and it’s not the type of play that they expect themselves.”
Steinbrenner’s father, notorious for his temper and rash, emotional decisions, would have likely fired Cashman many times over through his tenure. He would have likely fired Boone as well. While Hal said his father was one of the greatest owners ever, he pointed out that he wasn’t always making the best decisions for the team.
“He certainly did that a lot. I think what people forget is that oftentimes, it didn’t help, didn’t work,” Steinbrenner said of his father’s big, dramatic decisions. “And oftentimes, quite frankly, he was criticized for it. So I’m just a believer in seeing an entire body of work of an employee regardless of what. And we do that, year to year and every year, even if somebody is in the middle of a contract. At the end of the year, I’m going to look at their performance, and I’m going to make a decision whether to continue with that person or not. … Kneejerk reactions to appease this person or that person, when I really don’t think there’s a problem — that’s certainly something I’m not going to do.”
One thing that Steinbrenner also wasn’t going to do on Thursday was commit to Boone and the coaching staff long term.
“I can’t answer that question right now,” Steinbrenner said when asked if this year’s team making the playoffs is a requirement for them to re-sign Boone, who is in the final year of his contract. “I’m just not going there.”