Did we witness Boones turn into a leader?

Dayne Huber

8/3/24

Did we witness Boones turn into a leader?

Last night was another horrible loss by the Yankees, but that was not the most important thing that was not the most important thing that happened during the game. Torres thought he had hit a HR, and instead of putting his head down and running, he walked out of the box admiring his hit. The ball didn’t leave the park and Torres was held The play was only magnified in the next couple of bats when Torres could not come around and score and was thrown out of the plate. As we have seen in Boone’s career as a manager, I was completely expecting him to let that go. After completing the next inning on defense, we saw Oswaldo Cabrera come in for Torres as Boone benched him for his lack of hustle. We then saw an exchange between Aaron Boone and Torres in the dugout. I believe I witnessed Boone’s balls finally dropping last night, and he gained a great deal of respect from the fan base, which he has been lacking with that one move. This fan base has been begging for accountability, and we finally started to see it last night. That was a bigger step forward in the right direction than anything else I have witnessed this season from Boone. While we know this team has the talent and the players to go out and win anything, we have always said they would have to win despite Aaron Boone. Last night, by taking Torres out of the game, Boone took a step in the direction that makes me believe that maybe Boone can finally be that manager who can lead this team into the playoffs and in a deep run toward the champions this year.

While it is a step in the right direction, we need to see more of Aaron Bone holding players accountable. If Boone starts actually to manage like a true manager, this team will become even more dangerous than it already is with the improvements they made at the deadline. This is a massive step in a positive direction for the Yankees.

We have been preaching to wait to judge this team till after the deadline. This team still has issues that must be sorted out, especially in the rotation and bullpen. But we still have some apparent solutions for coming back from injury in the next few weeks. We still have several high-leverage relievers on the way back, which should significantly improve this bullpen for this month. We have Burdi, Effross, Trivino, and Hamilton on their way back. I also wouldn’t be surprised if this team didn’t pick up another reliever from the outright waivers market that we have seen develop at the end of august each of the last couple years. No matter what, this bullpen will improve as we build towards the playoffs.

Trouble in the rotation?

Marcus Stroman has not looked good going back into July, Nestor Cortez also has not looked good, especially on the road for most of the year. At some point, you have to wonder if Nester and Stroman will find themselves in the playoff rotation. The good news for us is we have Clark Schmidt, who was arguably our best-starting pitcher before he got injured. Schmidt Looked like he had taken a big step forward in his development this year and was absolutely in the running to be an All-star before the injury. We also know that Schmidt is preparing to start his rehab program and should return in the next few weeks. We also saw a player that I am very high on in Warren make his debut in a spot start against a very tough Philadelphia Phillies lineup last week. While he struggled in the first two innings, Warren bounced back and had a great start, considering it was his first start in the Major League. I would not be surprised if we saw Warren get at least another handful of starts down the stretch so the Yankees can better understand what they have with Warren as they build her postseason run. While I do not believe he is a playoff starter, he could be a solid option to eat some innings down the stretch and impact the playoff roster as a reliever.

Overall, the roster’s pitching should improve over the next month as we get pitchers back from injury. While it is still being determined if this should be a much better rotation, it should be a much better rotation and bullpen when all these players return later this month.

The new look lineup

With The trade deadline acquisition of Jazz Chisholm and getting Stanton back from injury, this lineup looks completely different. We have seen Alex Verdugo put Into the leadoff spot into the leadoff spot, where he should have been hitting all year. This is the spot in the lineup he should stay in till the return of Dominguez later this season; I do believe that Dominguez has to be part of this team if they are going to make a deep run into the playoffs. He is too dynamic of a player not to be in the Yankee’s everyday lineup as they build for the playoffs.
Austin Wells is blossoming into the hitter that the guys who watched him coming up through the farm system knew could be given consistent playing time. He is locked in at the plate in the cleanup spot and has been our best cleanup hitter all year. He is providing Judge protection in this lineup, which we desperately needed.
Stanton’s presence in this lineup must be noticed, and the addition of Jazz hitting 6th is a massive upgrade for this team. The part of the lineup that has looked massively improved is the bottom 1/3rd of the lineup. Torres has looked much better at the play for the last three weeks.. He brings production and some consistency to that lineup in the 7th spot in that lineup. That is the exact spot in the order where you want to see  Torres hit on a championship-caliber team. Ben Rice is struggling a bit right now, but from the 8th spot in the lineup, we can handle that as we build towards the playoffs.

One of the most significant transformations we have seen since the All-star break has been with Volpe, especially hitting 9th. We have seen him struggle for an consistent spot in this lineup all year. His hitting 9th is the perfect spot in the lineup where he can hit without pressure. It’s also like he can be a 2nd leadoff hitter and use that same approach that we saw flashes of him being an elite player in the leadoff position earlier in the year. Volpe can be a spark plug at the bottom of that lineup, and he can use all his tools to help this team become a much better team going forward from the 9th spot.

One thing is obvious: this team still has issues, but they can be sorted out over the next month and a half. None of the improvements we have coming back matter as much as what we saw from Boone last night when he held Torres accountable. What we need for this team to have its best chance to win in the playoffs is strong leadership from the manager. If Boone continues to hold players accountable and be a true leader, this team has a better chance of winning in the playoffs. Boone is growing some balls, which might be the X factor as we move forward into the post season