New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone is coming in to focus

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The New YorkYankees hired managerial neophyte Aaron Boone based on his interview. Now in Spring Training they, and we, are starting to see how his words have transformed into deeds.

As New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone walked by the stands of George M. Steinbrenner Field one day early in Spring Training–his entire outfit a perfectly rumpled baseball mess–he looked as if he had aged twenty years.

No individual aspect, sartorial or otherwise, betrayed his rapid advancement, however.

It was not that he had dexterously persuaded his pulled-down cap to seamlessly partake in his Oscar Madison impersonation, although it was an impressive feat. Getting his blue Yankees hat to be wrinkled in the same fashion as his blue Yankees windbreaker is no small task.

Nor was it that he seemed to be walking with a slouch befitting a much older man, his head arriving several seconds before his behind — keeping his right hand in his back pocket the whole time added to the general impression, but did not itself make one.

No, it was the confluence of all these factors that made such an impression. That, and the most common images of Boonie.

Indelible Images

I think people mostly think of the youngish Boone from his gobsmacked interview immediately after winning Game 7 of the ALCS way back in 2003.

And his time in the ESPN booth presented an image of a young man getting older…as opposed to a well-weathered sage and freshly woken baseball hermit, long removed from his active life.

But that is what he looked like on that day. And since.

He seems transformed into an older, more relaxed version of himself, a baseball lifer back where he belongs. As he ambled past, his mind on making sure Tanaka was ready to warm-up, he still took time for light-hearted banter with the few fans seated in the front row.

That was the first impression made by Boone. And his words and deeds since have at least given a glimpse of his managerial style.

And the Word was Good

We will start, as the Yankees did, with Boone’s words. His most important and repeated message to his team has been to control the strike zone. That might always be his philosophy, but it is more apropos for a team filled with young power hitters.

If a manager is primarily a messenger, then Boone’s message of patience and control is his most important.

And he has backed up his firm declaration that he does not care about wins and losses in Spring Training by allowing no extended games so far. I think there has only been one opportunity, but it was still eschewed by Aaron.

Also, Boonie’s comments have made his respect for the players clear.

Take RHP Chance Adams. His projections as a starter have been getting worse since last season ended. And his performance this ST has left him farther down the depth chart (11.57 ERA in three starts). Both Luis Cessa and Domingo German stand as more likely to be called up next.

But on the day Adams was cut, Boone was about his place in the pecking order by Randy Miller of NJ.com. And Aaron made sure to respect what Adams has done, even at the minor league level.

He’s still in that mix if and when it occurs during the regular season, and he’ll also be a candidate for a first big-league call-up when the Yankees need a sixth starter, which they plan to use now and then. “Oh sure, I think he also remains in the conversation because of the work that he’s done,” Boone said. “He’s earned that. So he’ll continue to get opportunities (in the minors) and always be a guy that we’re watching very closely.”

We can, however, best gauge Boone’s true character and intentions in his least guarded moments; two stand out.

On the Job Training

The first was when he failed to have a pitcher ready to start an inning, an awkward and well-storied mistake.

Complicating the matter, Aaron was to start his regular fifth-inning interview with YES at the same time. He took a moment to coordinate the recovery before finally going on air. Apparently, the first question asked was about his blunder.

Unflustered, Boonie smiled his way through with an off-hand mumble before ending the line of questioning good-naturedly.

If he were more thin-skinned or anxious to avoid blame, he could have declared he gave the correct instructions but somewhere they got garbled, like a dangerous game of telephone. Instead, he took the responsibility with a smile and moved to keep the rest in-house.

Good instincts, those.

The same type of insight was gained when Boone addressed a recent gaffe by fellow Aaron, Judge.

Judge was seemingly not aware that MLB’s sensitivity to tampering extends to the players; it does. So when he told Manny Machado he would look good in pinstripes, he committed a baseball faux pas. And The MLB let him know it.

But it is Boone’s immediate reaction that we are interested in, as reported by Mike Mazzeo for the Daily News:

Aaron Boone was asked about the exchange. “I don’t think he said that,” the manager replied. “I’ll leave that one alone.”

Aaron understood the ramifications immediately and put forth the best defense, obfuscation, for both he and his player. Again, an amiable and intelligent response.

Finally, it was his announcement about Jordan Montgomery that revealed something about the man. I’m not sure what, but something.

All Things Great and Small

Monty was awarded the fifth starter’s job very early, something Boone’s predecessor never did. Joe Girardi valued competition in camp very highly and liked to announce his full rotation late in March.

Not Boone. But what does his announcement mean? Is he showing respect for Montgomery, as he did for Adams, and awarding the spot so early because Monty has earned it?

Or, does he value certainty over competition for his players? Maybe it is the recognition of having no other good candidates, so best to put as much faith in your only option? Aaron revealed himself in that decision, but it is unclear what we are seeing.

Juxtaposition

What we can all see, however, are some of the small differences from previous camps.

Boonie does not care nearly as much about his best relievers getting clean innings with which to work, for instance. His predecessor, Joe Girardi, made this one of his top priorities, yet the new man has already brought in David Robertson in the middle of an inning.

This might be an inconsequential difference, but it is a difference, nonetheless.

The same might be true of other minor decisions. Starting pitchers, for instance, were kept on the back fields deeper into spring this year, often making their debuts with their pitch counts up around 50.

I get the sense Boone, and the Yankees are not the only ones doing this; is there some strategic value to this approach? Perhaps letting them focus on control early on before facing competition?

And his aforementioned mistake must be included here, small as it was at the moment. But it reveals and stokes the biggest fear in hiring a neophyte, to wit, that his inexperience will affect the team. On that day, it certainly did.

Will these types of things happen in the regular season or post? Is this a one-time incident, or a preview of a Don Mattingly-level managerial learning curve? The hope, I am sure, is for the former.

But for now, the Yankees will have to wait for more actions by Aaron to find out. That was something they did not have to worry about with Girardi.

However, his first big telling decision will be evident very soon: The lineup.

(Photo by B51/Mark Brown/Getty Images) /

And Belly to Belly

Boone’s Spring Training lineups have shown his ability to buck convention but bring up a host of questions.

We have seen a lot of Judge and Giancarlo Stanton batting back-to-back, and even fellow righty Gary Sanchez after them; is Boonie ready to bat three righties in a row?

That might make sense against Boston’s lethal line-up of lefties, but what happens when their mostly-righty relievers come into the game? Or does it matter because of the quality of the Yankees batters?

Perhaps this is purely a masking agent. When the season starts, will we see a more conventional batting order, with a lefty like Bird hitting between Judge and Stanton? But would that put Didi Gregorius in the five hole and Gary in the six?

It cannot be a good thing for the man most are calling the Yankees best hitter to bat that low in the order.

The point for this article, though, is not how the line-up is eventually set, but how it will then allow us to understand Boone’s thoughts on hitting, as well as lineups during the pre-season. Is he showing his hand or hiding his cards? How does he think and what will that mean down the road?

And who is Aaron Boone, really, this new Yankees manager?

We will need some time to truly figure that one out. But some things we know right now.

If It Is Good Enough For Conie…

Boonie brings a positive, upbeat attitude with him, and a focused but relaxed style.

Once he was asked at the end of one of his fifth inning interviews if he wanted to throw it to commercial — in homage to his recent work at ESPN. Boone declined in his usual self-effacing but firm way.

Watching him on-camera, it was clear that he was already thinking about his new job while politely declining to do his last one. Before he could get the headset off he was analyzing his charts and information, the interview already a distant and insignificant part of his past.

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We know he puts a strong importance on intelligence and baseball erudition through his hiring of Phil Nevin. David Cone has already waxed on air about Nevin’s qualities and his testimony precludes the need for further evidence.

All told, along with his sly and quiet sense of humor, Boone reminds some of a younger Joe Torre. And his tenure worked out well for the Yankees.

Secrets, Lies, and Whispers

Of course, sitting in the stands back in February, I did not know all of this. All I had was the sight of Boonie walking by in his rumpled, crumpled outfit, slouching along while he joked easily with the sparse group of Yankees fans.

He reminded me then of an old fisherman, home from the sea. This was not how he came across last year in the TV booth. Then he seemed like a too-serious buttoned down baseball analyst, connected to the game by the one big moment of his youth.

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Now, he seemed like a baseball lifer grown prematurely old and weighted down by his baseball knowledge in a way that invigorated him. He looked connected to the game in the same way that the person who sweeps the stadium for forty years is with the building: Intimately with all its creaking secrets.

Aaron Boone had come home. He was now back in the bosom of the sport he was raised in. And he looked and acted the part.

But although we have gotten some idea of what kind of manager Boone is and will be, the picture is still a bit fuzzy. That’s a problem that will solve itself by the end of October.

And only then will the Yankees know if they like what they see in their new manager, Aaron Boone.

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