Aaron Boone Isn't Perfect but Hal Steinbrenner Owes Him, Yankees Better Roster in '24

The New York Yankees are bringing Aaron Boone back, and nothing is better or worse for it. Things with the Yankees simply are.

It's up to Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman to change things for the better, which will require making bold choices for a change.

The one that Steinbrenner, the Yankees' managing general partner, made official on Tuesday was, if anything, an easy one. Despite copious speculation late in the season that 2023 would mark the end for Boone as the Yankees' manager, there was nothing to lose in bringing him back. The 50-year-old skipper was under contract for 2024 anyway.

As to what convinced Steinbrenner retain Boone back after this year's 82-80 performance resulted in a fourth-place finish in the American League East, it seems he's simply popular within the organization:

One can only assume that Boone's otherwise impressive 509-361 record in six years was a factor. He's also known to have the endorsement of Aaron Judge, who's only the Yankees' captain in addition to an American League MVP and a $360 million man.

To go even further, one can also assume that Steinbrenner concluded it wasn't Boone's fault the Yankees fell short of expectations this season. And it's true. It wasn't.

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It's Not That Boone Is Blameless

Want to criticize Aaron Boone? Alright, let's criticize Aaron Boone.

Fans and really all varieties of Yankees observers know that his strategy isn't always the best. His bullpen management has often been a point of frustration, and his lineups can tend to be on the inefficient side. Case in point, Giancarlo Stanton hit .191 this year yet took all but 38 of his plate appearances in the top half of the order.

Yet such things also feel weirdly beside the point. With Boone, the question that really matters is this one: How friendly is too friendly?

The consensus among Yankees players seems to be that, whatever else Boone is, he's a good guy. This message came through especially loud and clear even as his job security seemed suspect amid a 26-43 spiral between June 6 and Aug. 27.

"He's a good friend of mine," Judge said of Boone in August, according to an article from Brendan Kuty and Chris Kirschner of The Athletic that also featured glowing reviews from other players. "He's been with me here since 2018. We've built a strong relationship."

Admirable, but aren't things like motivation and accountability also part of a manager's job?

It doesn't reflect well on Boone that the only two rookies to truly break out under his watch are Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andújar back in 2018. There was hope that Anthony Volpe would this year, and it's indeed to his credit that he played Gold Glove defense at shortstop. But by OPS+, he was 19 percent worse than the average hitter.

As to accountability, just look at how Boone handled Carlos Rodón. You can't blame the guy for not having the best attitude amid his terrible year, but such things as mockery of fans and flagrant disrespect of coaches deserve harsher consequences than none and none.

To this end, it was hardly surprising when Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported in October that the Yankees would like to see Boone "instill more discipline" going forward.

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The Yankees Aren't Going to Fix Themselves from Within

The other Boone-related change in the offing is one that's actually his idea. It's too bad it's a terrible one.

The idea, according to Steinbrenner, is that the Yankees should be better at bunting:

The charitable read here is that at least it's something different.

The Yankees had apparently moved away from teaching fundamentals in favor of more Statcast-able skills. That the big club's returns have diminished even as it's owned metrics such as exit velocity and spin rate goes to show how well that's worked out.

And yet, missing out on some kind of bunt renaissance isn't what should concern the Yankees. Even setting aside the iffy strategical wisdom of the act, there isn't much to suggest that bunting is making a comeback. Heck, bunts actually decreased from 2022 to 2023.

If the Yankees' own analytics department doesn't realize this, here's hoping that Zelus Analytics—the company the Yankees hired to audit their internal practices, according to Kuty—realizes it.

What's for sure is that the Zelus folks haven't convinced Cashman that any part of the organization's infrastructure needs a major overhaul, or he otherwise wouldn't be so defiantly on the defensive:

Whether you agree or disagree with Cashman's stance on the Yankees' organizational structure, ultimately the bigger question is how the team itself is going to get better in 2024. Maybe the Yankees do need better thinkers, but they sure as hell need better players.

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Time for the Real Work to Begin

To be sure, simply having a healthier roster would provide the Yankees with a boost in 2024.

Their 2023 season didn't really go south until after Anthony Rizzo suffered a concussion and Judge hurt his toe. Those could not have been prevented, so there's some sense in Steinbrenner's stance that the club's training and strength and conditioning staffs are not the problem.

In any case, neither those injuries nor Boone's head-scratching lineups don't fully account for why the Yankees ranked 11th in the American League in scoring. If anything, it's telling that the offense actually regressed after hitting coach Dillon Lawson was fired and replaced by Sean Casey, who decided in late October that he didn't even want the job anymore.

It's inexcusable that the lineup was so right-handed even though the right field porch at Yankee Stadium is [double checks] yup, still short. And despite ample warning that the new rules would change the game, the Yankees all but sat out the batting average and stolen base revolutions.

So as much as the Yankees also need pitching depth in between ace Gerrit Cole and closer Clay Holmes, it cannot be emphasized enough that what they really need is a more balanced offense. At a minimum, it needs to get more left-handed. Ideally, it would also get hitters who offer contact hitting and speed in appreciable measures.

Even if talks with the San Diego Padres have reportedly yet to take place, a trade for Juan Soto should be on the Yankees' radar. Ditto for a free-agent deal with Cody Bellinger at worst, and Shohei Ohtani at best.

There are two things the post-Boone-retention phase of the Yankees' winter must not be: centered on an ill-fated trade for Mike Trout or a repeat of last offseason. A 38-40 slide down the back half of 2022 made it clear that all was not well, but the Yankees eventually ran it back with basically the same team. Of course it didn't work.

Cashman can carry out the marching orders, but it's up to Steinbrenner to dish the right ones. And as signs of hope go, his "everything is on the table" attitude about free agency will do:

This isn't the first time that Steinbrenner has shown he is indeed capable of having a sense of urgency. It's a welcome change from his previous bewilderment in response to those who would dare to have high expectations for Major League Baseball's only 27-time World Series champions and heretofore its biggest spender.

Ultimately, one can only hope that the Yankees' refusal to scapegoat Boone won't be followed by them setting him up to fail again. Even if he's not the best manager, he deserves what the fans deserve:

Better.

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Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.