Joe Girardi Defends Aaron Boone, Calls Out Jazz Chisholm & Yankees Accountability After Playoff Exit

Former New York Yankees' manager Joe Girardi defended the embattled Aaron Boone during an appearance on The Show with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman, saying he felt Boone did his best managing job yet.

"I think you could argue this was his best year of managing," he said on the show. "I think he got the most out of this team during the course of the season with all they had to deal with. And the way they won games, he had to flip the way they won games. They had to win them from a pitching standpoint, different from some of the years past where they would win by just out-slugging people. He couldn't do that this year. And I think he ran the bullpen extremely well and got the most out of those guys." 

Instead, Girardi felt the players needed to be more accountable. He in particular referenced Jazz Chisholm Jr. telling reporters after a wild, out-of-control error in Game 2 of the Tampa Bay Rays' ALDS sweep over the Yankees that he would have made the same play again if given the chance, much to the bewilderment of... everyone.

"It's hard to say, because I'm not in the clubhouse every day. But there are things that happen where you wonder, 'Is someone saying anything?' You said you would have done the same thing over again? No! You can't do the same thing! It didn't work!" Girardi said on the The Show (31:00 mark). "Some of the base-running [miscues], all the sliding over bases—someone's got to say something, enough is enough."

There are plenty of fingers to blame for fans as they dissect a 17th straight season without a World Series title. Boone—who has only gotten the team past the ALDS three times since taking over in 2018 and into the World Series just once—and general manager Brian Cashman have been a popular scapegoats. But the players have to own a major stake in 2026's disappointment as well.