The New York Yankees have struggled in the second half of the season after the All-Star break. They’ve now fallen into third place in the American League East and enter Saturday 6 1/2 games back of the Toronto Blue Jays, who are in first.
As cries for manager Aaron Boone to be fired grow louder, general manager Brian Cashman is defending Boone and doesn’t appear ready to make a change.
“One thing that people maybe really forget is that we play in a market that holds you — maybe Boston and Philly, too — that holds you more accountable automatically,” Cashman told Chris Kirschner and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. “The market already provides instant accountability. In many cases, today’s world is so much different than maybe generations before. I think leaders, managers, coaches are more inclined to try to support and help players that are going through a lot as they try to navigate their struggles. Struggles are part of the game. It’s just louder in a bigger market.”
That is correct. New York is obviously a bigger market compared to smaller ones even within the same division such as Toronto and Tampa Bay. However, market size has nothing to do with performances, and the Yankees have been one of baseball’s worst teams since the All-Star break.
Catching up within the division is going to be difficult for the Bronx Bombers to do. However, Cashman believes Boone is the guy to lead them through the chase.
“He knows how tough this sport is,” Cashman told The Athletic about Boone. “He’s invested in these guys heavily, as we all are. Trying to explain away a difficult play or a bad performance for some time while the storm is upon us is not an easy task to navigate or deal with and remain cool, calm and collected. He’s obviously done an amazing job of working through that. … We’re the defending American League champs trying to re-defend that. Obviously, right now, we’re not in control of the division. Our first goal is try to win the American League East and automatically punch the ticket that way. If not, we’ll be fighting to punch a ticket a different way. We have a lot of time on the clock, but not enough time at the same time. I don’t want to misrepresent (that) there’s not urgency, because there is.”
There needs to be a little more urgency for the final six weeks of the regular season. New York holds just a 1 1/2-game lead over the Cleveland Guardians for the final wildcard spot. Cashman might have a different stance if/when the Yankees are eliminated from the playoffs.
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