Yankees: Interview With Aaron Boone Yields Insight

The Yankees 2003 ALCS hero and current analyst for ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball, Aaron Boone, gave an interview to Yanks Go Yard in which he offered insight and perspective on the 2017 team. Here are some highlights.

The Yankees, as they are constructed this season, offer a broad range of possibilities. And when Aaron Boone talked about the team yesterday in an interview with Yanks Go Yard, he made it clear that while there is a tremendous upside to the team, everything needs to break right for them as the season moves along for them to begin thinking about the playoffs in 2017.

Aaron explains further in responses to the following questions.

Steve:

Aaron, as you know the Yankees starting rotation has been much maligned. However, in the past week, they went through a full complement of their starting staff with no hiccups, resulting in a six-game winning streak. What’s your take on this staff?

Aaron:

The last week cannot be taken as a given. But having said that, someone like CC Sabathia, who had a good second half last season and seems to have made the transition it takes to pitch at 37, has a tremendous upside.

Michael Pineda remains a wild card, but he’s not as some have suggested a head case. He’s a big guy and his downhill presence on the mound, together with stuff that can be downright filthy at times, gives the Yankees hope that he will be able to figure it all out.

And the same can be said for Luis Severino, who is even more of an unknown than Pineda.

Everything point to the upside, though, and no one should count the team out if everything continues to break right for this team.

More from Yanks Go Yard

Steve:

The Yankees team you played on is obviously a different team regarding its construction than the one we see now. What do you consider to be the biggest difference between then and now?

Aaron:

In a word, Brian Cashman. The teams back then were in the playoffs as a rule and winning was expected given the construction of the team we had. But Cashman has been brilliant in the way he has managed to balance the art of ringing out the old and bringing in the new.

He’s been able to reduce payroll, giving the team flexibility in free agent signings for the future, and at the same time, he’s been able to bring in a younger and more athletic crop of players without touching the core of the team.

And the fact that Cashman has done it without engaging in a full-blown rebuilding process like the Cubs had to do, makes it even more of an accomplishment.

Steve:

So, what’s up with the rest of the AL East?

Aaron:

Well, it’s still early in the season, of course, but what’s going on in Toronto should be a concern to them. They look like a team that can’t hit, and that’s only likely to worsen by the loss of Joss Donaldson, who’s down with one of those calf injuries that can be quirky as far as when he returns to their lineup.

And the Red Sox are feeling the loss of David Price.

But basically, the AL East is a division that will remain competitive throughout the season, and it’s still much too early to be picking winners and losers.

Steve:

The Yankees seem to have caught a team that is down in the Cardinals. What’s your take on them?

Aaron:

Well, the Cardinals are certainly off to what I would call a messy start. They are not playing clean baseball, and this traces all the way to last year when their defensive lapses in the field were noticeable and in need of correction this season. So far, it hasn’t happened, and the team is suffering for it.

Steve:

Aaron, on a subject away from baseball, what is your job like as an analyst for ESPN. I mean, what are you doing and where are you now?

Aaron:

I’m at Yankee Stadium right now watching the game and keeping tabs on other games in progress while reading articles as part of my preparation for the game tomorrow night.

I flew in from my home in Arizona on Friday arriving at Yankee Stadium, in time to visit “the truck” to meet the team producing and directing the game. And then, it was time for batting practice, and a chance to visit both clubhouses to say hello and check in on players. I watched the game that night at the Stadium. Then it was back to the hotel for more reading.

On Sunday, we’ll have a production meeting at around 9:00 A.M.that usually lasts about an hour and then I’ll go back to the hotel for a bit more reading and catching up on “the latest” news in baseball before it’s time to return to the ballpark for the broadcast.

Steve:

Aaron, thanks for your time.

Aaron:

My pleasure, have a good night.

Takeaways From The Talk With Boone

I came away from the interview with the feeling that like most of us, he sees a tremendous upside to the team that Brian Cashman has put together, but he’s not quite ready to jump in there declaring anything at this point in the season.

I could tell immediately that I was speaking with someone who had played the game for 13 years with seven different teams, who has a keen understanding of how difficult the game of baseball is to play.

To wit, I couldn’t count the number of times he used the word upside in describing players on the Yankees rather than the usual approach of a media person like myself who might look at someone like Chris Carter and immediately point to his strikeouts as opposed to the number of home runs he hits.

The upside of this team is outstanding, though, and while exercising caution, especially this early in the season, Boone sees a way for the Yankees to make some serious noise. That depends, though, on things breaking right for the Yankees, especially with regards to their tenuous starting rotation.

Turning The Page

Meanwhile, tonight Michael Pineda returns to the hill seeking maybe not a repeat of his last start, but at least something close to it that will enable the Yankees to complete the sweep of the Cardinals who appear ripe for the taking

Yankees: Why A Six-Man Rotation Makes Perfect Sense

The Yankees have an opportunity to fix the leaks in the rotation by moving to a sixth starter that would give extra rest to Tanaka and Sabathia.

Pineda will draw Adam Wainwright as his opponent. Wainwright, who is off to a 0-2 start with a 7.00 ERA remains an important but enigmatic part of the Cardinals rotation.

And just for those who want to see it one more time and have chills run through your spine like I still do, here’s the clip of Aaron Boone’s home run that sent the Yankees to the World Series in 2003:

Following tonight’s game, the White Sox come to town for a three-game series beginning on Monday night at the Stadium.

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