Yankees: Using Aaron Boone as scapegoat for failed 2020 season is weak

Yankees fans blaming Aaron Boone simply didn’t watch enough baseball in 2020.

There’s no denying Yankees manager Aaron Boone committed a few fireable offenses in 2020. His lineup cards were confounding at times. He took too long to move guys up or down in the order. His calls to the bullpen infuriated many. Nobody’s refuting this.

But to think he’s the reason for the New York Yankees choking in the playoffs yet again is simply weak and irresponsible. There’s enough blame to go around for weeks if we were to sit here and take a look at everybody’s contributions on the roster.

Sure, pinch-hitting Mike Ford for Clint Frazier nearly broke our brains, as did bringing in Aroldis Chapman for seven outs, but are those decisions really what lost the Yankees ALDS Game 5?

The offense went radio silent — one run in a do-or-die Game 5 with a cast of hitters that are among the most threatening in all of baseball. The lineup also didn’t do anybody favors in Games 2 and 3. Giancarlo Stanton was the most consistent hitter in the series.

What else? Masahiro Tanaka had two awful postseason starts, pretty much leaving the team with Gerrit Cole as the only guy to rely upon. As for the bullpen, Adam Ottavino can no longer pitch in high-leverage situations (or at all?), Jonathan Loaisiga gives up a run every time he’s called upon, and Tommy Kahnle — arguably the most important piece for the ‘pen — was lost for the season after 2020’s first series.

Luis Severino was lost for the year back in the offseason. James Paxton was once again limited, and then out for the season with injuries. If one of these guys is healthy and one of those other bullpen arms is healthy/reliable, then fine, we can talk about firing Boone.

But once again he was working with an incomplete roster, and the one area that was fully healthy and ready to go by October was the offense, which ended up being the overarching reason the Yankees’ season ended. When the offense goes silent, this team does not win. The Yankees do not win 2-1 pitchers’ duels. They never have. That’s not who they are. They need five runs of offense to get the job done. They got one in an elimination game against their bitter rivals of 2020.

And are we really going to pin the infamous “Game 2 pitching plan” on him? That was so very clearly a decision made by the front office Boone was forced to execute. And who do you bring into Game 5? Everyone said Chapman was called upon too early, but who else is there? That’s right. You have no answers, either.

So before we crucify Boone for a few decisions we didn’t agree with, let’s take a look at the entire picture and understand how we got to this point. Yes, managers are supposed to earn their mettle in October, and Boone does need to show improvement in crunch time situations, but that was hardly the sole reason the Yankees were sent packing.

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