Aaron Boone’s explanation for Michael King decision will pretzel your brain

The Yankees’ “bad way” began on Opening Day this season when they stranded myriad runners in scoring position and fell to the Blue Jays in extras.

Good news? We can’t pin the beginning of the end on only one event. Things have always been pretty brutal in 2021.

The bad news? If we could mark an inflection point where the turnaround could’ve begun, but definitely didn’t, we also know exactly when that would be.

Friday, the series opener against the Rays. Nick Nelson served as an opener. He later revealed he was uncomfortable doing so, and didn’t really know how to? Michael King relieved him. He pitched well, again. The team dropped every baseball that was put in play, though, and the fans were kind enough to return them to the field of play by chucking them from the stands.

It was bad. It was embarrassing. It was embarra-bad.

Luckily, Aaron Boone got the chance to explain himself on the airwaves at WFAN on Thursday (or, rather, explain the higher-ups that implemented this pitching plan) and treated us all to…a garbled phrase that really didn’t fix anything at all.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone blew your mind regarding Michael King, huh?

So King didn’t start because the Yankees knew he could give them length out of the bullpen, even though starters are typically the ones who are intended to give you…length?

Instead, the team was excited to…use Nick Nelson for the first inning instead of, say, the fifth inning that he was used to just because…he wasn’t prepared to provide bulk?

It…doesn’t matter what innings…the bulk guy covers. Just as long as he gives you bulk innings.

What are we missing here?!

Thursday was, unfortunately, a banner day for Boone attempting to clean up the previous day’s messes. Gleyber Torres took some heat for choosing not to run hard on a dribbler midway through another dispiriting loss (not from us, but he certainly took some).

So, would he be benched on Thursday? Well, not exactly. Instead, he and Boone had some kind of…conversation about…energy?

Unfortunately, my “care factor” isn’t exactly close to maximized right now. How could I possibly care as much I should about this roster when they’re producing this way?

No defense, no offense, and no plan on either side of the ball. Wake us up when something gets shaken up. Until then, our brains are permanently pretzeled.

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