Yankees: Possible replacements for Aaron Boone as manager

The New York Yankees have one of the worst records in the American League and MLB. No one expected them to be struggling as badly as they are now. It’s truly surprising and distressing.

Of course, we are only about 10% into the new 2021 season, so there’s plenty of time for the Bombers to kick it into high gear and begin winning games convincingly. After all, we’ve seen them in the past suddenly catch fire and go on a tear. However, whether the current meltdown is a precursor of what’s to come this year is uncertain.

Manager Aaron Boone, despite his faults, is not on the chopping block at this point in time. GM Brian Cashman suggested as much at a recent news conference. But if the Yanks don’t turn things around in the coming weeks, it could be arrivederci for the amiable skipper.

The Yankees have not removed a manager from his post in the middle of a season since 1990. So don’t expect that to happen, even though it feels like he could be on the hot seat. At the very least, in a worst-case scenario, the organization could allow him to finish the season, not extend his contract, and look for a replacement during the offseason. Time will tell.

The roots of the present burnout can arguably be traced back to the Yanks lackluster performance at the end of the shortened 2020 pandemic season. For whatever reason, the team went on cruise control and began losing games.

Given how poorly they have continued to play this season and the apparent failure of the players to respond to an animated team meeting held last Friday, it’s not unreasonable to begin contemplating who could be the next Yankees’ manager.

First, let’s identify the essential qualifications for said candidate.

In short, the next Yankees’ manager should:

• Have previous experience managing in the MLB (preferably in a large market with somewhat tough media)
• Be able to communicate with and teach today’s young players but hold them accountable
• Possess a healthy balance between a taskmaster and an empathetic listener/caring mentor
• Be a baseball visionary but also a strategic thinker
• Have a Yankee connection if possible
• Know how to utilize analytics but also realize that there’s a uniquely human element to the game that must also be considered

Admittedly, no one individual will have all of these traits. However, managerial candidates should possess many of them. So let’s dive in.

Here are some managerial candidates for the Yankees who could take over for Aaron Boone.

As Yankees fans know, Don Mattingly was an outstanding baseball player who spent his entire 14-year (1982-1995) career with the team. He won the AL MVP award in 1985. He also was a six-time All-Star, three-time Silver Slugger, nine-time Gold Glover, and batting title champion.

He ended his playing days with a .307 lifetime batting average, but somehow isn’t in the Hall of Fame.

Mattingly has had a lot of success as an MLB manager. He was the skipper of the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2011-2015. During his time with them, he went 446-363 and made three postseason appearances.

Following his five-year stretch with the Dodgers, Mattingly became the field general for the Miami Marlins. After four straight losing seasons, he guided the Marlins to a 31-29 record in 2020 after the club had lost 105 games the prior year. As a result of this spectacular turnaround, he was named the National League Manager of the Year.

Mattingly accepted a two-year extension for 2020 and 2021 with a player-club mutual option for 2022. He seems to have enjoyed his stint with the Marlins. However, the team insisted that he take a hefty pay cut to continue to manage the team as part of the new agreement. In addition to the team’s limited financial resources, it is true that manager salaries have also declined over time.

How much he is unhappy with the forced pay cut is unknown. He did not complain publicly. However, the salary cut might have left him embittered. He may now be willing to jump ship and accept another managerial offer by another team.

Following his retirement as a player, he expressed a strong interest in managing the Yankees. But he was never offered the position. Instead, Joe Torre was hired, which turned out great for the boys from the Bronx. The Yanks are likely in an excellent position to woo him away from the Marlins for the 2022 season.

Melvin was a former baseball player and was on several teams in both the American and National Leagues. He briefly played first base and catcher for the Yanks in 1994.

Melvin is currently the manager of the Oakland Athletics. He has occupied that position since mid-2011 when he replaced the previous manager, Bob Geren. Before then, he managed the Arizona Diamondbacks and received the 2007 NL Manager of the Year award. Seeking to move in a new direction, the Diamondbacks fired him in the middle of the 2009 season.

Under Melvin’s outstanding leadership, the Oakland Athletics have made the playoffs six times during his nine full years as the Athletics’ skipper.

During the 2018 season, the team was picked by most analysts to finish last in the AL West. Instead, the club won 97 games and reached the wild card game to end a three-year absence from the postseason.

Melvin is now in his 11th season as manager of the Athletics and has a 767-689 record operating in a small market with limited resources. His overall record across 18 seasons managing the Seattle Mariners, Diamondbacks, and A’s is 1,271-1,203 (.514). He’ll earn $3.5 million in 2021, and has a club option on his deal for 2022.

According to A’s general manager David Forst, it’s up to Melvin to decide what he wants to do going forward. Given the team’s modest budget, it’s fairly likely that the Athletics will not be willing to offer him more money for 2022. On the contrary, he may be asked to accept a pay cut as part of the negotiations. That will likely create an opening for the Yankees to hire him if they wish to do so.

If the Yanks’ managerial position becomes open at the end of the 2021 season, Melvin would be an outstanding candidate. Given how well he has managed multiple MLB teams in smaller, one can only wonder what he could do in a place with a lot more assets and elite talent.

Like Mattingly, Paul Molitor, who will be 65 in August, was a star MLB baseball player. During his 21-year career (1978-1998), he played with the Milwaukee Brewers, Toronto Blue Jays, and Minnesota Twins. Molitor was a seven-time All-Star, four-time Silver Slugger, and MVP of the 1993 World Series. He has a lifetime batting average of .306, and he’s in the Hall of Fame.

Between 2015 and 2018, he managed the Minnesota Twins. During that time, his teams compiled a 305-343 record (.471), but he was named the American League Manager of the Year in 2017.

Following the 2016 season, Molitor received a three-year extension keeping him in the Twin Cities through 2020. One year later, the Twins’ brass inexplicably decided to fire him. The club’s executives explained that they wanted the team to move in a different direction.

Those who closely follow the Twins felt it was a peculiar move, especially for a cash-strapped team. Just one year earlier, the Twins’ leadership was extolling Molitor’s virtues. There were rumors that Molitor was having trouble engaging his young stars and that this might have led to his firing.

Given Molitor’s overall record as both a player and a manager, he’s certainly worthy of becoming the next Yankees’ manager. Further exploration into exactly why the Twins fired him abruptly should be pursued, however.

In this day and age, MLB team executives should make every effort to (and quite frankly must) evaluate and consider people of color to manage their teams. This is especially true for the Yankees. Like most MLB clubs, the Yanks boast a multi-ethnic and racial roster as well as a diverse fan base in the New York metropolitan area.

Despite plenty of such candidates having successful playing careers, only a small handful of black and Hispanic individuals in MLB are field generals. Marcus Thames, the Bombers’ current hitting coach, certainly deserves consideration, as does Hensley Meulens, if a managerial vacancy opens up.

But there’s also Carlos Mendoza, who’s just 41 years old and the team’s current bench coach. He’s begun attracting a lot of attention and recognition for his coaching effectiveness and ability to relate to today’s players. Given his easy manner and ability to speak Spanish, he could be a great manager for the Yanks.

Mendoza has been with the organization for 13 years. He was the club’s quality control and infield coach beginning in 2018 before he became the bench coach. Before that, he was a manager in the team’s minor league system.

Mendoza would certainly be a riskier pick given the notoriety of the aforementioned candidates, but he’s no stranger to the game and has a ton of familiarity with the team. He could be the younger, trendier option.

Yankees: It may be time to replace Aaron Boone as manager

New York Yankees fans and many savvy baseball analysts have begun raising the thorny question of whether it is time to replace Aaron Boone as manager.