Any Yankees fan complaining about Aaron Boone pulling Clarke Schmidt is crazy

Sometimes it feels like criticizing manager Aaron Boone is a New York Yankees tradition in the same vein as rising and removing your caps for Kate Smith's rendition of "God Bless America" during the seventh-inning stretch. That's not to say the Yankees' skipper is beyond reproach, but sometimes the criticism has no basis in logic.

Such is the case when it comes to a vocal contingent of fans who blasted Boone for pulling Clarke Schmidt on Saturday after seven no-hit innings. Who doesn't want to see history? Who wouldn't like to see a different name than Domingo Germán show up in their Google search results for the last Yankee to throw a no-hitter (though Germán still has the last perfect game)?

Of course, Schmidt entering the record books would've required him to navigate six more outs — no easy feat given the weight of the impending no-no — and made even more difficult after hurling 103 pitches in what were oppressively hot and humid conditions in the Bronx.

Even with the quietly masterful strike thief J.C. Escarra (who also chipped in a homer and three RBI) behind the plate to navigate him through, and a nine-run lead, it was still wise not to push Schmidt to the brink.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone made the right call by pulling Clarke Schmidt from his no-no bid

First, let's get the elephant out of the room: the Yankees needed this win. After going 1-7 in their previous eight games before Saturday, starting the skid by losing six straight and being swept by the dysfunctional Boston Red Sox, New York needed a win.

More importantly, the club needs to keep the arms in the rotation healthy, and Clarke Schmidt is a big piece of that. The righty has 20 2/3 scoreless innings and counting on his ledger, and over his last five starts has allowed a total of just three earned runs.

He also began the season on the injured list, alongside last year's AL Rookie of the Year, Luis Gil, and co-ace Gerrit Cole. Cole won't return until some point in 2026. Gil still hasn't begun his rehab assignment.

After losing three-fifths of their starting rotation in spring training, things looked dire for the Yankees. But as the season has unfolded, Max Fried has exceeded everyone's wildest expectations, Carlos Rodon has finally begun to live up to his, and since his return, Schmidt has reliably anchored down the No. 3 starter spot. At the back-end, soft-tossing southpaw Ryan Yarbrough has been one of the club's most pleasant surprises, while Will Warren has done enough to be mostly solid as a fifth starter.

But just as it seemed that things were falling into place for the battered rotation, Ryan Yarbrough hit the injured list. Now, Allan Winans and his 7.20 career ERA is being inserted into the rotation.

At the same time, while it may feel like Schmidt is a young arm, that's not really the case. Once a top prospect, he's now 29 years old, and despite playing parts of the last five-plus seasons in the Bronx, he's topped the 100-inning threshold just once, tossing 159 innings in 2023. Why? Injuries.

Schmidt underwent Tommy John surgery before even being drafted and has dealt with a variety of maladies that have caused him to miss time over the course of his career. With a 2.84 ERA on the season, he's been critical to the Yankees' success.

So while it would have been nice to see him complete the no-no, it will mean so much more for the team if he's healthy as the summer heats up and the playoff push intensifies.

At the end of the day, pushing a pitcher to the absolute brink for a single-game achievement doesn't make sense. It makes even less sense when you consider he was already 103 pitches deep and playing in disgustingly muggy conditions.

Schmidt is one of the keys to the Yankees' success, which ideally will end snapping the championship drought that's closing in on two decades. If he were to go down chasing a no-hitter, the odds of the Yankees accomplishing their ultimate goal would decrease dramatically. At the end of the day, it just wasn't worth it.