Did Joe Torre just insinuate Aaron Boone has been lying to Yankees' players?

If there's one thing that's been evident during Aaron Boone's tenure as New York Yankees manager, it's that there's been a lot of dishonesty. Dishonesty with injury reports and assessments. Dishonesty with communication throughout the organization. Dishonesty with the evaluation of the team.

A lot of folks like to blame Brian Cashman, but if you remember the Joe Torre/Joe Girardi days, this very much wasn't the case. Every piece of information wasn't guarded to the death. Every press conference and showing with the media wasn't poisoned with "ummms" and "ya knows" to the point where we forget what the actual topic being discussed is.

Maybe Cashman shifted gears this time around and enabled a stagnant flow of information because he knows how flawed this roster has been for a long time, but either way, outside of Boone operating on autopilot for the 100-win teams in 2018 and 2019, everything's been a mess ever since.

Something's been "off" and fans have been unable to put their finger on it, which has allowed for assumptions to run wild. So when Torre popped on WFAN last week to talk about the Yankees, what he said naturally created a bit of a stir.

Was the four-time World Series-winning manager insinuating something here?

Did Joe Torre just insinuate Aaron Boone has been lying to Yankees' players?

Here's what Torre said last week when talking with Sal Licata and Tiki Barber on WFAN:

"Aaron played for me. He comes from a baseball background. To me, baseball is a game of life. You play it every day. You have to try to eliminate the highs and the lows and find a middle you can keep.

Don’t lie to them. You still have to tell them ‘Hey, we need to get better in this area or that area, and we can do it."

- Joe Torre, WFAN

Maybe Torre's been watching Boone's pressers where the Yankees manager talks about how New York is about to "turn the corner" and his guys are "right there" and "grinding" despite plentiful evidence to the contrary? Maybe he's fed up with the constant platitudes that serve absolutely nobody?

It's just bizarre Torre's piece of advice would be "don't lie," since that's a very obvious thing for a manager not to do if there's any desire for the team to be successful. But here we are in the midst of a fourth straight "weird" season in the Bronx where nothing makes sense, there's a new doomsday stat each night, and the regressions/injuries fail to cease.

Admittedly, candor would be harsh, because there have been few positive things to say about this team for a while now, but it's the manager's job to keep the clubhouse honest. Maybe Torre senses that isn't the case, which has led to what's shaping up to be a disastrous season for the Yanks.