Yankees can't justify keeping Aaron Boone with top-tier free agent manager on market

New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone isn't the problem with this team, as many breathless commenters will have you believe in the wake of every loss. "Why would Aaron Boone blow that save?!" I don't know, man, go water your plants.

But at a certain point, as a window hurtles toward closure, having a caretaker at the helm who doesn't detract, but doesn't necessarily add, shouldn't continue. Add in Boone's questionable in-game management and his remarkable ability to make the same "feel" mistakes over and over again six years deep and, yeah, his time in the dugout should probably expire.

It's not trending that way, though, as somehow, the Yankees appear to be gravitating towards keeping Boone. If Hal Steinbrenner remains unwilling to overrule Brian Cashman (which is ... a whole other thing), then Boone is safe. And that's a real shame, considering a far better manager seems like he might be looking for work soon.

According to MLB insider Ken Rosenthal, Brewers manager Craig Counsell could be available for hire this offseason, and letting him float around without checking in would be Yankees negligence.

Yankees should fire Aaron Boone, hire Craig Counsell if available

According to Rosenthal:

"If Counsell, who resides in his native Whitefish Bay, Wis., is willing to leave the Brewers, a team that once employed his father, John, rival teams almost certainly would snap to attention.

Counsell’s most obvious landing spot could be the Mets, who soon might hire his previous boss in Milwaukee, David Stearns, as president of baseball operations. The Mets on Thursday fired multiple people within their front office, clearing a path for their new top executive to bring in his or her own people. Other teams, though, figure to be interested in Counsell, and possibly willing to dismiss their current managers to get him."

- Ken Rosenthal

You hear that, Yankees? You want to let a man as adept as anyone at leading bottom-tier payrolls to the postseason head to the Mets and aid their attempt to "run New York"?

With Hal Steinbrenner's Yanks already bordering on irrelevant (they played the kids, we know, we know), letting the Mets pull off a Counsell/David Stearns combo out of nowhere would be egregious negligence, especially as we approach 30 uninterrupted years of Brian Cashman.

Lord knows these modern Yankees are loyal to a fault, but if Counsell has the itch to leave the team he's been leading since 2015, Steinbrenner should be on the phone with a competitive salary. The fact that the ultra-successful Counsell could still be available simply because eight years in one place is a long time makes Boone's/Cashman's never-ending tenure seem all the more ridiculous.