There's officially another Aaron Boone in the AL East as Blue Jays spiral continues

New York Yankees fans have complained for years about the way Aaron Boone defends his players to a fault. Now, Toronto Blue Jays fans might be able to relate. Jays manager John Schneider just put his foot down in defense of closer Jeff Hoffman, who has already blown three saves so far in 2026.

Hoffman entered Saturday's Jays-Diamondbacks game in the eighth inning with the score tied. He proceeded to give up a grand slam to Corbin Carroll, taking the loss for a Toronto team that entered Sunday with the worst record in the American League East (7-13).

Nonetheless, Schneider defended his guy following the defeat in Arizona. "If there's a situation to close out a game, I'll take Jeff Hoffman," Schneider said. Hoffman, since joining the Blue Jays, has blown more saves than anyone in Major League Baseball, including Game 7 of the 2025 World Series.

John Schneider throws full support behind a floundering Jeff Hoffman as Yankees fans laugh

Hoffman has allowed six earned runs in his last two outings (1 2/3 innings of work). He's 1-2 this year with a 7.71 ERA and 2.036 WHIP, with more blown saves than saves. Suffice to say, it's been a tough start to '26 for a closer who entered the season looking to wash his conscience clean after what happened last October.

John Schneider is reminding Yankees fans of Aaron Boone right now

Yankees fans are monitoring the Schneider-Hoffman situation and shaking their heads knowingly, with a weird feeling of empathy for the fans of their division rival. The Yanks' faithful still harbor the angst of listening to Boone irrationally defend Anthony Volpe for multiple seasons, and now they're struggling through the same charade with Ryan McMahon this year. It hurts them to see other people endure a similar pain, even if it's Blue Jays fans. But it's definitely funny.

Boone and Schneider are just standing up for their players, of course. But at what point does doing so become delusional to the point of harming your team's ability to win? After all, winning is what's at the top of a manager's list of job requirements, not making his players feel supported. Yankees fans are convinced that Boone has crossed the line with Volpe, McMahon, and others, and Schneider's handling of Hoffman is similarly not sitting well with the fans in Toronto.

Ironically, Hoffman at the moment looks a lot like Devin Williams did for the Yankees last season. Boone's management of Williams during the closer's struggles was far from exemplary, but it got to the point where Boone basically had to demote Williams from his role or otherwise be categorized as mentally unstable.

We're not there yet with Hoffman, but if it gets worse from here, Schneider may be forced into a situation where he has to go against his word, or otherwise admit that his main priority isn't winning.

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