New York Yankees: A Few Minutes With Aaron Boone

New York Yankees, Aaron Boone
Oct 17, 2019; Bronx, NY, USA; New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone (17) answers questions from media during a press conference before game four of the 2019 ALCS playoff baseball series against the Houston Astros at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports

For those of us who are not part of the New Yankees beat writers, every once in awhile, the stars are aligned, and good things happen. Such was the case when I had a chance to meet and pose a few questions to Yankees manager Aaron Boone. The Yankees skipper is entering his third season and has a loaded lineup to look forward to in the 2020 season.

Non-committal on the Robot Umpire

One of the questions that came up right away was the possible implementation of the Robo-Ump. Helping to lead to that question was having a picture nearby with the famous argument between Boone and umpire Brennan Miller that led to the  “Savages” quote that has resonated throughout the Yankee kingdom. After getting a nice chuckle out of the fact that managers are losing their opportunity to engage in epic rants with umpires, Boone could only say “We’ll see” about the alleged effectiveness of the new system to call balls and strikes. Recently,  news broke that MLB will be operating an electronic zone for nine games in Florida this spring.

Looking Forward to a Healthy Season

As Yankee fans know, the Bronx Bombers had numerous players dealing with injuries in the 2019 season.  The question about the Yankees health brought a little smile to his face, and he responded that “everyone is looking really good so far.”  In an attempt to make sure they are healthy, the Yankees announced in early January that they are overhauling their people and processes for their training and conditioning. Nobody wants to see a return to the Bronx injury epidemic of 2019.

Sign Stealing: “Disappointing, Frustrating”

Of course, you can’t be with a group of people asking questions and not have the recent sign-stealing scandal brought up. Boone, in his usual diplomatic way, said that he was “excited that some things were identified” and that “we will have a better game moving forward.” Boone also stated that he felt like the penalties imposed will go a long way into cleaning that up.” He finished off the answer to the question by saying that “now the focus can be where it should, which is in between the lines.”