Several New York Yankees‘ players have opened up about the Houston Astros’ cheating scandal, and manager Aaron Boone was next in the long line of people willing to share their opinion on the matter.
Aside from banging on trash cans and a camera in center field used for deciphering pitches, the Astros were accused of using buzzers to indicate pitch types and hold an advantage. Recent reports have suggested that Houston may have used their tactics during the World Series and postseason in 2019.
Earlier in the day, Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez through Jose Altuve under the bus:
“I can tell you this, if I hit a home run to send my team to the World Series, they can rip off my pants. They can rip off anything,” Sanchez stated regarding Altuve’s 2019 ALCS home run in game 6.
Boone, on the other hand, took a more vague approach to his answers:
“That certainly one of those great unknowns,†Boone said. “Certainly, I’ve spent time, as I’m sure a lot of people have, wondering all the things that could have potentially been going on.â€
He’s confident, though, that other teams will shy away from using these same tactics:
“Hopefully, as an industry, we’re just able to get better at policing things behind the scenes where this doesn’t happen,†he said. “I am confident that we will continue to get better and better.â€
While Boone doesn’t condone any of the actions taken by the Astors or Red Sox, he still considers some of them friends:
“Look, those are still guys I consider friends,†Boone said. “I’ve struggled, like I’m sure a lot of people have, with making sense of it all and trying to wrestle with my emotions and in a way get some clarity. I don’t think you ever totally get there and that’s OK. I think as human beings, we all fall down, we all fall short. None of us are perfect. Hopefully I treat people with the grace that would reflect that but it’s been a little bit of a struggle for me in how I make sense of it.â€