Yankees: Michael Kay slams Aaron Boone for defending Gary Sanchez

On a recent appearance on YES Network’s Yankees Hot Stove, Aaron Boone defended his All-Star catcher Gary Sanchez. It’s not the first time that he has stood up to his player. This time, he said that people are too harsh on their criticism towards the slugger. “I think he’s been unfairly criticized a lot. I think at times it’s over the top and people are blinded by some of the things that he’s done really well,” the skipper said on Monday.

After hearing those comments, Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay expressed his frustration. He heavily criticized Boone on his Tuesday ESPN Radio show.

”I’ve liked this guy,” Kay said. “But when he said that the (Sanchez) criticism was over the top, I was dumbfounded. It almost made me pull my hair. It’s so unfair.”

Sanchez hit 10 homers in 2020, but struggled to the tune of a .147 average and a 36 percent strikeout rate. He was benched in five of the New York Yankees’ seven postseason games, with Boone making the decision.

“His whole career, I’ve never killed Gary Sanchez,” Kay said. “I think that he had a really terrible year this year. I’m not going to put lipstick on a pig. And that’s why I was so offended that we were over the top. How are we over the top?

“My advice to Aaron, although I don’t know that he would take any advice from me, is you’re ruining your credibility by saying stuff like that because everybody has eyes. Everybody saw what (Sanchez) did. Everybody saw the year that he had. Everybody saw that you didn’t start him in a win-or-go-home game.

“You’re not supposed rip your players. I get that. But you’re going over the top saying all the good things that (Sanchez) does when you didn’t play him. And you might lose credibility with your players because Gerrit Cole didn’t want to pitch to him.

“And you can’t say it was just one bad year. Look at the year before last year. He didn’t have a good year then either. And there’s some things (Boone said that Sanchez) does well? Okay, so you brought in Tanner Swanson, the catching instructor, to teach him how to frame pitches better, especially lower pitches. He got better at that, but there were still passed balls because he’s down on his knee. So please don’t say that the criticism was over the top.”

The Yankees’ skipper had Sanchez’s back, but…

On Monday, the Yankees’ skipper had conceded that 2020 was “certainly a challenging year for him and a struggle for him in a lot of ways, but that’s okay. That’s part of the game. Sometimes you have a tough season, and this season was tough for so many people across the league for different reasons.”

Kay said he thinks the Yankees will end up keeping Sanchez.

“I am not opposed to bringing Sanchez back,” Kay said. “I’m not. I’ve seen the power. And if Gary Sanchez went somewhere else and turned it around, it wouldn’t be a good look for the Yankees. But there’s only so many times you can say, ‘It’s New York.’ Gary Sanchez was a phenom in New York (in 2016 and 2017). They didn’t change the city, and if anything, this year should have been easier. There wasn’t a person in the stands. There was no media pressure. I could count on two hands the times that Gary had to go on a Zoom call. When writers and media are allowed in the clubhouse, you can be cornered any day.”

“Personally, I think (the Yankees) broke him because of their insistence on him being better defensively. And I don’t blame them for that, either. But I don’t know if Gary was able to handle the overflow of information. ‘Stay down on one knee, worry about framing.’ The Yankees have a very complicated game plan before every game, and then you expect the guy to hit 35-to-40 home runs. Maybe they think he still has it in him. But I know that (the over-the-top line) is partly directed at me and fans and the writers. Don’t say we were over the top. When you wouldn’t start him in a winner-go-home game, that’s the most over-the-top statement you could make. The best way to discipline a player or tell him you’re disappointed, you don’t write their name in the lineup. You didn’t do that for them for kicks and giggles.”

In his rant, Kay also accused Boone of frequently lying to the media.

“Aaron Boone is one of the finest people I’ve ever met, and I watched him this year spouting stuff out that’s not true,” Kay said. “Like when he took out Aaron Judge out of a game in the fifth inning and he said, ‘Nothing’s wrong with him.’ And then he went on the IL for two months!”