A daily look at New York Yankees News/Rumors of interest to Yankee fans
Aaron Boone under the gun:
Few would argue the fact that Aaron Boone, in his first two years at the helm of the New York Yankees, has done an excellent job. In his inaugural year, he earned 100 wins, and last year with an unprecedented number of Yankee injuries, he managed the team to get 103 wins and win the AL East’s the first pennant since 2012.
Many fans, when Boone was hired by the front office, said: Aaron, who? Fans still suffering the loss of Joe Girardi that was replaced by Boone after the 2017 season, weren’t really expecting much from their new manager.
Fast forward to spring training 2020. Most all of the major league baseball thinks the 2020 New York Yankees are the team to beat, the team that is now expected to not only go to the postseason but to win it all, it’s 28th World Championship.  Yankee fans after a ten-year drought will accept nothing less.
Hal Steinbrenner said at a winter MLB owners meeting last week in Orlando, Fla: “I believe we had a championship-caliber team last year and the year before. He added: “We’re even better this year.” This puts Aaron Boone in rarified air. He’s gone from fans not expecting much to fans and management alike expecting him to win it all. With the Yankees in the best position to win than they have been in a decade, what will the Yankee faithful think if he doesn’t bring home a Championship? Better still, what will Hal Steinbrenner and General Manager Brian Cashman think?
Manager Boone is under the gun. With the acquisition of arguably the best pitcher in baseball to the tune of $324 million, solving the only soft area in last year’s team, and one of the most powerful lineups in baseball, fans, and management will demand he bring home the Championship to New York City and a celebratory parade down the “Canyon of Heros.”
What to do with Clint Frazier:
Clint Frazier was drafted in the first round by the Cleveland Indians in 2013 right out of Loganville High School in Georgia. The New York Yankees in the middle of the 2016 season, realizing that they wouldn’t be in the postseason, traded away closer Andrew Miller to the Indians. The Yankees got Clint Frazier, Justus Sheffield, Ben Heller, and J. P. Feyereisen from the Indians. The Yankees sent Frazier to the Scranton Wilkes/Barre AAA minor league affiliate primarily because of his better than average batting average while with the Indians (.287). Frazier has played mostly at the minor league level in his three years with the Yankees.
During 2017 and 2018, Frazier was called up to the Stadium several times and showed flashes of being the next Yankee superstar with his quick bat and going at a tear behind the plate. The then 22-year-old redhead quickly became popular, and the fans gave him the nickname “Red Thunder.” Things looked good for the young man and dramatically increased in value. Clubs around baseball started to take notice. Fast forward to the 2019 season when injuries plagued the Yankees. Frazier was to play more in the majors than in the previous two seasons.   Frazier still showed his value behind the plate by hitting .351 for a period leading all Yankees. For Frazier, the challenge was playing in the outfield where he was sorely deficient (.983) in both the left and right fields.  The wheel fell off during a Red Sox series where he misplayed several balls. Fans started to sour on him and then came the failure to take responsibility regarding the press and his immature handling of being sent down to the minors.
There was much talk in this offseason, from Yankee fans that Frazier might be traded. The only problem was that because of his poor defense, his value to other teams was greatly diminished. As we now approach spring training in less than two weeks, it appears the Yankees have decided it’s better to keep Frazier for injury insurance than get nothing for him in a trade. The Yankees will start the season without injured Aaron Hicks, putting newly signed Brett Gardner in center and a questionable Stanton in left. If either of them is injured, it puts Frazier and Mike Tauchman in play to fill those spots now that Cameron Maybin is no longer a Yankee.
Last year as Frazier was missing plays in left, Aaron Judge was injured, and Frazier was moved to the right field, and Mike Tauchman was brought up to play left. Tauchman although not Frazier behind the plate, he played stellar defense in the left field. Tauchman in 87 games hit .277 with 13 home runs, which is pretty good, at that rate he would have hit 26 home runs in a full season, which the Yankees would be happy to accept. Another plus that the T-man has over Frazier is that he hits from the left side of the plate in a right heavy lineup. Frazier is no kid anymore (25). This may very well be Clint Frazier’s last chance to show the Yankees that he has a future with the team, he must defend his position.