Yankees’ Aaron Boone Responds to Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez’s Comments

To say the least, it hasn’t been a pretty year for the New York Yankees. After starting the season as one of the best teams in Major League Baseball, the Yankees have been brutal over the past few months, sitting at 60-52 and now 4.5 games behind the first-place Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East. 

Sure, the Yankees are still in the position to make the postseason, but for an organization that has spent as much money as they have and with the bright lights in the Bronx, things need to improve.

Former Yankees players are speaking out

The New York Yankees’ mental mistakes now carry too much weight to overlook. Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez have even spoken about them, commenting on Aaron Boone and the rest of the organization.

“They make way too many mistakes,” Jeter said, per MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch. “And you can’t get away with making that number of mistakes against great teams. It just doesn’t happen. They had baserunning mistakes today – you saw [Trent Grisham] getting thrown out at home plate. You can’t continue to do it. You have to clean it up.”

Jeter’s comments are more than fair, and Rodriguez had some stuff to add to that. He noted that if anybody made any mistakes when he was there, they’d be on the bench.

“If any one of us made a mistake, we would be sitting our butt right on the bench,” Rodriguez said. “I see mistake after mistake, and there’s no consequences.”

Will New York wake up after Derek Jeter’s remarks?

Whether this was calling Boone out directly or just hoping the New York Yankees players will respond, it’s not great that two of the best players to ever lace them up in Pinstripes are saying these types of things. 

However, Boone, as always, had some comments for them. He added that he understands they’re the Yankees and they need to win games, but he questioned the remarks they made.

“Look, we’re the Yankees,” Boone said. “When we lose games, if it’s in and around a mistake, that criticism is fair game. At the end of the day, we have all the pieces to be a really good team. That’s on me and all of us to get the most out of that.”

“I would disagree a little bit with the accountability factor, but the reality is, we’re focused every day on being the best we can be,” Boone said. “That’s how we have to do it. But I understand when it doesn’t happen, or we don’t have the record that I think we should have, or certainly people think we should have – that comes with the territory.”

Are Aaron Boone’s days in New York numbered?

Some believe the New York Yankees will move on from Boone after the season. Whether it happens or not remains to be seen, and while it might not be fair in some sense, considering there are other flaws on the roster, things will ultimately fall on him.

“There are no excuses. You have to play better,” Jeter said. “If you don’t play better, you are not going to go very far.”

The New York Yankees are the New York Yankees, and they expect to win.

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