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During the daily version of the changing of the guard baseball – the home team leaves the field for their dugout, allowing visitors to get down to their pre-game work – Aaron Boone and Luis Rojas chatted around In the batting cage at Citi Field Friday afternoon, two beleaguered Subway Series skippers may be finding company in dire straits.
Then, as Rojas was leaving, the two – who, as members of two famous baseball families, love and respect each other in every way – exchanged a brotherly hug.
The two managers, their contracts ended, could be sacked from their jobs if the last three weeks and more do not go well enough. Rojas surely stands on thinner ice than Boone given that 1) the Mets face a much greater chance than the Yankees to advance to the playoffs; and 2) the person who promoted Rojas to his post, Brodie Van Wagenen, is long gone from the organization, while Brian Cashman, who hired Boone, still runs Yankees baseball operations.
Yet even if winter arrives for the pair, many of you are unlikely to get what you want. Because if one or both are fired, it won’t be because of their relentless positivity. Despite this quality, it will also be found in their successors.
The idea of a manager “lighting a fire” under his players is as archaic as the idea that you best measure a starting pitcher’s success by his victories. Boone and Rojas must take responsibility for their clubs’ disappointing performance to date, and visible flaws and shortcomings can be pointed out. Maintaining the public’s trust in their players, however, is not on this list.
Just Friday afternoon, each manager independently conjured up the “That’s good” meme, resembling the little dog wearing a cowboy hat sitting in a burning room, as their respective clubs fell into oblivion.
“The guys are still in a good mood despite two tough losses we just suffered in Miami,” said Rojas. “[Thursday] night they were ready to come back here. … They are ready to go tonight. They are looking forward to a great weekend streak against the Yankees.
Boone said: “I feel like there’s a ton of confidence in this group right now. The reality is we played some really good baseball to get back into it for a few months and just had a terrible week right now, and I’m confident we’ll come out of it and even our best baseball is ahead. This is our goal, and I have no doubts that it will happen.
If you’ve watched either team play recently, the skippers seem to be selling ivermectin to people with COVID-19. Except that it marks the new reality. Look around: Even older managers like Dusty Baker of the Astros and Joe Maddon of the Angels still hold jobs at least in part because they have a reputation for being connected with their players. Admittedly, Tony La Russa’s comeback from retirement doesn’t quite fit into the same framework, although you notice he’s avoided controversy since his run-in with White Sox rookie Yermin Mercedes.
Want to tear Boone and Rojas apart for their in-game tactics? Very just. The two have made a plethora of decisions that make you lose your mind. This week alone, Rojas opted to have Edwin Diaz pitch to Marlins’ Bryan De La Cruz with the first open goal and Boone turned to mate Sal Romano in the seventh inning of a draw against the Blue Jays. Moreover, Rojas should be criticized for his stated ignorance of his players’ ‘thumbs down’ debacle. Boone must take his share of the blizzard in the Yankees’ base blizzard.
The Silver Liners playbook, however, cannot realistically be viewed against them. At the most, you’ll get occasional post-game flare-ups, like when Boone publicly tore his guys apart after a terrible loss to the Rays in April. By the next pre-game, however, it will again be all smiles and cheering talk. And whoever replaces that pair, every time that happens, will almost certainly be no different.
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