According to SNY’s Andy Martino, Aaron Boone is anticipated to return to the managerial role of the New York Yankees in 2024, having missed the postseason for the first time since 2016.
Boone managed the Yankees for the previous six seasons, leading the team to a 509-361 record and a postseason berth each year prior to 2023. During Boone’s five postseason trips, New York has a 14–17 record and has made two trips to the ALCS.
The Yankees’ 82-80 record in 2023 was their lowest since 1992, and they took fourth place in the AL East.
Boone’s contract is up in one more season, and the 50-year-old will be back to assist the Yankees in their quest to snap their current 14-year World Series drought.
2 Yankees players most to blame for disappointing 2023 season
The 2023 season was one the New York Yankees would rather to forget. The Yankees are not awful, but their 82-80 record is mainly cosmetic; as late as August 27 of this season, they were six games below.500. That’s not even close to the bar the Yankees set for themselves at the start of every season—being just above.500. Their goal is titles. They are hoping to win another World Series, a trophy they haven’t had since 2009.
The Yankees’ winning record didn’t save them from becoming a total bust, but there were some advantages along the road. When he wasn’t hurt, Aaron Judge was his normal dominant self. Regarding Gerrit Cole’s pitching, the same holds true. Jasson Dominguez, who was a great player before he was injured, may be a treasure for the Yankees. Nevertheless, they finished the season well short of their desired destination—the postseason. You can bet that the blame game will be played for that. There are two positions on the Yankees roster where a disproportionate amount of the responsibility is placed.
2) Gerrit Cole is not the starting pitcher for the Yankees.
Gerrit Cole had another outstanding season. For the season, he had a 2.63 ERA, 7.5 WаR, and 0.98 WҺIP. He was outstanding. However, no other Yankee starter was even close to having the kind of season that Cole had. Michael King, who started just nine of his 49 games this season, was the only pitcher other than Cole to finish with an ERA below four among the Yankees starters who made at least one start and pitched at least 63 innings. Only Cole, King, Domingo German, and Johnny Brito had WHIPs lower than 1.25 out of this bunch. For the most part, the Yankees’ starting pitching this season was unimpressive.
But the Yankees bullpen did play a great game. The Yankees placed ninth in the league in ERA, sixth in WҺIP, third in opponents’ batting average, and 12th in strikeouts in large part because of this. With just 48 quality starts throughout the season, they tied for 22nd place in MLB; precisely half of those starts were made by Gerrit Cole. Although they’re not the most scientific statistic, quality starts provide a club an idea of what to expect from a starting pitcher in any given game. Just 24 of those came from the Yankees’ non-Cole starters. That isn’t appropriate.
1) The hitters for the Yankees who aren’t Aaron Judge or Gleyber Torres
It could have been the end of the Yankees’ season when Aaron Judge was out for a significant chunk of this one. The fact that Anthony Rizzo missed the most of this season due to ιnjury didn’t help them either, but the Yankees relied heavily on Judge as their lead hitter and were unable to score runs without him.
Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Volpe were the only players to finish the season with more than 20 home runs, excluding Aaron Judge and Gleyber Torres. However, their respective batting averages were.191 and.209. Just five Yankees players who had at least 100 at-bats during the season ended up having an on-base percentage above.300. In at least one-third of their at-bats, only Judge and Torres managed to reach base.
Consequently, the Yankees fared poorly in nearly every hitting metric in the league. If this team is to contend for championships, that behavior is intolerable and must never occur again. In his few games this season, Jasson Dominguez showed some flare, but in order to truly strengthen this club, this team needs to invest money on bats in the offseason.
Gerrit Cole and the Yankees bullpen had an incredible season that was spoiled by injuries and subpar batting. That demonstrates this team’s potential for competition. With that roster’s lineup of bats, though, it couldn’t. It was the final straw for the Yankees.