Aaron Boone defends Yankees players after legends’ harsh criticism

Aaron Boone’s New York Yankees have been getting a ton of criticism of late, including from some team legends. 

Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez were serving in their roles as FOX Sports commentators on Saturday when they laid into their former team, with the latter asking, “Where’s the accountability?” They were referring to the team’s recent mental mistakes, which included a Jazz Chisholm Jr. baserunning error on Saturday. 

Boone, though, came to the defense of his players on Sunday morning as the Yankees looked to salvage a game against the Miami Marlins, a team they were expected to handle over the weekend on the road. 

“Look, we’re the Yankees, and when we lose games, if it’s in and around a mistake, that criticism is far,” Boone said, via The New York Post. “It’s fair game, I guess. At the end of the day, we have the pieces I think to be a really good team and 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. That’s how we have to do it. But I understand when it doesn’t happen, or we don’t have the record I think we should have, or certainly people think we should have, that comes with the territory. It’s on us to change that thought.”

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Boone added that when it comes to accountability, more stuff is being said and done behind the scenes rather than on camera during pressers. 

Jeter said during the FOX Sports team’s panel at the MLB Speedway Classic in Bristol, Tennessee, that he doesn’t believe this Yankees team is built for a World Series return after getting there in 2024. 

“They make way too many mistakes… You can’t get away with making that number of mistakes against great teams,” he said.

Rodriguez added: “If any one of us made a mistake, we would be sitting our butt right on the bench.”

The Yankees had quite the game on Friday night, blowing three different leads – 6-0, 9-4 and 12-10 in the bottom of the ninth inning – to lose to the Marlins, 13-12. It also wasn’t a great omen for Yankees fans, who were excited after seeing the bullpen reinforcements added before the MLB trade deadline. 

Jake Bird, David Bednar and Camilo Doval, all new pieces for the Yankees to deploy, combined for nine runs given up. Also in the ninth inning, Jose Caballero, who came in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays, booted a ground ball to right field that tied the game and allowed Marlins’ Xavier Edwards to get to third base for a potential walk-off, which happened on the next at-bat. 

Then, on Saturday night, Chisholm was doubled off on a pop-up as he wasn’t paying attention. 

“I see mistakes after mistake, and there’s no consequences,” Rodriguez said. 

The Yankees (60-51) are now third in the AL East after the Boston Red Sox (62-51) surged up the standings by winning eight of its last 10 games. They’re 3.5 games back of the division-leading Toronto Blue Jays (65-47). 

New York still owns a wild-card spot as of Sunday, though teams like the Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, who they will see next on the schedule, and Cleveland Guardians are all fighting for the three slots. 

“You can’t continue to do it,” Jeter said about the mistakes. “You have to clean it up. I mean, it’s that simple, there’s no excuses… You have to play better. If you don’t play better, you’re not going to go very far.”

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