Veteran Fans Share Opinions on Aaron Boone and Yankees’ Difficult Situation

Old-Timers’ Day on Saturday wasn’t the first time this season Aaron Boone and Joe Torre have spoken to one another.

Boone mentioned that he has frequently spoken with Torre in the past weeks leading to the Yankees’ 5-4 victory over the Astros on Saturday. Torre was present at the event for Old-Timers’ Day, which also marked the 25th anniversary of the 2000 championship win.

This naturally sparked comparisons between the current situation and the end of that regular season, where the Yankees also struggled, ending September with a 13-17 record before rallying to secure a third consecutive championship.

Heading into Saturday, the present Yankees faced difficulties, having lost six of their last seven games and being precariously just half a game ahead of the Guardians for the AL’s third and final wild-card position.

“He’s kind of hanging on everything with us, so we’ve had a lot of contact back and forth, text messages, things like that,” Boone said of Torre. “[Yankees PR head Jason] Zillo reminded me this morning of that 2000 team, I think ended up losing 15 out of 18 at some point, won [87] games and then caught fire and went on that run. So we’re hoping for that kind of run.”

If the Yankees can’t turn it around, Boone — whose approval rating among fans is at a low — could end up taking the fall.

The last week has been particularly bad for the manager, who has faced questions over his continued use of the struggling Devin Williams.

Torre, for his part, has full faith in Boone, who he said convinced him to don pinstripes again at spring training a couple years ago, leading to his attendance at Old-Timers’ Day, which included a one-inning exhibition for the first time since 2019, where Ron Guidry, Roger Clemens, David Cone and Andy Pettitte all pitched.

Notably, Derek Jeter was not in attendance but joined via video message.

“What we went through in 2000 was nerve-wracking ’cause you were running out of games,” Torre said. “There’s plenty of games left 1754812152. Boonie knows what he has here. He’s gonna get a run out of these guys.”

That was echoed by Jorge Posada, Boone’s teammate with the Yankees in 2003.

“It’s not his fault,” Posada said. “He’s got some guys banged up, not at 100 percent. So it’s not his fault that some guys are not playing at their potential. …

“It’s tough to know what’s going on behind closed doors. Obviously, they went through a stretch, lost a lot of key guys. Health really matters. Just got to get everybody together, get whoever’s playing in the right [mindset] to win a ballgame. They haven’t done that.”