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Joe Girardi isn’t blaming Aaron Boone for the Yankees’ shortcomings, but believes a deeper-rooted culture issue might have contributed to the team being swept in the ALDS.
The former Yankees skipper tore into the team’s fundamentals, pointing to a pair of costly postseason blunders that underscored his concerns during an appearance on “The Show with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman.”
“There are things that happen and you wonder, ‘Is someone saying anything?’” Girardi said on The Post podcast.
Girardi cited Austin Wells’ baserunning blunder in Game 1 and Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s disastrous throw in an error-filled Game 2 as examples of the team’s fundamental failures — and the concerning response to those mistakes.
Chisholm, in particular, said, “I’d probably still try to throw it,” if given a do-over, despite the result of the play.
“You said you would’ve done the same thing over again? No! You can’t do the same thing again — it didn’t work!” Girardi added. “Some of the base running cues, the sliding over the bases, someone’s gotta say, ‘Enough is enough!’”
Girardi, who managed the Yankees from 2009-17, noted that the sloppy play needs to be addressed during the regular season, especially with underperforming players.
He referenced infielder Anthony Volpe, who had been New York’s incumbent shortstop the past three seasons before being demoted to Triple-A midseason.
“I think it happened with Anthony Volpe,” Girardi added. “I think he was better when he came back up because he sent down and said, ‘Hey, I can’t keep doing what I’m doing, it’s not working.'”
Girardi, 62, knows the trappings and challenges of managing the Bombers all too well. He led the club to a World Series title in 2009 but, despite reaching the ALCS in 2017, he was let go as skipper and replaced by Boone.
In what’s expected to be a transformative offseason for the Yankees, Girardi went to bat for Boone, whose future has come under fire in the wake of another abrupt postseason exit.
Girardi said that 2026 is arguably Boone’s best year, citing the team finishing with the American League’s second-best record despite a rash of injuries and down seasons from key players.
“Can you say that that’s his fault? I don’t think so,” Girardi said. “To me, that’s not his fault. I just don’t think the guys had the years that they projected them to have, or some of the guys just aren’t as good as they thought they would be.”