The entire Yankees fan base is still processing the team’s disappointing sweep at the hands of the Astros in the ALCS. Count Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera among those who’s displeased with the result.
Rivera voiced his frustration while speaking at the Sports Forum of the Panamanian Association of Business Executives on Wednesday, where, according to Ryan Glasspiegel of the New York Post, he said that if he were in charge of the Yankees, he would not bring manager Aaron Boone back next season.
“If I’m the owner, Aaron Boone wouldn’t stay,” Rivera said. “When things don’t come out the way we want them to all of the fault goes on the manager and somebody has to pay the price and we won’t put that on the players.”
Rivera made his comments on the same day that Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner said that Boone would be returning as the team’s skipper for 2023.
“As far as Boone’s concerned, we just signed him and for all the same reasons I listed a year ago, I believe he is a very good manager,” Steinbrenner said, via The Associated Press. “I don’t see a change there.”
Boone and Rivera were briefly Yankees teammates in 2003 when New York acquired him in a midseason trade from Cincinnati. Boone’s walk-off home run in Game 7 of the ALCS against the Red Sox stands as one of the most memorable playoff moments in franchise history.
Boone just completed his fifth season as the team’s manager, guiding the team to the playoffs each year and twice making it to the ALCS.
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