Aaron Boone has confirmed that he has no plans to "change" after being suspended for his fourth MLB ejection of the season, but the New York Yankees head coach will use his judgement moving forward.
The Yankees coach is one of the most passionate and animated in MLB, and was fined and suspended on Friday after being kicked out on Thursday night against the Baltimore Orioles and it was the third time in the last two weeks that he's been tossed.
Boone returned to watch his side beat the San Diego Padres 3-2 on Saturday but insisted that he won't tone down his emotions in the dugout. But the Yankees coach may try harder to judge where the line is moving forward this season.
"No, I'm not going to change," Boone said when being asked about his conduct following the Yankees' win over the Padres. "Even though I have been kicked out of a lot of games, a lot of them I make it through.
"So maybe just being better at knowing where that line is." Boone was suspended and fined after getting angry with umpire Edwin Moscoso's strike zone on Thursday, but feels as though his "reputation" is working against him.
Four ejections is the highest out of all head coaches across the league, and before being forced to sit out of Friday's loss to the Orioles he said: "Well, I think I've earned that reputation." This was in response to the MLB using his previous incidents to build a case for his suspension.
The reasoning for MLB's suspension was 'recent conduct toward major league umpires, including the actions following his ejection from Thursday night's game against the Baltimore Orioles'. But Boone reacted to the decision by stating that the MLB have "changed" their approach.
"Seemed to be a little bit of a change of direction there, but look, I got kicked out a few times in a week," Boone said. "I don't want that. Certainly, they don't want that, but you know just kind of move from it."
Cincinnati Reds head coach David Bell and St Louis Cardinals head coach Oliver Marmol were both ejected a total of nine times last season, the highest out of all MLB teams. But by this stage last campaign they hadn't reached four ejections yet, so if Boone doesn't clean up his act he will be at risk of surpassing the total from last season, with more suspensions likely.
