The Yankees have made quite the splash this offseason, first by firing long-time manager and World Series champion Joe Girardi, then by hiring former Yankee Aaron Boone with no managerial experience to replace Girardis 988 regular season wins and 11 years as a MLB skipper. They then blew the top off the Winter Meetings in Orlando when they acquired NL MVP Giancarlo Stanton from the Marlins, compliments of Marlins ownership and Derek Jeter.
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Giancarlo Stanton is headed to the NY Yankees https://t.co/zmaNVSGKmN
Yankees universe is again dominating the baseball world, even overshadowing the arrival of Japanese two-way sensation Shohei Ohtani who signed with the LA Angels and softening the effects of him dissing the Yanks to travel out west.
After a productive MLB career that lasted from 1997-2009, Boone ventured into the world of sports broadcasting as an analyst for MLB Network before leaving to join ESPN in the same capacity. The career was a perfect fit for Boone, who called the 2014 and 2015 World Series for ESPN Radio with play-by-play announcer Dan Shulman before joining Jessica Mendoza as color commentators on Sunday Night Baseball With Shulman in 2016.
Boone and Schulman continued to call World Series games for ESPN Radio through 2017. Why would anyone want to leave that luxury for the pressure cooker, gray-hair inducing, criticism-filled job that is New York Yankees manager?
In an interview with WFAN legend Mike Francesa, who is retiring this week after an illustrious three-decade career as New Yorks elite sports show host mastering the afternoon drive slot of 1pm – 6pm, Boone reveals that it was actually his comfortable announcing gig that inspired his thirst for the bench.
One of the good parts of the job is getting to meet and hear from managers as we prep for our games. The last four years Ive gotten to do the postseason and youre meeting with the managers literally before every playoff game, so I found myself really kind of trying to put myself in their shoes as much as possible when it comes to strategizing and planning out and seeing how the day might unfold and thinking about different moves that might come up that day and whats available. Then this postseason when I was around Dave Roberts and A.J. Hinch day in and day out, it kind of sped up the process for me saying this is something I absolutely want to do
Francesa also interviewed Giancarlo Stanton on his trade to the Yankees.
Francesa asked Stanton, a California kid, about his decision to choose the Yankees over the Dodgers.
“They were both intriguing to be honest. I see-sawed between No. 1, because (at first) I was a little less educated on the full dynamic of the AL.”
Stanton was asked if he is OK with playing left field so Judge can stay in right?
“I’m fine. The goal is to win. Whatever I can do to put the team in the best place to win, I’m fine…at the end of the day I’m here to be on the field and play… The media and big city is one aspect of it but I’m here to get on the field and play.”
He expressed similar feelings in depth during his first NY press conference on Monday
Stanton meets the media following trade to Yankees
Giancarlo Stanton takes questions in his first press conference since being traded from the Marlins to the Yankees Check out http://MLB.com/video for more! About MLB.com: Former Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig announced on January 19, 2000, that the 30 Major League Club owners voted unanimously to centralize all of Baseball’s Internet operations into an independent technology company.
Both Boone and Stanton are saying all of the right things and their arrivals in 2017 will forever be linked in Yankees history and the success of these two game-changers will be the measuring stick for how this new Yankees Era is ultimately judged.
