I have a lengthy and nuanced take in response to @RealMichaelKay’s takes this morning on Aaron Boone. Michael’s position is that while it’s not only unacceptable to repeatedly lose in the division series, it’s worse when you consider you’re repeatedly losing to teams you outspend while looking BAD in the process. He eventually goes on to conclude that Boone and Cashman being dismissed would lead to them being hired elsewhere, and I also find this point to be true. Most importantly, Kay wants Yankees fans to know they have every right to be furious but wants fans to acknowledge the product isn’t terrible, it’s just limited. He goes on to compare the Yankees with the Mets, which absolutely favors the Yankees despite similar payrolls. Now here is my take: If the Yankees lose this series (stats say they have a 91.2% chance of doing so) Aaron Boone should be relieved of his duties and I’ll explain why in depth now. The Yankees very clearly don’t have a talent problem, they are repeat offenders of mentally folding when you need them most. In a one off year with an outlier lack in judgement, you could blame the players. But this is every year without let up. The New York Yankees will undoubtably be the least mentally sharp team on the field in any predetermined “test series” no matter the year or roster tweaks. Moving on from Boone isn’t an equation of him not winning enough regular season games. It’s WHEN he loses his games (when it matters) and HOW teams he’s responsible to lead loses them. Essentially they have no culture. Think substitute teacher. If you asked the students who their favorite subs were, they’d tell you the teacher that threw on movies and let them text in class. Never the disciplinarian. Hal Steinbrenner needs to hire who the Yankees’ clubhouse NEEDS, not who they WANT.