Yankees Manager Aaron Boone Responds to Heavy Criticism From Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez

Aaron Boone has responded to the harsh assessments levied on his team by two former New York Yankees veterans.

On Fox's pregame show before Saturday night's Speedway Classic, the panel discussed the Yankees' recent struggles. Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez were harsh in their assessments of the current roster and its manager. They didn't hold back.

"They make way too many mistakes," Jeter said. “And you can’t get away with making that number of mistakes against great teams. It just doesn’t happen. They had baserunning mistakes today—you saw [Trent Grisham] getting thrown out at home plate. You can’t continue to do it. You have to clean it up."

Rodriguez similarly said the team makes too many mistakes and there don't seem to be consequences for them.

"If any one of us made a mistake, we would be sitting our butt right on the bench," Rodriguez said. "I see mistake after mistake, and there’s no consequences."

When asked about those comments, Boone accepted the criticism and said it comes with the territory of being the team's manager.

"Look, we’re the Yankees," Boone said. "When we lose games, if it’s in and around a mistake, that criticism is fair game. At the end of the day, we have all the pieces to be a really good team. That’s on me and all of us to get the most out of that."

He did say he disagreed with Rodriguez's characterization of there being no accountability, but that there were no excuses, and results are all that matter.

Perhaps making things worse, Boone and Jeter were teammates on the 2003 Yankees team that lost the World Series to the then-Florida Marlins. After Boone was injured in the offseason, the Yankees traded for Rodriguez to take his third base spot, and Boone was released soon after. So, yeah, there's some history here between the three men.

The Yankees made significant additions to their bullpen at the MLB trade deadline, but if the team continues to make simple mistakes, it won't matter.