BOONE-HEAD MISTAKE

BY MIKE RIFKIN

The Yankees lost 5-3 on Friday night to the Houston Astros. This loss makes the Yankees 19-30 since June 13th, the worst record in the AL in that span. Going further the Yankees have 24 wins since June first, the same amount of wins as the White Sox. 

Once again in a big spot Aaron Boone went to Devin Williams and once again Devin Williams failed the Yankees. Williams gave up two earned runs (three overall) in the tenth inning Friday night, including a two run homer to Taylor Trammell, which was the difference in the game. On the season Williams has a 3-5 record, along with being 17-20 in save opportunities. Williams has a 5.73 ERA, he has allowed earned runs in five consecutive outings. Prior to this he had never gone three straight outings giving up runs. 

At the trade deadline the Yankees acquired David Bednar from the Pirates and Camilo Doval from the Giants, both of whom were closers in their prior spots, and have Luke Weaver, who closed big games for the Yankees last season. So the question is why does Aaron Boone continually go to Williams in big spots? The answer is simple, the Yankees think they know more than everyone else. Williams shouldn’t be the closer nor should he be put in big spots right now. Bednar went 1.2 innings in a huge win on Wednesday, and tonight (after a day off) Bednar wasn’t used. 

Entering Saturday the Yankees are hanging by a thread to a playoff spot, a half game up on the Guardians and 1.5 games up on the Rangers, and trailing the Mariners by 2.5 games. But right now the Yankees cannot afford for Devin Williams to cost them more games. It is imperative for Boone to find a way for Williams to regain his confidence, but if I’m a Yankee fan I trust Boone about as much as I trust Williams. And if Williams is the reason the Yankees miss the playoffs, Aaron Boone’s loyalty to him should also land him a pink slip.