Good morning, all. The Yankees finished off what turned out to be a nice three-game set in Detroit last night, as Paul Goldschmidt turned back the clock with a multi-homer game off no less a foe than defending two-time Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal. Jasson Domínguez had his own key bomb off Skubal as well, just the second time the switch-hitter has gone deep in the bigs against a southpaw.
That’s not too shabby for a series that began with the Yanks’ third loss in a row. They’re back on the ol’
winning series path as they head up to Beantown to see if they can avoid playing down to the mostly-hapless Red Sox. It’s hard to win three of four at Fenway in any circumstance because that ballpark can just make weird games, but that should still, of course, be the goal.
For today’s question, we’re checking out the SB Nation Reacts survey results from the poll that ran earlier in the week. We asked how you would grade Yankees manager Aaron Boone’s 2026 season to date. They have the best record in the American League, but the plurality gave him a C:
Now as they say, C’s get degrees, but this is still a little surprising, even with Boone’s shaky reputation among Yankees fans. (And that’s to say nothing of the 12 percent who failed him.)
I don’t see Boone as any great skipper or anything like that, but they do seem to have played well under him despite some tough circumstances, namely lengthy injuries to the likes of Aaron Judge and Max Fried, their two best players on opposite sides of the ball in 2025. Although no manager is immune to the odd bullpen decision here and there — and boy, Boone does have his moments — the odd calls have been kept to a relative minimum in my opinion. I do also think that we’ve still seen too much of Anthony Volpe at shortstop, so it’s fair to ding for that, even with José Caballero cooling down a bit since coming back off the IL.
Maybe I’m a tough grader, but to me, you have to really stand out as a manager to get an A grade. Still, I’d be happy to give Boone a B for how he’s fared early on. I’m with the 24 percent. If this poll has enough options to allow it, I’d probably grant closer to B+ or A- if we’re being honest.
So if you were a little more cautious about giving Boone a better grade, what would be your rationale? My best guess is that the C is a stand-in for “Fine, but the first half has rarely been an issue under Boone, so it’s hard to get too jazzed just yet.”
Today on the site, Matt will preview this upcoming four-game set at Fenway and he’ll return for the Rivalry Roundup. Nick will then celebrate the 63rd (!) birthday of a hard-hitting catcher who played on both sides of the rivalry, Mike Stanley. Jonathan will take the opportunity of Cam Schlittler vs. Connelly Early to remember some of the more notable and consstent pitching matchups in the rivalry’s history, and Kento will delve into why the Yankees’ bullpen has been fine on the whole, if not a bit underwhelming.
Today’s Matchup
New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox
Time: 7:10 p.m. EST
TV: YES, NESN, MLB Network
Venue: Fenway Park, Boston, MA
The Reacts survey results are sponsored by FanDuel.
