Rocco Baldelli won American League Manager of the Year. Somehow.
Baldelli edged Boone by 10 points. Baldelli was given 13 first-place votes, 13-second place votes, and 2 third-place votes for 106 points, while Boone was given 13 first-place votes, 9-second place votes, and 4 third-place votes for 96 points.
The Yankees were led by manager Aaron Boone in one of their most difficult seasons yet and managed to finally win their first AL East division title since 2012.
The Savages, as Boone calls them, faced a ton of adversity this year, mostly with the number of injuries they had to endure. Aaron Boone had to put out a lineup without key players for the majority of games this season.
The plentiful list of star injuries includes:
- Aaron Judge – missed two months
- Luis Severino – only started three regular-season games
- Giancarlo Stanton – played in 18 games
- Dellin Betances – appeared in one game
- Didi Gregorius – played 82 games
- Aaron Hicks – played 59 games
- Gary Sanchez – played 106 games
Even with these injuries, Boone improved the Yankees record by three wins from 2018.
This tweet basically sums up how Yankees fans feel…
Aaron Boone:
*leads a Yankees team that had 700 injuries this year to 103 wins*
MLB: pic.twitter.com/LJ7F5W4bAv
— Very Talented Brian (friends w/ Chief) (@SP0RTST4LKBRIAN) November 12, 2019
Boone plugged in players such as Mike Ford, Breyvic Valera, and Thairo Estrada into the lineup, and granted they did play very well, Boone put them in the right spot in the lineup at the right time.
Now, this does not take anything away from Baldelli, who was a great manager in his first season managing the Twins. He improved the Twins by 23 wins from last season and the Twins set the new single-season team home run record.
However, the Twins play in the AL Central, a division significantly worse than the AL East, as it has two 100 loss teams in the Detroit Tigers and the Kansas City Royals.
And although it is a regular-season award and the postseason does not have much to do with the voting, Boone led the Yankees farther than they went in 2018, and in the ALDS, they swept the Twins.
Aaron Boone and the Yankees became a better team than they were with a lineup without the firepower they had last season and was somehow snubbed from winning American League Manager of the Year.
Featured Image: Sarah Stier - Getty Images
