Meet The New Yankees Skipper

He isn't the most conventional choice, but he was apparently the best fit to manage this team. There had been a few names that had come up for consideration to take over as the manager of the New York Yankees. Recently retired outfielder Carlos Beltran, longtime Yankees coach Rob Thomson, former big league manager Eric Wedge and Dodgers third-base coach Chris Woodward had all interviewed. As was San Francisco Giants bench coach Hensley "Bam Bam" Meulens, who had finished runner up for the position. At the end of the day, former Yankees 3rd baseman Aaron Boone was selected to take over the most storied franchise in all of baseball.

What made Boone a hero for the Yankees, came in the 2003 Playoffs, game seven of the ALCS against the Red Sox. In extra innings, Boone cracked a Tim Wakefield knuckleball into the left field seats to send the Yankees into the World Series. He spent 12 years in the Majors as a player, retiring in 2009 with a career.263 batting average, hitting 126 home runs and 555 RBI's. Boone becomes the 9th active manager in the Majors to manage a team he once played for. He joins Kevin Cash of the Rays, Alex Cora of the Red Sox, Craig Counsell of the Brewers, Terry Francona of the Indians, Dave Martinez of the Nationals/Expos, Mike Matheny of the Cardinals, Paul Molitor of the Twins, and Dave Roberts of the Dodgers.

He was a solid baseball player, there's no taking that away from him. It's his experience with managing a team that has one a little worried.  He does have this working for him: he's been covering Major League Baseball for ESPN since 2010. So he's been keeping plenty of tabs with whats going on in the game. He has a clear understanding of what's going on in the game of baseball, as is evident by his work on TV.. Now, one has to wonder, how he can be able to handle the room.

Sure, shouldn't have a problem being able to play his numbers and trust his gut when making decisions on the field. Its being able to handle his players that is going to be fun to try and watch. Dealing with Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, and Masahiro Tanaka, for example, are dealing with three different personalities. The sign of a good manager is somebody who can have control of his locker room and being able to push the right buttons to get the best out of his players.

The pressure is going to be high for the new skipper, replacing someone like Girardi and inheriting a win-now roster full of young stars like Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez and Luis Severino. I think with the mental calm that Boone shows, he should be able to handle the high pressure of this job. Boone should be fun to watch with this team to see how he handles this club as a first time skipper.