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Aaron Boone is just a puppet pf the New York Yankees organization, an insider says.

The New York Yankees’ seemingly endless tailspin continued on Friday night, as closer Devin Williams — acquired in a high-profile offseason trade for lefty starter Nestor Cortes and infield prospect Caleb Durbin — suffered his third late-inning meltdown in the past week.

While manager Aaron Boone’s latest failed usage of Williams has Yankees fans practically begging for the team to fire him, one longtime Yankee insider took a different view on Friday, saying that Boone is simply implementing the organization’s plan.

Williams came in to the top of the 10th inning in a game against the Houston Astros at Yankee Stadium, and, with Jose Altuve as the automatic runner on second base, immediately uncorked a wild pitch. He followed that by allowing an RBI single to Carlos Correa — and then, two batters later, a two-out, two run home run by lefty-swinging outfielder Taylor Trammell.

The score was then 5-2. New York managed a run in the bottom of 10th on an RBI single by Anthony Volpe. But that was all.

The Yankees absorbed their sixth loss in their last seven games, falling to 6 1/2 games out of first place in the American League East and barely hanging to a one-half game lead over the Cleveland Guardians for the third and final AL Wild Card spot with only 46 games left to play.

Boone’s Repeated Reliance on Williams Questioned

The real question, however, is why Boone brought Williams into the game in the first place.

The 30-year-old has already collected five losses and blown three saves this season, with a bloated 5.73 ERA over 48 appearances. But the numbers barely capture how bad Williams has been.

“Williams surely deserves blame for his performance on Friday, but so does Boone,” wrote Chris Kirschner, Yankees correspondent for The Athletic in his Friday night report. “It is inexcusable that Williams was in the game at that moment, and beyond overdue for him to be removed completely from a high-leverage role.”

Yankees Fans Beg For Boone’s Firing

The repeated reliance on Williams has been just one issue with Boone that has Yankee-watchers repeatedly calling for his scalp.

“Another loss that didn’t have to happen, another night in which Boone’s decision-making drove this team deeper into the ditch,” wrote Bleeding Yankee Blue founder Robert Casey after Friday’s game.

Casey, as he and other Yankees observers have done repeatedly this season, called on team owner Hal Steinbrenner to relieve Boone of his duties.

“Hal, if you’re out there,” Casey continued, “this manager is a walking L. Pull the plug. Fire Boone. And do it before the only thing left to manage is how empty Yankee Stadium will be in September.”

Michael Kay Blames Boone’s Bosses

But one longtime Yankees insider, Michael Kay — who has broadcast Yankees games, first on radio then on the Yankees cable network YES, since 1992 — took a different view, blaming Boone’s questionable managing style and decision-making not on the 52-year-old, eighth-year manager himself — but on Steinbrenner, general manager Brian Cashman and the entire Yankees’ organization — who keep Boone aboard because he is simply following their directives, Kay said.

“I am not anti-Boone the way most are because I think that Aaron Boone is managing the way the organization wants him to manage,” said the broadcaster, speaking on his radio program, The Michael Kay Show prior to Friday’s devastating defeat. “Those are the rules of engagement. This is his eighth year. He’s always managed this way. And they just gave him a two-year contract extension at the beginning of the year.”

For fans desperate to see Boone replaced, Kay’s belief that the manager’s superiors are in full approval of his performance can only make an already-disappointing 2025 more discouraging.

Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. He was a sports editor and writer at The Daily Yomiuri in Tokyo, Japan, covering Japan Pro Baseball, boxing, sumo and other sports. More about Jonathan Vankin