{"id":89280,"date":"2025-08-14T08:18:27","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T08:18:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=89280"},"modified":"2025-08-14T08:18:27","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T08:18:27","slug":"chris-russo-critiques-the-yankees-decision-not-to-hire-terry-francona-implicitly-questioning-aaron-boones-appointment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=89280","title":{"rendered":"Chris Russo critiques the Yankees&#8217; decision not to hire Terry Francona, implicitly questioning Aaron Boone&#8217;s appointment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/scontent-cdg4-1.xx.fbcdn.net\/v\/t39.30808-6\/530846614_1132620032056614_4897018133240759512_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_s640x640_tt6&amp;_nc_cat=102&amp;ccb=1-7&amp;_nc_sid=127cfc&amp;_nc_ohc=JI8dO24UIGEQ7kNvwFBj2ys&amp;_nc_oc=Adm1xiPJNApRjGffUXNWaaWsl4ao1rTpts03ltCCU1s2s2SlvTVb3PkWQKEVkMaGdBc&amp;_nc_zt=23&amp;_nc_ht=scontent-cdg4-1.xx&amp;_nc_gid=xOslguzy3u0R3iBbuGDGnQ&amp;oh=00_AfXACGc4ussROA1KjauXIZdwUmLxgYCpj394dBm_LhzrFQ&amp;oe=68A367DB\" alt=\"C\u00f3 th\u1ec3 l\u00e0 h\u00ecnh \u1ea3nh v\u1ec1 2 ng\u01b0\u1eddi v\u00e0 v\u0103n b\u1ea3n cho bi\u1ebft '\u7389 \u203b Reds NEW YORK POST Chris Russo rants how Yankees messed up not hiring Terry Francona in Aaron Boone takedown'\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Instead of hiring a 2003 ALCS hero as their manager, Chris \u201cMad Dog\u201d Russo believes the Yankees should have tapped into one of the key figures from the 2004 edition.<\/p>\n<p>Russo, the ex-WFAN host now on SiriusXM and ESPN, ranted on \u201cThe Show\u201d podcast with The Post\u2019s Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman how the Yankees should have hired Terry Francona this winter instead of extending Aaron Boone, who he barely sees as a top-10 manager.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re telling me that Boone is a better manager than Terry Francona? Are you freaking crazy? How did Francona end up with the Reds?\u201d Russo said in the episode published Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid the Yankees put a call in to see if Francona \u2014 \u2018Hey, Terry, we had a bad World Series, our manager killed us in Game 1.\u2019 He killed them in Game 1 guys, that was awful. And Francona ends up in Cincinnati. Everybody loves Boone and he\u2019s not a bad manager, but he\u2019s been there a long time with one World Series win and, in my opinion, seven or eight managers are better than he is. \u201c<\/p>\n<figure><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Chris \u201cMad Dog\u201d Russo breaks down how Aaron Boone stacks up against other MLB managers #shorts\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/g9cHHcU5mEU?feature=oembed\" width=\"618\" height=\"348\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n<p>Russo\u2019s take comes at a time when the Yankees are scuffling and trying to hold on for dear life in the AL playoff race, and many fans are pointing fingers at Boone and general manager Brian Cashman.<\/p>\n<p>This is Boone\u2019s eighth season on the job and the Yankees have won one pennant and one World Series game in that time, with their summer malaises becoming routine.<\/p>\n<p>Russo clearly believes the manager is part of the problem, and he listed seven skippers he believes are better than Boone: Francona, Boston\u2019s Alex Cora, Texas\u2019 Bruce Bochy, the Dodgers\u2019 Dave Roberts, Arizona\u2019s Torey Lovullo, Detroit\u2019s A.J. Hinch and the Cubs\u2019 Craig Counsell, although he said Boone is only \u201cprobably not better\u201d than him due to Counsell\u2019s \u201cspotty postseason.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow do the Yankees have a manager who\u2019s the eighth-best \u2014 and now, you guys might think he\u2019s higher than I, but I think there\u2019s eight managers in this sport better than freaking Boone,\u201d Russo told Sherman and Heyman. \u201cI mean, I\u2019m not going to give you (Brian) Snitker because he\u2019s old, but he won a world championship too. Hinch, Francona, Bochy, Roberts, Lovullo, Cora, there\u2019s a lot of managers in this sport who are better than Boone. He is barely in the top 10. These are the New York Yankees.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>Aaron Boone is feeling the heat as the Yankee scuffle. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure><figcaption>Terry Francona has the Reds closing in on the Mets in the NL playoff race. AP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Francona, 66, led Boston to two championships in 2004 and \u201907, and has the upstart Reds just two games back of the Mets in the NL playoffs race.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s generally considered one of the game\u2019s better managers, especially after a strong run with Cleveland despite limited payrolls.<\/p>\n<p>One major issue with Russo\u2019s idea, though, is that the timeline and logistics for the Yankees to have hired Francona to replace Boone this offseason would have not lined up.<\/p>\n<p>Cincinnati hired Francona on Oct. 7, 2024, while the Yankees did not finish their season until their Game 5 World Series debacle against the Dodgers on Oct. 30.<\/p>\n<p>Boone still had one year left on his deal before the Yankees gave him a two-year extension in February through the 2027 season.<\/p>\n<p>Yankees brass has talked highly of Boone \u2014 seemingly to the fans\u2019 chagrin \u2014 and even said he believes there would be a \u201cfeeding frenzy\u201d if he became a free agent.<\/p>\n<p>He also has the support of team captain Aaron Judge.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>Chris Russo (c) with Joel Sherman (top left) and Jon Heyman (bottom left). @nypostsports\/YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI think the No. 1 thing is the care and passion he has for everybody in this room,\u201d Judge said after the extension. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re first year in here in big league camp or 15-year vet getting a chance to come over and play for the Yankees, he\u2019s going to make you feel like you\u2019re the most important person in the room. When you do that, it equals a lot of wins when you feel comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For all the goodwill Boone has accumulated with Cashman and owner Hal Steinbrenner, though, the calculus could change if the Yankees miss the playoffs for the second time in three years.<\/p>\n<p>The Bronx Bombers only lead the Guardians by one game for the final AL wild-card spot and poor fundamentals have plagued them as a huge AL East lead has swung into a six-game hole behind the Blue Jays.<\/p>\n<p>For a team with championship aspirations, not making the dance two times in three years when 40 percent of the league makes the playoffs is a tough look.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cYou\u2019re telling me that Boone is a better manager than Terry Francona? Are you freaking crazy?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":89281,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[290,1996,23,26,1729,24,2699,2700,2701],"class_list":["post-89280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","tag-aaron-boone","tag-cincinnati-reds","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-podcasts","tag-sports","tag-sports-entertainment","tag-sports-media","tag-terry-francona"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Chris Russo critiques the Yankees&#039; decision not to hire Terry Francona, implicitly questioning Aaron Boone&#039;s appointment - News 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=89280\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chris Russo critiques the Yankees&#039; decision not to hire Terry Francona, implicitly questioning Aaron Boone&#039;s appointment - News 365\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cYou\u2019re telling me that Boone is a better manager than Terry Francona? 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