Around the Empire: Yankees news - 10/17/22

Sports Illustrated | Matt Martell: Will the second straight Yankees manager lose their job because of a bad decision made in Cleveland during the ALDS? Sports Illustrated’s Matt Martell thinks so. Although he acknowledges that the move not to bring in Clay Holmes may not have entirely been Aaron Boone’s — these decisions are often made in collaboration with a large staff these days — he pins the fact that nobody in the Yankees clubhouse seemed to have an inkling that Holmes was unavailable on the manager. Considering how managers today are valued more for their ability to communicate with the players than their in-game decision-making, I can’t say I disagree with him on this one.

CBS Sports | Mike Axisa: The circumstances surrounding Holmes’ lack of availability, furthermore, are ... strange, to say the least. Talking to reporters immediately after Game 3, Holmes told reporters that he was “ready to go out there and give it everything [he’s] got.” Boone, on the other hand, revealed that he wanted to avoid Holmes because of the shoulder injury that ended his season; he would only be available in an emergency, and apparently, that simply meant extra innings with literally nobody else available.

ESPN: Not all of Boone’s moves the last two days were baffling, however. After Isiah Kiner-Falefa cost the Yankees multiple runs in Game 3 with defensive miscues and an inability to hit, the Yankees finally benched the shortstop, with Boone saying that he felt IKF had been “pressing” in the postseason. Oswaldo Cabrera took over at shortstop, while Aaron Hicks occupied the spot that the rookie vacated.