Aaron Boone sounded like a self-help guru on endless loop. The Yankees manager met each new injury — and at times it felt like one a day — with statements of belief in the replacement and insistence that the goal of winning excellence did not change.
This is standard playbook. No leader is going to recommend panic or publicly state disbelief in the next man up. But Boone’s positivity and steadiness — because they are so central to his temperament — has resonated and helped the Yankees, to date, weather what has been a major league-high in games lost to the IL (471 through Monday) and money lost on the IL ($17 million-ish and counting).