NEW YORK — Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner vowed to keep manager Aaron Boone, general manager Brian Cashman and the core of his team, shaking off a crushing loss to the Los Angeles Angels in which New York wasted a four-run, ninth-inning lead.
Steinbrenner spoke with reporters Thursday, the morning after the 11-8 defeat in which New York scored seven runs in the first inning. The Yankees are 41-39, fourth in the AL East, 8½ games behind first-place Boston.
Steinbrenner, 51, was clear that he does not act like his impulsive late father, George, who ran the Yankees from 1973 to 2008 and changed managers 21 times.
“He certainly did that a lot. I think what people forget is that often times it didn’t help, it didn’t work. And often times, quite frankly, he was criticized for it, right?” Steinbrenner said. “So I’m just a believer in seeing an entire body of work from an employee, irregardless of what department they’re in. And we do that year to year to year and every year.
“Even somebody’s in the middle of a contract, at the end of the year, I’m going to look at their performance and I’m going to make a decision whether to continue with that person or not continue with that person, irregardless of whether or not they’re under contract. And doing it knee-jerk reaction to appease this person or that person in the middle of a year when I really don’t think there’s a problem, that’s certainly is something I’m not going to do.”