AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: YANKEES VS ASTROS

October 23, 2022

Aaron Boone

Yankee Stadium

New York Yankees

Postgame 4 Press Conference

Houston Astros - 6, New York Yankees - 5

THE MODERATOR: We'll get started with questions for Aaron.

Q. You clearly weren't able to accomplish your ultimate goal. How do you process not only the season coming to an end, but at the hands of the Astros in four?

AARON BOONE: It's an awful day, just an awful ending. It stings. It hurts. No one I would rather do it with than those guys in there and how together they are. So you kind of lean on each other in there. But the ending, as I've said before, it's cruel. So much goes into it and trying to climb to that top of the mountain. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to get there yet, and I know it will continue to motivate everyone in there to try and get there. That's what you work for and don't take for granted the opportunity you have sitting in front of you. But the ending is terrible.

Q. You generally address the team when the season comes to a close. What did you feel like it was important for you to tell them or for them to hear from you?

AARON BOONE: Just grateful to do it with them, acknowledge, unfortunately, many of us have felt this feeling together, that not getting all the way there and having this ending. And it never gets easier. You try to put it in perspective and with, obviously families and health and things like that and real tragedies out there, you try to have that perspective.

But you understand keenly what everyone is feeling right now in that room. So you try and reflect a little bit on it and also hopefully allow it to be another log on the fire that creates that burn and motivation heading into the off-season that you want to be on that stage, you want to be playing for all of it, and you got to keep fighting for it.

Q. The first time you went out to check on Nestor was that the groin and how is he now?

AARON BOONE: I mean, he's all right. He's all right. He actually did it I think in his bullpen in his first start against Cleveland. It wasn't as significant as when he went on the IL earlier in the year, and he actually pitched through it well with that game, and then obviously came back on three days rest and was good, was good today, and then I think he had -- I don't think he was in pain or anything like that. But he just, we noticed all of a sudden the downtick in velocity and more importantly the command, because there's times when he'll drop in velocity and that's not a big red flag. But obviously walking two guys in a row there, unfortunate.

The bullpen came in and was terrific and gave us a chance there. But, yeah, feel bad for Nestor.

Q. To go back to that, so you went out and he just convinced you that he was okay, that he would be able to get through that?

AARON BOONE: Yeah, he said he was fine. So we kind of talked through, I mean, we've been dealing with this on different levels for a couple months. So kind of, yeah, he said he was fine and then obviously wasn't quite fine enough.

Q. Given the result, do you kind of look back on that and maybe wish you had gone with your gut and pulled him there?

AARON BOONE: I mean, we're so up against it there. You know, going out with the trainer, we feel like he's sound, no, I'm not going to just pull him out of the game because he isn't perfect.

So once we felt like he was sound, obviously the homer, you know. But you don't just automatically pull guys in the middle of the second or third inning when you feel like they're sound.

Q. Obviously a sweep doesn't look good at the end. How close do you feel that guys are? And do you have any regrets at all about the postseason?

AARON BOONE: Not close enough. They beat us, and we end up second in the American League. We got to keep working to get better. Obviously we had some key contributors missing that I think would have been difference-makers for us potentially. But then again everyone has to deal with those things on some level. So it's frustrating.

Q. You mentioned having gone through this with a lot of the same guys. Now this end game. Do you think that the group is missing something that could help win at this time of year? Because you essentially are having very similar postseasons, who you're able to beat and who you're not able to beat year after year.

AARON BOONE: I mean, I think we have a lot of the right ingredients in there. I think there were a few really impactful people that weren't able to play in this postseason that would have potentially been a real difference, so I don't want to -- so I do feel like we have a lot of those people in that room. We got thinned out a little bit by injury. Again, everyone's got to deal with that.

But I think there were some significant -- so every year's a little bit different in what exactly you have, where are you from a health standpoint. Those things very much matter. But you're always searching to try and get better and be more complete and be more excellent in every scenario against potentially every opponent.

So, I mean, you're always trying to work to get there and sometimes it lines up better than others, sometimes you're kind of grinding at the finish.

Q. You talked to the end of last season about how important it was for the club to improve and obviously this year was better than last year, but is it disheartening at all to end this way and see the gap still between your club and Houston?

AARON BOONE: Yeah, it's awful. That's what I said. I mean, this is as bad as it gets. Again, though, I mean, because everyone's got to deal with their stuff. I think there were a few really significant pieces in there that weren't healthy players or hurt that maybe it's a different, a little bit of a different story.

But you get back on the horse and try and put yourself in the best position to be successful. The grind of the season sometimes puts you in a great position, sometimes it makes it more challenging. There's attrition that happens throughout the year that you got to deal with. At this point in time right now we got beat by a better team right now and that's the reality of it. They're clearly setting the mark in this league that we're aspiring to get to.

Q. The season began with Aaron Judge talking about his contract. Could you just say how you feel about what his season was like and the possibility that you watched his last game in pinstripes tonight?

AARON BOONE: Incredible. Just an incredible season and someone that I've grown close with and just admire and respect and hopefully we'll see him in pinstripes for a long time. I don't even want to think about the alternative right now.

But he means a lot to a lot of us in that room.

Q. For someone who's performance clearly in the postseason wasn't up to what he and you expect, did he put himself, from what you saw, just the burden of carrying the group? What do you say to him?

AARON BOONE: I don't know. I mean, it's baseball, man. I mean, it happens all the time where the greatest of greats go through a struggle, and a lot of times that's just the timing of -- I say it all the time. It's a game of failure. You're going to have some ups and downs. So I think that's too easy to run to that he felt the burden of carrying. I think he was just a little bit off. I think his timing was a little bit off. And that could be for a number of reasons. In the end it could be it was baseball.