TAMPA, Fla. _ Earlier in the day Dellin Betances said it would be a disappointing season if the Yankees don't win the World Series.
Music to the ears of new manager Aaron Boone.
"He's right about the World Series, it would be a great year," Boone said early Tuesday afternoon in his spring training kickoff news conference. "We understand the expectations and I think one of the things that's exciting to me is to hear some of those comments (from players)."
And so Boone's message when he talks to the team, a much-hyped one that made it to Game 7 of the American League Championship Series and then added Giancarlo Stanton in the offseason, will be simple.
"Embrace that expectation," Boone said. "Expect to go out there and be great. With that comes this kind of attention. We're not going to run from that, we're going to embrace that and we're going to expect to be great."
There are plenty of questions the Yankees must answer in camp _ figuring out who starts at second and third base, naming a fifth starter and settling on some kind of rotation in right and at designated hitter between Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, to name a few _ but the biggest one very well may be about Boone. Though he grew up around the game, both Boone's grandfather and father played and managed in the majors, Aaron Boone has never before managed, or coached for that matter.
"I'm consumed with the job and being great at it," he said. "I want to be somebody that is known as a smart manager that makes solid decisions and is prepared, but also one that when you walk into our clubhouse, hopefully I'm part of what I believe is a winning culture but also a culture where guys are at ease, where guys are allowed to be themselves. When you walk into our room, it's not a stressful place. It's a place where guys are at work but there's a joy coming there to do their job. Hopefully I'm part of creating that atmosphere."
