Aaron Boone benches Josh Donaldson for third straight day
The Yankees' Josh Donaldson looks on from the dugout against the Rangers during an MLB game at Yankee Stadium on Friday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Josh Donaldson, who was not in the Yankees’ lineup for the third straight game on Sunday, headed in the direction of manager Aaron Boone’s office shortly after arriving at Yankee Stadium.
Donaldson was carrying his bat — the one Boone wasn’t going to let him use on Sunday.
About 45 minutes later, Boone appeared about a half- hour late for his pregame news conference. The manager said it was because he and “JD were talking. He and I have had a lot of conversations — yesterday, today. We’re on the same page, and I’m not going to get into that much, but it was more just him and I talking and I’m sorry it spilled over, but you have important conversations with guys all the time and this was one that interfered with the [news conference].”
The real news, of course, was not Boone’s uncharacteristic tardiness — the manager often is in his interview chair early, waiting for straggling members of the media to arrive — but that he had decided to bench the struggling Donaldson for three games. Just last Tuesday, general manager Brian Cashman had said, “I’d like to get [Donaldson] some runway here where he gets consistent at-bats and then can get on a roll.”
Boone said sitting Donaldson “was just a tough decision that I was wrestling with kind of all day yesterday.”
After the Yankees’ 5-3 victory over Texas, Donaldson downplayed the significance of the pregame meeting.
“Just a lot of ball talk,” he said. “We talk often, actually. It’s kind of normal for us to have conversations.”
Asked if he was upset to not be in the lineup, Donaldson said: “Obviously, I want to play. That’s not why we were talking . . . It wasn’t as serious as what you guys are trying to make it out to be.”
Donaldson also said he “had no idea” the chat was delaying Boone’s media session.
The Yankees are off on Monday and begin an Oakland-St. Louis road trip on Tuesday. Donaldson, presumably, will be back in the lineup.
“He’s going to play a lot,” Boone said. “I feel like there’s a ton in there for him offensively . . . I just want to get him going because I know he can be a key figure for us.”
Donaldson, 37, is batting .125 with six home runs and eight RBIs in 21 games. The former AL MVP, who has two hits in his last 30 at-bats and four in his last 44, is getting paid $21.75 million this season.
Extra bases
Carlos Rodon allowed one hit and struck out four in four innings for Double-A Somerset in his second rehab start. Rodon threw 48 pitches (36 strikes) vs. New Hampshire . . . Righthanded reliever Ian Hamilton returned from his rehab stint and should be activated during the road trip.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
