When the Rangers hired Bret Boone to be their hitting coach earlier this month, Aaron Boone immediately checked the Yankees’ schedule.
The manager did not have to wait long for the Boone Bowl.
The Rangers will arrive in The Bronx on Tuesday, pitting the Boone brothers against each other for the first time since 2005, when Bret’s Mariners beat Aaron’s Indians in a game at Safeco Field.
“It’ll be cool,” Aaron Boone said this weekend. “I’m looking forward to seeing him, just because I don’t see him that much in person throughout the year, so that’ll be good. I’m just excited he’s in a dugout again, I feel like where he should be, and having a chance to impact some people.”
Since retiring from playing for good in 2008, Bret Boone had been a roving instructor and scout for the Athletics from 2014-15, but otherwise had been out of the game — he did host a podcast centered around baseball — before the Rangers hired him on May 5 after firing offensive coordinator Donnie Ecker.
Aaron Boone, in his eighth year as the Yankees’ manager, recently said he had talked “quite a bit” with his older brother (Bret is 56, Aaron 52) since he got the job and that he “seems to be enjoying it,” calling Bret “in his element” in the role.
There will be some extra Boones in attendance for the series, in addition to Aaron’s family — one of Bret’s sons is already in Manhattan working for MLB while another will be coming into town for the series.
Tyler Matzek became a free agent on Monday after declining an outright assignment to the minors following the Yankees designating him for assignment on Friday. The veteran lefty reliever looked like he might be a steal for the Yankees early in spring training as a minor league sign, but after returning from an oblique injury, did not look as sharp in limited action in the big leagues.
The Yankees will insert Ryan Yarbrough back into the rotation on Wednesday after skipping his start over the weekend — taking advantage of an off day last Thursday — so Clarke Schmidt and Max Fried could start against the Mets on normal rest.
Will Warren, Tuesday’s starter, will already be pitching on his sixth day because of another off day Monday, but having Yarbrough go Wednesday will mean that the rest of the Yankees’ starters will also be pitching on their sixth day this turn through the rotation.
“Picking our spots to where we still value that sixth day when we can have it with some guys,” Boone said Sunday. “The way things line up makes sense. And Yarbs has done a great job for us. But to be able to have him in the pen the last couple days, it gave us a little added protection there. But also feel like he really — gosh, he’s pitched so well that he kind of deserves to get in there.
“Over the course of a long season, we don’t want to get in the habit of just, when we have the off days, run our guys automatically on that fifth [day]. So valuing that sixth day every now and then too, especially when they’ve had a couple in a row maybe where they’ve gone on the fifth day.”
