Leadership Is Lost But Ejections Are Plentiful!

We all know that Aaron Boone is a pro at getting tossed out of a game. He’s much better at causing the right kind of shenanigans to get tossed than he is managing a baseball team. It’s what Boone is best at! Bless his little heart…. too bad he just doesn’t have it in him to be a good leader. I wish he was half as good at being a good leader as he is at getting thrown out of a game.

The worst part is, that just spreads. It spreads even faster amongst a team that is in a massive skid that can’t win games. Boone’s talents for getting ejected have spread to his players. It’s no secret that Jazz Chisholm was screwed in Tuesday’s game. Umpire Mark Wegner made a bad call. It’s not surprising anymore, since that is “the norm” in today’s game, but what is surprising is how much rope Wegner gave Chisholm to let him get it out of his system before he was tossed. 

That was ejection number two for Chisholm this season. I get it. And for the record, I don’t disagree I’d rather have Boone get tossed there. But in that scenario, a player can strategically say their peace while at the plate and then maybe have a Paul O’Neill moment in the dugout but then when it’s time to go out to the field you reset and get your head in the game. Even Aaron Judge was trying to calm him down between innings. Instead, Chisholm kept carrying on in the field and then had to mouth off to Wegner and earn his ejection. 

Bad calls are a part of this game (especially in recent years). Expressing frustration in the moment is understandable, but Chisholm let it consume him long after. I’ll even say that Wegner might have fanned the flames by staring at him in the field and causing Chisholm to bark at him. Hell, you can even say Jose Trevino helped spark that tantrum. This is just another example of a lack of fundamentals and leadership. This team is flawed on so many levels and now we see it highlighted when the ball isn’t even in play. What Chisholm did only hurt the team when we are already in a bad slump.

“Everybody knows how I am: If I’m going to go at an umpire, I’m going to go at an umpire,” Chisholm said HERE. “I’m not going to hide it, none of that. If I wanted to say something to him, I would have said it. Nobody’s going to stop me from saying something to an umpire if I want to. I’m a grown man. So for me not even to say nothing to you, and me to ask you why you’re looking at me and you toss me, I feel like there’s a problem.”

He’s a grown man alright, he’s just not acting like it and it’s causing his team (that is already struggling) to suffer the consequences. There is a problem….in this scenario it’s his reaction to a known problem called bad umpiring. That doesn’t mean it’s time to make it worse!

Sorry Jazz, I like you…. but the problem was you. It’s time to pull your head out of your arse and rise above. We need to get back to winning series, and this doesn’t help.