Following Sunday afternoon’s Yankees victory over the Baltimore Orioles, Aaron Boone heaped as much individual adulation on a single player as we’ve seen in recent years, lauding Paul Goldschmidt’s character and work ethic after a late pinch-running appearance.
Boone even seemed to get slightly emotional, choking up as he detailed Goldy’s “humility,” which fueled his max-effort dash from first base to home in order to score the tie-breaking run in what swiftly became a 4-2 victory.
Notably, Boone mixed in “probably going to the All-Star Game” among his accolades for Goldschmidt. Thankfully, he can exert an element of control there if he’d like to, which might be necessary based on Monday afternoon’s voting update.
After the second round of voting, Goldschmidt has fallen behind Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Toronto Blue Jays (no thank you) by just over 74,000 votes. As of now, that would still place Guerrero Jr. and Goldschmidt in a runoff for the starting role, but the Jays’ first baseman appears to have the upper hand.
Aaron Boone wants to send Yankees’ Paul Goldschmidt to the All-Star Game. He’ll need to get voting.
If the voting lands in the Canuck’s direction, the authority then falls on Boone to help make up portions of the rest of the roster as the American League’s manager. By far the simplest way to send Goldschmidt to the All-Star Game is by voting him a starter. Once you open things up beyond that, there are plenty of mouths that must be fed.
The players’ ballot will be used to fill some roster holes. That might net a player like Spencer Torkelson a second look. Underrepresented teams need at least one player in attendance — like Jonathan Aranda of the Tampa Bay Rays, who Boone might have to pencil in against his will.
He’s got some strings to pull, as manager of the club, but he’ll be balancing a few too many plates if Yankees fans slip in the voting process. Certainly, Boone’s Sunday celebration of Goldschmidt hinted that he’ll do everything in his power to send his 37-year-old first baseman to Atlanta.
Fans can make sure he doesn’t have to stress and strain, though. And if they need any extra motivation, just watch him scoring from first on Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s double, fresh off the bench and hardly sulking about it, on repeat.
