 I'm here in St. Petersburg, a couple of floors below me in the Yankee Clubhouse is Aaron Boone, the manager of the New York Yankees, and he joins us now on the show. Aaron, it's Michael, Don and Peter, how are you doing today? I'm good, how are you guys? Doing great. I opened the show saying that some people have told me that D.D. saw the doctors today and that it was good news, he's clear to resume baseball activities. Is that what you're hearing? Yeah, he got good news, cleared to go. He might be down there as we speak actually doing his tee and toss and he'll hit in the cage today. We're not hitting on the field today, but he should be able to get all his work in today and hopefully everything goes well, but yeah, we're feeling very optimistic about where he's at. So this took a turn obviously, and you said for the last couple of days it could be 50-50, so the good 50 ended up being that the shot hit the right spot and there's a good chance he could play Wednesday in the wild card game. Yeah, I mean that's certainly the hope. Again, we got to now get through these days where we really ramp up his baseball activities, but we are feeling like we're moving in a positive direction. So you're two games away or two wins away from clinching home field for that wild card game a week from today, you're healthy. So what left is there to decide, Aaron? Do you know your lineup? Do you know your starting pitch? Are you ready to go or is it still very fluid over the next week? I would say certainly the starting situation is still fluid and stuff that we're kind of having conversations about now, but I wouldn't say we're anywhere close to making that decision. I think first order of business right now is trying to get this thing wrapped up if we can as soon as possible. I mean that's the hope and then hopefully we're in a situation this weekend in Boston where we can now, all right, what do we want to do? Who do we need to get work in as far as how much do we want a guy to throw? Hopefully we're having those kind of conversations and those kind of decisions to make this weekend. But first things first, we want to go out and hopefully grab another one tonight. Is it possible, Aaron, that you could look at the fact that it's still fluid about who's going to start the wild card game as a good thing that you have a lot of choices or can you look at it this way? It's kind of a bad thing that nobody's really separated themselves to make the choice easier for you. I don't know. I look at it as, you know, the three stars would happen, Masa and Sevi that we're considering. I feel like those are all good choices to have and there's very much a possibility that another one of them, one of those three that's not starting that game, becomes a relief option especially in the early innings, you know, if we wanted to piece it together that way. Those are all things that we'll talk about. But no, I look at it more as, you know, we have a good decision in front of us. Now, is it a three-way tie or do you in your mind have a one, two and three that could be influenced over the next week? You know what, I really do not have a one, two, three. And I have no idea as I sit here right now who's going to pitch that game. I think there's a compelling case to kind of go each way you could make. Again, I think a lot of it comes down to what's our situation this weekend? Are we having to, you know, still pitch guys in significant ways to try and wrap up that home field advantage that could factor in? You know, again, hopefully we're in a position to where we can say, all right, this is how we want to go and now we can kind of work our rotation and how many pitches and innings and those kind of things over the weekend with the guys we're considering. Aaron, you said it before that you're not considering it, but boy, Monday was an eye-opener because when you do the bullpenning for a game, you're not just bringing in any kind of relievers. You're bringing in guys, that six guys that could literally close on most teams. So is that even an option on Wednesday? Have you reconsidered that at all because it works so well on Monday? Well, no, I think that's absolutely a consideration. The thing I would say is we're not considering as probably the opener. You know, we would go with, you know, whether it's half, whether it's Tanaka, whether it's Sevi, you know, now the thing you could see in the playoff game is you could see them, I could see them pitching well and not necessarily going deep in the game because, of course, we do have those guys. They'll be rested, they'll be lined up to go. So, I mean, it's conceivable that, you know, we could get two, three, four, five innings out of our starter pitching well and then roll it out. You know, that's certainly one of the options we have and certainly one of the things we would absolutely consider. The other topic of conversation, almost on a daily basis, Aaron, is Gary Sanchez in the past balls. How concerned are you about him in that particular area defensively? It is something that, you know, concerns us and, you know, something that, behind the scenes, we are pouring into to try and limit, eliminate as much as we can. But not, I really think it's important to not get lost in this. And I'm not giving a lift service is if you really break down these games, he's doing a lot of really, really good things behind the plate. Now, you know, one play, two plays here that don't look good in the course of the game are certainly, you know, things that we've got to get better at. He's got to get better at cleaning up. But I think it's important to not get lost just what kind of defensive impact he's had since he's come back, I think, from a game-calling standpoint, from a pitch-framing standpoint, from basically eliminating other teams running games and even their desire to run. So I think the bulk of what he's doing has been real positive. We've got to continue to just pour into and as best we can clean up the little mistakes that happen from time to time. Now, I know everything is fluid. We're talking with Yankee manager Aaron Boone. Can we put it this way, Aaron? Would it be an upset if Gary's not behind the plate on Wednesday? I would say it would be an upset, yeah. How is Glebert Torres today? He's not in the lineup again. He wasn't in the lineup yesterday. Is something to be concerned about? No, he's good. In fact, last night I think he could have played. We just kind of aired on the side of caution and then today I was going to play him and even talking, I spoke with him early in the day and he said he felt really good today and then I just decided when I got here I just decided, man, I think it's best to just give him one more day just because that's something that he's had over the years with that kind of tightness that he gets in there and I just feel like, especially being on the turf here, I just feel like it's kind of wise to get, grab him one more day here and hopefully that really benefits him. Aaron, your first year as a manager, what's the fatigue like mentally at this point in the season and does it feel vastly different than being a player on a team at this point in the season? I would say it's probably different. Fatigue-wise, I wouldn't say I'm fatigued. In fact, this time of year you're pretty energized. It's a grind and obviously this time of year and lots of decisions trying to get guys back and nurse to health, trying to make sure your pitching staff and your relievers are getting the proper work but not overusing them to a degree. So there's a lot on the plate. It's a grind but I would say it's been so enjoyable and I would say I'm still so energized as we get here each and every day because the time of the year when obviously you have a chance to play for something incredibly special. Aaron Hicks, he's not in the lineup again. Is this a concern with the hamstring? No, I think we're in a good spot there. Again, playing it conservatively, got the MRI. There's no grade of strain, which is good news. He just a little bit of tightness in there so we're just being cautious with that again, especially with him being on the turf and stuff. He just walked past me about 10 minutes ago, head down to the cage. He's going to be hitting in the cage today. You probably won't see him tonight or tomorrow but I would expect him back in there probably Friday in Boston as he trends in the right direction too. Aaron, I've been so blown away how good Britain is. To me, he's almost close to the Britain that was perfect with the Orioles a couple of years ago. A, do you feel that way and B, is there any chance that he can close in the playoffs and not Chapman who still is not quite there? Yeah, we're seeing the same thing with Zach. When he got here, we felt like the stuff was in a good place. We felt like he was throwing the ball but again, we just felt like he was kind of playing catch-up and kind of going through in a lot of ways still his spring training and we feel like really over the last, he had that one bump in the road that maybe against the Tigers at home but for the most part over the last seven, eight outings, he's really started to dial in his sights starting to command the ball better and we're seeing that wipe-out thinker. He's throwing some good breaking balls in there and yeah, I could absolutely see him closing out some games and with a Roldus, he's had a couple of good outings in a row where he's been real effective so we'll continue to bring him along accordingly making sure he bounces back all right. He'll certainly be in that mix but I could see Britton closing out some games. I could also see Chappy getting back to that point to where he is an option too but we'll just kind of play that day by day, week by week as we go here. The last time we spoke, Aaron, you said you felt that Gardner was coming around a little bit. Do you still feel that way? I still feel like he's the guy if we're going to make a deep run at this I feel like he's going to play an important role and he has in this series I don't think we should overlook what he's been able to do kind of more going to the bench obviously and then with Hicks going down here for a couple of games pressed into duty, obviously gets a big hit in the first game of the series. A huge catch to really preserve the game with Robbie on the mound there late and then contributed again last night so he's going to play a big role whether it's as a starter, whether it's off the bench you know the defense he plays I still feel like there's a huge role for him to play how that unfolds remains to be seen. A couple of quick things before we let you go know you're busy, you feel good about Judge and Stan Stan looked like he started the ball hard yesterday again. Yeah I feel like John Carlos gained a little bit of traction obviously there was that you know a few weeks where you know really struggling timing wise and just pitch selection wise but I feel like that's been getting better the last few days so hopefully he's moving into that where he can really get rolling again and obviously the timing of that would be good so we're seeing some encouraging signs I feel like the work behind the scenes the conversations behind the scenes he's having with Marcus and PJ have been good so hopefully moving right there and then with Aaron yeah been really pleased I think the at bat quality has been there really since the first at bat coming off the disabled list hasn't hit one out of the ballpark yet but I'm sure that's coming he's been bouncing back well every day I feel like he's moving well in the outfield and the intangible element that he brings to our team is undeniable you know it just you know changes the feel in our dugout the kind of edge he's able to play with I think rubs off on everyone and I feel like he's in a good place and these you know last five games that we have here will be important for him to continue to get those regular at bats and hopefully be in a place where he is really locked in as we head in the next Wednesday and before we let you go you've said before that you have such belief in this team that they could be a beast do you feel going into October now going into the game on Wednesday that this team has positioned itself to have as good a chance to win a championship as anybody else well absolutely I mean well obviously we have a one game situation that makes it a little more tricky but I feel like if we're able to get through that game against a very good Oakland team yeah I feel like when we're right we can we can match up not only match up we can beat anyone in the sport great stuff thank you Aaron we appreciate it alright guys take care