{"id":463423,"date":"2026-02-12T03:36:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T03:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/463423\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T03:36:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T03:36:08","slug":"aaron-boone-has-disinterested-response-to-isiah-kiner-falefas-yankees-dig","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/463423\/","title":{"rendered":"Aaron Boone has disinterested response to Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s Yankees dig"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAMPA \u2014 Et tu, IKF?<\/p>\n

That was not exactly Aaron Boone\u2019s response to Isiah Kiner-Falefa\u2019s recent dig that the Blue Jays thought the Yankees were a better matchup for them than the Red Sox<\/a> in last year\u2019s ALDS. <\/p>\n

But the manager was not overly interested in getting into a sparring match with his former player, either.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess he was right,\u201d Boone said Wednesday at Steinbrenner Field. \u201cLittle surprising to hear IKF say that<\/a>, but whatever. That\u2019s fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kiner-Falefa, who only started one of the four games in the ALDS for the Blue Jays as they whooped the Yankees, made the revelation Tuesday in his first day as a Red Sox player \u2014 following the lead of new teammates Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras, who also leaned into the rivalry in their first comments in Boston.<\/p>\n

\"YankeesYankees manager Aaron Boone talks to the media as pitchers and catchers report to spring training on Feb. 11, 2026. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n

The Yankees beat the Red Sox in three games in the AL wild-card series, but Kiner-Falefa said the Blue Jays, who had a bye to face the winner of that series, had some rooting interest<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought it was a better matchup for us the other way [to face the Yankees],\u201d Kiner-Falefa told reporters in Fort Myers, Fla., per The Athletic. \u201cWe were watching that [series], and we were watching [Garrett] Crochet just dice up. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think we had just lost two out of three [to Boston], and it put us behind the Yankees or tied us with them for the AL East lead [in late September]. We definitely felt [Boston] was a tougher matchup for us. Once we saw the other team, we were a lot happier. It was definitely a topic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer Yankee and Blue Jay Isiah Kiner-Falefa is now a member of the Red Sox. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Perhaps that should not be much of a surprise, as the Blue Jays had the Yankees\u2019 number during the regular season, especially at Rogers Centre. <\/p>\n

Asked if he was bothered by Kiner-Falefa\u2019s comments, Boone insisted he was not, even if his tone suggested at least a hint of being perturbed.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot really, honestly,\u201d Boone said. \u201cYou got to play who you play. Whatever.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGo beyond the box score with the Bombers\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Yankees by Greg Joyce, exclusively on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Paul Goldschmidt declined to reveal if he had any offers to start at first base with other teams, but said he was happy to be back with the Yankees in what is expected to be a reserve role<\/a> behind first baseman Ben Rice.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, when last year ended, I had such a good time here, I was hoping my time wasn\u2019t done,\u201d said Goldschmidt, who agreed to a one-year, $4 million deal<\/a> that had not yet been made official as of Wednesday. \u201cI think Benny\u2019s definitely going to be planning to be getting the bulk of the playing time over there. I\u2019m definitely fine with whatever role they need me [in]. Whenever I get an opportunity, I\u2019ll be ready to go.<\/p>\n

Boone said he believed that all pitchers, catchers and WBC participants reported as scheduled Wednesday, with position players set to join them Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA \u2014 Et tu, IKF? That was not exactly Aaron Boone\u2019s response to Isiah Kiner-Falefa\u2019s recent dig that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":463424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[1992,92389,363,369,32033,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-463423","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-aaron-boone","9":"tag-isiah-kiner-falefa","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-new-york-yankees","12":"tag-paul-goldschmidt","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}