Once upon a time this season, the New York Yankees looked like a team on fire. Aaron Judge was putting his best foot forward, and the team looked every bit postseason ready. They made it look like the Toronto Blue Jays and the Boston Red Sox would have to settle for wild-card hopes. But now they have been sinking badly in the American League East for more than six weeks.

Now the picture has flipped, and the Jays are sitting on top of the division, and Boston is second, and the Yankees have slipped behind both. Plus, you can’t forget that deadly hope killer of a game that was the Miami Marlins sweep of the Yankees. Friday’s collapse was brutal, a 6–0 lead that unraveled into a 13-12 loss. Jose Caballero’s miscue opened the door for a late Marlins comeback, and Camilo Doval surrendered the walk-off hit. Saturday was more or less the same and offered no redemption.

Amidst all that chaos, Alex Rodriguez didn’t hold back on criticism of his former team. He pointed out the team’s lack of discipline and urgency. “If any one of us made a mistake, we would be sitting our butt right on the bench,” Rodriguez said. “I see mistake after mistake, and there are no consequences.” It was a bold statement, and it effectively highlighted things that perhaps the fans had been thinking. But not everyone agreed to his assessment.

Former NFL quarterback and now New York radio personality Boomer Esiason was not having it. He fired back at the assessment of the pinstriped team and instead shot the spotlight back at A-Rod again. Esiason said, “I almost laughed at that; it was so funny. I think he forgets just how entitled he was when he played here.” Well, A-Rod and New York simply have a love-hate relationship. On one hand, many want him in the front office, but many just feel the Yankees are better off without his interference. Esiason’s comment, though, hit on something deeper, a tension between the expectation of leadership and the legacy of those critiquing from the outside.

Yankees skipper Aaron Boone, who is already under fire, didn’t dodge the fire that A-Rod lit. When asked his opinion on Rodriguez’s comments, he said, “I would disagree a little bit with the accountability factor. But I understand when it doesn’t happen… that comes with the territory.” However, one thing is for sure: Boone’s time to prove himself in the Bronx is surely being cut short.

Derek Jeter sounds off on the New York Yankees & Boone’s time running out

Derek Jeter is someone who doesn’t toss around criticism lightly, let alone for the New York Yankees. But even he, like A-Rod, was disappointed with the latest sweep. The former captain summed it up bluntly: “They make way too many mistakes.” From the poor baserunning to the defensive errors, Jeter mentioned that those kinds of errors don’t make a championship team.

“And you can’t get away with making that number of mistakes against great teams. It just doesn’t happen.” Jeter highlighted. He talked about the Trent Grisham incident of getting thrown out at home as the latest example. Well, for a franchise that was once leading the MLB scene as disciplined, these breakdowns are hard to watch. Especially for someone like Jeter, who was there during those golden years.

Right now, though, the entire spotlight is on no one other than the one managing the New York Yankees—Aaron Boone. Maybe coaching the Dallas Cowboys or leading Kentucky basketball compares, but the expectations in New York are huge. But twenty-seven championships can do that to a team. And the fact that despite all that history, they have not even won a title since 2009. And this season, they might not make it to the playoffs either.

The Yankees have dropped six of their last ten games and are looking at the wild card race. Sure, for many teams, this phase can be counted as still “in contention.” But this is the Yankees we are talking about. Now, no one expects Aaron Boone to be fired in the mid-season, but if the team crashes out of October, his seat won’t be hot—it will be scorching. Because even with so much talent on the roster, they are simply too sloppy. Boone is proving that he is a “player’s manager,” and that is irking fans, and the boos are becoming louder.

The clock for Aaron Boone to do something to prove his leadership is running out.