Aaron Boone OK with Luke Voit's comments about getting more playing time

Luke Voit’s comments after the Yankees swept the Red Sox in Tuesday’s doubleheader might have come off as a bit jarring.

But manager Aaron Boone indicated Wednesday that he was just fine with the remarks as long as Voit’s focus remains on team wins first and foremost.

"I was top-10 MVP last year and I've been a great player for this organization for the last three years," Voit said in discussing what would come of his playing time — likely significantly less — once Anthony Rizzo returned from the COVID-19 injured list. "I'm not going down. I want to play, obviously. I know it's going to be tougher with Rizzo [returning], but I deserve to play just as much as he does. I led the league in home runs last year and I feel really good again . . . I hope [Boone] can do whatever he can to try to give me some consistent at-bats."

Rizzo was activated Wednesday from the COVID IL and Voit, not at all unexpectedly, was on the bench. Rizzo had a two-out, two-run single in the Yankees' four-run second inning and ended a 5-2 win over the Red Sox by making a difficult grab of an in-between hop on a throw from shortstop Andrew Velazquez.

Voit, in a 6-for-13 stretch with two homers in his last four games, did not play.

Boone, though acknowledging the difficulty of Voit’s situation, also spoke like a manager not the least bit interested in an individual player’s feelings, not with the Yankees in a dogfight for one of the American League playoff spots.

"Luke and I have talked," Boone said before Wednesday night’s game. "The bottom line is, hopefully we continue to get guys back and we remain healthy. The bottom line is Luke’s going to play a big role on this team moving forward. I think you can all kind of look at it and envision him in the lineup a lot . . . where you're moving guys around, giving a guy a day [off] here or there, and Luke factors into that a ton."

Giancarlo Stanton has looked all right in leftfield and rightfield when he’s gotten reps there in recent weeks, meaning Boone could go with an outfield of Stanton in left, Aaron Judge in center and Joey Gallo in right (Gallo also is capable of playing center). If Stanton plays the field, it will open more DH opportunities for Voit, whose inability to stay healthy this season is a big reason the Yankees were in the market for a first baseman.

"I see lots of playing time for a lot of people," Boone said. "[But] this is a point in the season where this is about us, this is about us trying to rack up wins, and I think everyone's on board with that. And we're going to do everything we can to make sure we put ourselves in the best position."

In 2020, Voit led the majors with 22 homers in the COVID-19-shortened 60-game regular season. He wanted to see what his numbers might look like in a full 162-game season, but he hasn’t been healthy, appearing in 39 of the Yankees' 121 games.

"I want all our guys to want to play every day, and I don't necessarily want guys to be happy when they're out of the lineup," Boone said of Voit’s disappointment. "But I'd also say, let this thing play out a little bit and see how it does play out. And hopefully it works out to where we're able to keep guys fresh, we're able to keep guys contributing at a high level and putting them in the best positions to impact our club on a nightly basis."

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.