Aaron Boone is going to insist Josh Donaldson still has impact in his bat up until the moment the Yankees release him.

You might remember that Boone kept backing what Aaron Hicks still had inside him up to the moment that Hicks was jettisoned from the roster with about $27 million still owed the outfielder through 2025.

Boone is never going to disrespect a Yankee publicly. His players know that their manager will never embarrass them in the media. It is a core tenet of why he is respected in the clubhouse.

So ignore the words. View Boone’s actions.

He has control of the lineup card, and you might remember that while backing Hicks in words there were many multiple-game stretches in which he did not start the switch-hitter, including two five-game swaths. It played in the moment like a statement from the manager to his bosses to get Hicks off the roster.

There ultimately was a corollary between DNP (did not play) and DFA (designated for assignment).

Now, Boone remains publicly loyal to Donaldson with words about exit velocity. But the deeds scream about wanting a different kind of exit.

Donaldson did not start for a third straight game Sunday. He met with the manager in Boone’s office prior to the finale against the Rangers, and for reporters Boone offered his familiar support and kumbaya about wanting to get Donaldson going.

But how much longer can this experiment extend in search of Donaldson’s lost impact? Perhaps Boone kept Donaldson out of the lineup for the past three games of the homestand because he has ears. He knows that the veteran third baseman is now Public Enemy No. 1 in The Bronx. The home boos that echoed in last year’s playoffs when Donaldson went 5-for-29 with no RBIs and 16 strikeouts are back as harsh as ever.

Hicks had been the worst target previously. You might recall that last season Hicks had a .732 road OPS and a .523 OPS at home. It only worsened this year before his release — Hicks was 1-for-20 at home for the Yankees. The boo baton pass has been essentially Joey Gallo to Hicks to Donaldson.

Donaldson does not have many road games this year because he was out injured. But in 22 plate appearances on the road, Donaldson has a .954 OPS compared to .452 in 49 home plate appearances. His home batting average is .089.

The Yankees have a six-game road trip this week through Oakland and St. Louis — to face last-place clubs that have not pitched well this year. Is this Donaldson’s last stand to show something?

Boone said on Sunday of Donaldson, “I feel like there is a ton in there offensively.”

He cited the exit velocity; Donaldson’s average exit velocity of 91.3 mph was third on the Yankees behind Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. But there is just not enough contact. Not enough impact. It plays as if Donaldson ignores the scoreboard in his at-bats — he is trying to get three “A” swings off in every plate appearance regardless of the score, inning or opposing pitcher.

In this week’s edition of “Got my attention,” here are stats to validate that sense:

He is always an all-or-nothing hitter: Donaldson has eight hits this year, and six are homers.

With two strikes, there are no adjustments. Just helplessness. Donaldson is hitting .113 in 363 plate appearances that have reached two strikes in his two seasons as a Yankee. That is the third-worst in the majors for any hitter with at least 350 plate appearances in such situations. No Yankees fan would be surprised that the worst mark belongs to Gallo at .073.

Here is a stat that is almost hard to fathom: Donaldson has one hit in his past 47 at-bats with a man on base, dating back to last year’s regular season and through last year’s playoffs (0-for-11). The lone hit was a two-run homer off Dodgers reliever Phil Bickford this June 2. It was in the ninth inning with the Yankees down 8-2. With runners in scoring position this year, Donaldson is 0-for-13. He was hitless in six at-bats with runners in scoring position during last year’s postseason with five strikeouts.

Donaldson is a very good defensive third baseman. But so is DJ LeMahieu, who also has struggled this year. However, the Yankees will have greater tolerance with LeMahieu for multiple reasons, including that their commitment to him is longer (through 2026) and LeMahieu has a way better standing in the clubhouse than Donaldson does. Isiah Kiner-Falefa also can handle third base, as could Oswaldo Cabrera. And the question will hover if the Yankees should summon Oswald Peraza at some point to play third.

Donaldson likely will be back in the lineup Tuesday in Oakland. Boone will publicly support him — right up to the moment Hal Steinbrenner decides he can tolerate eating another big chunk of contract, like he did with Hicks.

Watching Zack Wheeler against the Mets on Sunday afternoon is a reminder that he might win the game of “Survivor” among the greatest rotation that never was.

Matt Harvey is retired. Jacob deGrom had his second Tommy John surgery, and will not pitch the rest of this season — even next year is in peril. Steven Matz has fallen out of the Cardinals rotation to the bullpen for a second straight year due to poor performance. And Noah Syndergaard’s lost fastball just has not come back — he had a 7.16 ERA for the Dodgers before going on the injured list with a blister.

Wheeler is in season four of what so far is a terrific Phillies contract: five years at $118 million. He has become a bulldog ace. His last two seasons with the Mets (2018-19) were strong, durable campaigns. But he has hit another gear since joining the Phillies. From 2020 until today, no pitcher has more Baseball Reference Wins Above Replacement than Wheeler’s 16.9 — and second place is Max Scherzer at 14.7. Only Sandy Alcantara, teammate Aaron Nola and Gerrit Cole have thrown more innings than Wheeler has.

So for this week’s “Whose career do you got?” matchup, I thought about a talented starter derailed early by injury who wound up recovering to have a terrific career. I thought of Al Leiter.

From age 21-26 (1987-92), Leiter pitched only 122 1/3 major league innings as a starter and reliever as he battled his health and control. At ages 27-28, Leiter was still trying to figure it out: He was healthier, but not markedly better. And even from ages 29-31, Leiter was healthy and producing good years, but still battling his control.

Still, for the 10 seasons from 1995-2004, Leiter was a durable, excellent starter with a 123 ERA-plus, two All-Star games, a sixth-place and ninth-place Cy Young finish and the reputation of someone who could handle a big game.

From 28 until now midway through his age-33 season, Wheeler has a 125 ERA-plus, one All-Star Game and a second-place and 12th-place finish for the Cy Young. In his first postseason foray last year, Wheeler handled himself well with a 2.78 ERA in six games.

Wheeler has a long way to go to match the length and total accumulation of Leiter’s career. But this is the track he is on.

I was thinking about the NL All-Star ballot and the left side of the infield, in particular, where the best vote might be to abstain.

Third base is lacking, notably because longtime stars Nolan Arenado and Manny Machado are symbols of the disappointing Cardinals and Padres, respectively. Arenado led in the most recently released round of fan voting. He does have 15 homers and 50 RBIs, but his defensive step backward is shocking for a player who has been the NL Gold Glove winner at third in each of his first 10 seasons.

Arenado’s OPS is down from .891 last year, when he finished third for NL MVP, to .786. That is a .105 point drop. Which is not nearly as bad as the player who finished just ahead of him for NL MVP in 2022. Machado had plummeted from .898 to .706 — the .192 drop in OPS is the second-largest in the majors, behind Jose Abreu, for players who had at least 400 plate appearances last year and at least 200 so far this season.

Max Muncy leads NL third basemen in homers, but was hitting .191. Don’t look, Mets fans, but the leader in third base OPS for a player who has played there regularly is San Francisco’s J.D. Davis (.832). The best overall season might belong to Washington’s Jeimar Candelario. The compromise pick might be Atlanta’s Austin Riley, but like Arenado and Machado, he is not having nearly as good a year as he did last season.

Phase 2 of the fan voting began Monday, and the NL third base finalists were Arenado and Riley.

The fun pick that won’t happen: Cincinnati’s Elly De La Cruz, who jammed 10 extra-base hits and eight stolen bases into his first 17 games.

The reason De La Cruz is mostly playing third base rather than shortstop is because fellow Reds rookie Matt McLain has been so terrific. Among NL shortstops with at least 150 plate appearances, McLain’s .922 OPS was best. Arizona’s Gerardo Perdomo was second at .852, and Atlanta’s Orlando Arcia was third at .832.

But where are the “stars”?

Arcia is leading the fan voting after there was real doubt about the Braves letting Dansby Swanson go in free agency to the Cubs. Swanson, by the way, was fourth in NL shortstop OPS at .766, which combined with his elite defense probably should make him the NL starter.

But that is because the only NL shortstops with larger contracts than Swanson’s seven-year, $177 million pact have been disappointments.

Francisco Lindor (10 years, $341 million) has homers (15) and defense, but a .221 average. Philadelphia’s Trea Turner (11 years, $300 million) only recently has hinted at his upside, yet his overall OPS is .692. San Diego’s Xander Bogaerts (11 years, $280 million) has been the opposite of Turner — after a few brilliant weeks to begin the season, Bogaerts’ slash line was .218/.299/.313 in 47 games since April 26.

Arcia and Lindor are the finalists in the fan voting.

The Dodgers completed the weekend with 57 players they signed to their first pro contracts having appeared in the majors this year. That is three more than the second-place Astros. With time, you could forget that the Dodgers drafted Rangers starter Nathan Eovaldi in the 11th round in 2008 and signed Pirates first baseman Carlos Santana out of the Dominican Republic in 2004.

But the homegrown impact on keeping the 2023 Dodgers still in a wild-card spot despite a rash of starting pitching injuries has been huge.

The Dodgers had a plan to lower payroll this season. For luxury-tax purposes, the Dodgers led the majors in payroll in 2021 at $286 million, and last year were at $293 million, second only to the Mets. This year, they are projected to be sixth at around $250 million and probably would have tried to reset their tax bill by getting under the first threshold of $233 million had an arbitrator not reinstated Trevor Bauer and put roughly $22 million of his salary back on the books in 2023, even with the Dodgers cutting him.

The Dodgers decided to step back financially for a few reasons, including:

1. They won 106 and 111 games in the past two seasons, yet failed to make the World Series in either year. They were wondering if they were really gaining any kind of substantial edge for the postseason with the larger payroll and whether they would be better off assembling a roster they still believed could win 95-ish games and with expanded playoffs have basically the same chance in October.

2. They wanted to take the payroll down in 2023 with an eye on potentially trying to sign Shohei Ohtani as a free agent this offseason. That almost certainly will be a salary that is more than $40 million annually and could approach or exceed $50 million.

I certainly have heard so many folks in the game say they believe the Dodgers are anywhere from the front-runner to a lock to sign Ohtani. And I would not bet against the Dodgers. It is just not president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman’s way to go to the top of the market with that kind of risk on a player. Even in going to $365 million for Mookie Betts, the Dodgers spread it over 12 years and lowered the average annual value to just over $30 million.

I believe the starter the Dodgers are privately pining for is Chiba Lotte star Roki Sasaki, who will not even turn 22 until November. But Sasaki is much more likely to be available after the 2024 season than this coming offseason. So maybe the Dodgers will try for both Ohtani and Sasaki.

3. They thought their young players were really good, and it was worth giving them shots to see whether they could provide talent and energy on more contained costs.

The two position players they have inserted, second baseman Miguel Vargas (.678 OPS) and center fielder James Outman (.566 OPS since a blazing April), have yet to provide consistent impact. But they are being saved by young starters,  notably Bobby Miller and most recently two starts by Emmet Sheehan.

The Dodgers knew they would be operating for most (if not all) of this season without ace Walker Buehler, who had Tommy John surgery last August and just began bullpen sessions in the past week. Well-regarded prospect Ryan Pepiot has not pitched this season due to an oblique strain. Julio Urias and Dustin May, who started the Dodgers’ first two games this year, are closing in on six weeks on the IL — though Urias is closing in on a return. Tony Gonsolin and Michael Grove are back after sustained IL stints. Syndergaard has been out nearly three weeks.

The only starter to make it all the way through the season is Clayton Kershaw, who has been brilliant.

But here is something: Of that above group plus Gavin Stone, every one of them except Syndergaard is homegrown. In fact, the only starts made this year by a Dodger who did not sign his first pro contract with the team were 12 by Syndergaard and one start by Brusdar Graterol as an opener.

You know that six-game road trip mentioned above for Donaldson to prove himself and avoid following the Hicks path and ending up released despite having a lot of money owed to him?

Well, when it ends, the Orioles and Hicks come to The Bronx for four games.

And since Hicks joined the Orioles, he has been one of the best players in the majors. Hicks went into the Orioles lineup on May 31, and between then and Sunday ranked 14th in the American League in FanGraphs Wins Above Replacement. His slash line was .292/.387/.554 with four homers, three steals and 10 walks.

His value was even more pronounced because he played center field capably to bridge the nearly four-week absence of star center fielder Cedric Mullins, who returned to the lineup Sunday after recovering from a groin injury.

With Austin Hays and Anthony Santander having terrific seasons flanking Mullins, Hicks probably will get his regular at-bats now as a DH (as he did Sunday), as long as he keeps on hitting.

The silver lining is that the Yankees’ left field situation has improved since Hicks’ departure and also since removing Cabrera from the mix — and at times, the roster. In the 47 Yankees games before Hicks’ release — he started 15 of those games in left field — the Yankees had a combined slash line at that position of .200/.266/.300 with seven homers. Their left field .566 OPS was the worst in the majors by 55 points (the Dodgers were next-worst at .621).

Since then, the combined left field slash line was .245/.288/.475 with 13 homers (third in the majors) and a .763 OPS, which ranked 16th. That was from a combination of Cabrera, Greg Allen, Jake Bauers, Willie Calhoun, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Billy McKinney, who since his June 8 arrival leads the Yankees in homers (4) and OPS (.950).