The Yankees announced Friday that they’ve exercised their 2025 club option on manager Aaron Boone. He’ll return for an eighth season as the club’s skipper next year.
“Aaron is a steadying presence in our clubhouse and possesses a profound ability to connect with and foster relationships with his players,” GM Brian Cashman said in a statement within this morning’s press release. “Consistently exhibiting these skills in such a demanding and pressurized market is what makes him one of the game’s finest managers. Our work is clearly not done, but as we pursue the ultimate prize in 2025, I am excited to have Aaron back to lead our team.”
The 2024 season saw Boone’s Yankees post a 94-68 record en route to their third AL East title in seven years under his watch. It was the fifth time in six 162-game seasons that a Boone-led Yankees squad won at least 92 games. The Yanks also won their first American League pennant under Boone this past season. Of course, the season still ended in heartbreak for the Yankees, who fell 4-1 against the Dodgers in the World Series, squandering a 5-0 lead in large part due to one of the most painful innings in franchise history.
Boone and the Yankees were attempting to become the first club in MLB history to erase a 3-0 World Series deficit. No team who’d fallen behind 3-0 in the World Series had so much as forced a Game 6. The Yankees looked on their way to doing just that with five early runs against the Dodgers and Gerrit Cole on the mound, but they coughed up five runs in the fifth inning following errors by Aaron Judge and Anthony Volpe as well as a defensive lapse that saw first base left uncovered on a grounder to Anthony Rizzo.
Brutal as that one inning was, it won’t sour the organization on the notion that Boone is the right person to steer the ship next year. Whether the two parties discuss an extension remains to be seen. The Yankees allowed Boone to navigate an entire season as a lame-duck skipper in 2021 before re-signing him to a three-year deal that October. As pressure for an elusive World Series trophy continues to mount, it’s at least possible that the Yankees could wait until next offseason before making their decision on whether Boone is right for the job in 2026 and beyond.
“I am grateful for the trust placed in me to lead this team. It’s a responsibility – and an opportunity – that I will never take lightly,” Boone said in his own statement. “It’s a great privilege to show up for work every day and be surrounded by so many determined and talented players, coaches and staff members. Starting with Steinbrenner family, there is a collective commitment to excellence within this organization that is embedded in all that we do. I’m already looking forward to reporting for spring training in Tampa and working tirelessly to return the Yankees to the postseason to compete for a World Championship.”
Under Boone, the Yankees have played at a 603-429 pace. That .584 winning percentage has resulted in postseason berths in six of seven seasons. Much of the Yankees’ 2025 outlook will be dependent on how the offseason plays out. They appear barreling toward a bidding war over Juan Soto and have potential needs at multiple infield spots and in the bullpen as well.
Gimme a minute, popping my corn for this!
>.<
Hahaha came here just for this as well :-)….Annnnddd Go!
Looks like we’re early!!!
Got a good seat, at least!!
No Pointing.
I’ll get the beer!
I don’t think a single Yankees fan thought Boone would be gone. It’s also become clear that he’s far from the biggest problem
Well, looks like my profile pic has to stay for another season….. yuck.
Like Gwynning, here for the comments!
OMG. Huge mistake but an obvious move. Mattingly needed to come back. Steinbrenner is not his Daddy. OMG so much to say but I won’t. I’m still very angry and bitter over WS.
Why are you angry or bitter over the WS.. yankees had no chance over the Dodgers! Yankees had the easiest path to the world series with no real competition.. or you thought yall was going to win 4 straight.. be lucky they wasnt swept!
Biggavelli: I think the Yankees gave the Dodgers big gifts in Games 1 and 5. The Dodgers took advantage of course as good teams do, but I think they were big gifts.
The Yankees absolutely pissed away games 1 and 5. People who say otherwise are clueless
The dodgers hardly faced a gauntlet my friend.
Boone’s a “gut instinct” type of manager. Thankfully, Brian Cashman tells him what his “gut instinct” will be for that particular day the night before the next day’s game.
The theatrics, exaggerations and histrionics of Boone’s near daily game ejections? That’s all Aaron.
Boone isn’t a manager, he’s their pal. He doesn’t ruffle any of the players’s feathers, wouldn’t want to bruise their egos. He will come to their defense for any dumb base-running or defensive shortcomings they are going to have because he doesn’t want the players to get offended. That’s just my assessment of watching Yankees games this year, just my opinion.
It’s his job to take as much of the heat as possible when the players that Cashman gives him to make up the team screw up.
Got to put it on the players who don’t keep their eye on the ball, or run out the play, not Boone.
ESPECIALLY in the BIGGEST game of your year!!!!!!
Yep, and that’s exactly what he was hired to be. We saw him bench Gleyber and things changed. He won’t make public comments disparaging players — he keeps discipline behind closed doors.
Frankly, I don’t pay attention to his interviews, comments, post game anything. I don’t care. I watch the games. He wins a lot. He makes some mistakes. He makes some good calls.
He’s a good manager, not great. But he’s clearly good with the players, and in New York, that shouldn’t be discounted.
@Acoss – You don’t know how he manages behind closed doors. There are plenty of managers that take the heat off of players with the media, and then hold them accountable in private
That’s true, BUT if he does hold them “accountable” then why do they keep repeating the mistakes and getting playing time?
Boony has the big guy backing him in Judge, so it’s a no brainer.
The Big Guy counts for 10%, iirc…
Sorry, I’ll pardon myself outta here!
The owner, the GM, and the players really like him, so he stays. The fan reaction to the decision is immaterial.
Well Boone and Judge have something in common….both of them perform great in the regular season then become liabilities in playoffs.
One of the worst managers in the game. The Yankees should have won the World Series. Boone blew 3 very winable games with his poor decision making. I’m glad that the Yankees kept him
The Dodgers are a better team than the Yankees but the WS shouldn’t have been the clown show it was.
@Joe says… Game 1 debacle set the tone for the entire series
Incoming angry Yankee fans!
*RAISES HAND*
I’m curious why Boone gets so much hate, yet Snitker doesn’t. They’re essentially the same type of manager.
“Gets so much hate”…Ask yourself which one of those managers won a World Series in the last 5 yrs?
Winning a WS tends to buy managers a lot of credibility and they get a complete “pass” from the media for several years afterward.
Despite coming back from a 3-1 ATL NLCS lead, and navigating to a difficult 2020 postseason to win the World Series, Roberts had plenty of fan and media detractors for the last 4 years as the Dodgers exited the postseasons early. It literally wasn’t until the Dodgers won the NLDS against the Padres that the media (and most negative fans) came back on board. With this World Series win, he now gets a pass for a couple of years because the Dodger’s future looks compelling.
People forget that Boone isn’t out on the field playing. I wouldn’t have minded them moving on, but I also have no problem with a one year deal to see if he can get back. I think it comes down to if his owner gets the job done and brings Soto back. If Hal can’t afford Soto, he shouldn’t own the Yankees and should sell to a real billionaire who can afford him.
Soto can go screw himself
I hate greedy players
The problem, imho, is that Boone isn’t on the field managing either… He’s a bench coach with the title of manager.
Pain
No angry Yankees fan here. Have I liked all his in game management? No, but I haven’t with most managers. That’s being a fan.
What I do like is he takes all the heat, he defends his players at all costs, and never have I thought he’s lost the clubhouse because of it.
I like Boone and glad he’s getting another shot.
This team has no accountability for their lackadaisical play and that’s on the manager. But getting rid of Boone would require Cashman to admit he didn’t hire the right guy for the job so Boone has a job as long as he wants.
What did you want him to do exactly?
Either way he got us to the World Series, he wasn’t getting fired this year.
Girardi was not brought back and he was one game short of the WS.
What I expect of Boone is to bench players for lazy play. He only did it with Torres and that had positive results at least in the short term. I expect him to recognize when it’s time to make a change at closer sooner than three weeks after everyone else has recognized it.
One game short vs. World Series is huge honestly.
He treats his players like adults. It’s 2024 and this style of management is more appealing to players hence why he’s a players manager. Giradi did not and he lost them.
He also gives them as much opportunities as possible, again not a bad quality.
And again World Series appearance.
The only thing I’d like to add is that Boone is getting the same, if not MORE, grace than did Joe Torre, who was a four-time WS Champion and had multiple seasons wherein he was within a few games of the WS. Moreover, one of Torre’s most difficult and arduous seasons was Boone’s greatest achievement.
So lameduck status. If they were fully confident in him, Boone would’ve received an extension.
Clearly you can’t fire him after getting to the WS, but they also weren’t happy with his management therein. Makes sense to keep it to one year for now.
The 2003 ALCS game 7 HR still clearly paying off for Boone
boone is a great fit for a fundamentally sound team with locker room enforcers keeping everyone on their toes. in other words, he’s a terrible fit for the yankees
Seemed to do fine last year……
yankees played sloppy throughout the playoffs. they won ugly and reached the world series where boone arguably cost them game 1
The more and more things remain, the more and more they tend to stay the same.
We should see a terrible base running, fundamentally challenged, and horrendous defensive team next year in the Bronx.
God speed with all the Yankees fans in here.
Yeah hopefully he doesn’t lead your team to another world series. That would suck……
Not a yankees fan pal.
Lot of weird entitlement here by Yankees fans. You just went to the world series. Calm down.
how is it weird? no one is disappointed they made the WS they’re upset that managerial blunders and sloppy play (which was an issue the entire season) led them to lose in embarrassing fashion
You don’t fire a manager after he leads your team to a World Series. Common sense. If it was so embarrassing what about the 28 other teams who weren’t good enough to make it that far? Fire them all????
I knew it was coming but im still disappointed
So Aaron won’t go back to running BOONE’S FARM !!
There seems to be some confusion:
Lackadaisical play is NOT on the manager, it’s on the $million/week supposedly PROFESSIONAL players!
Absolute idiocy to blame another grown man for their inadequacies
of course it’s on the manager. he and his coaching staff are responsible for holding players accountable and addressing issues before they become habits. say what you want about girardi his teams always played hard even in years when they were out of it by august
Perhaps but he was a mediocre at best game day manager.
As a Red Sox fan to all the Yankees fans out there…. we know how you feel…. welcome to our misery.
……and I thought the Clown Car was only going to the White House.
I agree with everything that Raz and Das. The first order of business release DJL and unload Stanton his value won’t get higher. Soto should be back as a DH. Judge back to RF and hopefully Dominez in CF. The Yankees need a legitimate lead off hitter. Maybe Durbin? Volpe? Jazz? Definitely no more Torres. Speed kills. The Yankees philosophy of home run or nothing approach needs to change NOW!!! Signing Rizzo instead of Freeman HUGE mistake. Trading for Stanton instead of signing Harper HUGE mistake. I appreciate the Yankees spending money however stop spending on the wrong players. The Yankees need to do a better job at drafting and developing starting pitchers. The fact that the entire staff can’t guarantee 5-6 innings needs to stop as well.
Why?
Hal once again proving he’s no George Steinbrenner…
@Med. Because I said so!!!!
I thought for sure he would be fired. Especially game 1 of the world series. Putting in Nestor Cortez over Tim Hill or even MLJ(Unless he was used already. Can’t remember)
If Hal doesn’t care about winning then tell the World. Yankee fans deserve better. Plain and simple.
I love this move for the Yankees! Aaron Boone is one of the most underrated managers in MLB. He doesn’t get enough credit for the job he, Blake and the rest of the coaches do year in and out. Hopefully in 2025, Boone will bring a World Series championship to the great baseball fans in New York.
Are you related to Boone by any chance?
I’ll bet if you asked the 29 non-Yankee owners or GMs privately if they would trade their current manager for Boone, at least 18 would say ‘yes’.