TAMPA – Aaron Boone is no longer on an expiring deal.
The Yankees announced a two-year extension for the manager on Thursday morning. The deal will keep Boone, 51, in pinstripes through the 2027 season.
The announcement was fully expected, as Yankees general manager Brian Cashman recently said a deal could get done before spring training ends. Team owner Hal Steinbrenner also said to expect such discussions during an interview with the YES Network in late January.
“Our intent is to make sure Aaron Boone is going to continue with the Yankees past the 2025 season,” Cashman said on Feb. 14.
A day later, Boone said there’s “no place I’d rather be.”
Boone led the Yankees to the World Series for the first time in his managerial career last season. The Yankees lost that series, their first Fall Classic appearance since 2009, to the Dodgers in five games. Boone then had a team option for the 2025 season picked up a few days later.
The 2025 campaign will be Boone’s eighth as Yankees manager. He is the seventh-winningest manager in franchise history with a 603-429 record.
Boone has spent his entire life in baseball, as his father, Bob, and grandfather, Ray, were also big leaguers. Boone’s dad managed the Royals from 1995-1997 and the Reds from 2001-2003. A former third baseman, Boone played for Cincinnati from 1997-2003.
A summer 2003 trade sent Boone to the Yankees, and he etched his name in franchise lore when he crushed a walk-off homer in Game 7 of that year’s ALCS.
But Boone and the Yankees weren’t able to win it all that season. Such has been the case throughout his managerial tenure as well, though Boone has taken the Yankees to the playoffs in all but one season, 2023.
Boone has garnered strong support from the Yankees’ clubhouse over the years, but fans have criticized the skipper frequently.
Cashman said such ridicule “comes with the job,” and he believes Boone would have been a hot commodity had he reached free agency.
“The one thing I’m so impressed with is his temperament. There’s a lot of slings and arrows coming our way,” Cashman said. “He’s handled the ups and downs, the successes, the failures, all the same way. And I think that is a strength. That is a benefit.
“I know that if he wasn’t the Yankee manager, it would be a feeding frenzy for him to be a manager that’s coveted elsewhere.”
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