Aaron Boone will return to manage the Yankees in 2024, owner Hal Steinbrenner said on a Tuesday Zoom call with reporters. Steinbrenner called Boone “a good manager,” while lamenting New York’s failed 2023 season and how it would be addressed this winter.
Among the team’s to-do list, Steinbrenner listed hiring a new hitting coach and “being active” in the offseason. However, he stopped short of discussing Boone’s expiring contract.
And in the end, what we expected to happen did indeed happen. Aaron Boone will stay and at least finish out his contract with the New York Yankees. At worst, he’s a lame duck and Steinbrenner brings in a new face a year from now. At best, the Yankees bounce back in 2024 and Boone signs a new deal.
By the numbers, Steinbrenner made the right decision. The Yankees finishing 82-80 and fourth in the AL East this year was Boone’s worst season. Otherwise, he’s done a good job keeping the team together and fighting to a playoff berth.
Boone is 509-361 in six years as the Yankees’ skipper. He’s twice led the team as far as the ALCS and has two 100-win seasons on his resume. Not bad for someone who had no coaching experience and was just an ESPN TV analyst before taking this job!
The higher-ups in the Yankees’ front office seem to recognize that too. Their endorsement of Boone as well as his overwhelming support from the players made this an easy choice. Aaron Boone isn’t a perfect manager, but he’s the right man for the Yankees at this point.
And even as we considered potential successors, would any of them have done a better job than Boone? Not really. Firing him and bringing in a new face would just be a lateral move.
Instead, we get one more year of Boone and way too much speculation about his next contract.
