After two weeks of speculation, the New York Yankees are putting a stop to the rumor mill by bringing back manager Aaron Boone for the 2022 season, the team announced Tuesday.
“We have a person and manager in Aaron Boone who possesses the baseball acumen and widespread respect in our clubhouse to continue to guide us forward,” Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner said.
ESPN’s Buster Olney added that Boone’s new deal with the Yankees will be for three years with an option for the 2025 season.
The 48-year-old skipper’s contract was due to expire after the 2021 World Series, which the Yankees fell woefully short of despite the usual sky-high expectations surrounding the club.
Instead of the American League pennant being a cakewalk, the Yankees finished third in the AL East behind the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox before falling in the single-elimination Wild Card Game to the Red Sox on Oct. 5.
The Yankees responded by shaking up its coaching staff. Both hitting coach Marcus Thames and third-base coach Phil Nevin will not be with the club next season.
“As a team and as an organization, we must grow, evolve, and improve. We need to get better,” Steinbrenner said. “Period.”
Boone’s status was very much up in the air despite averaging 98 wins per year over his first four seasons with the club and having the fourth-best winning percentage in franchise history among Yankees managers who were in charge for at least 500 games.
But the Yankees’ postseason results have regressed in each of the last three seasons, losing to the Houston Astros in the ALCS in 2019 before dropping the ALDS in five games to the Tampa Bay Rays the following season. This season, they were only able to experience one game of playoff baseball, but Steinbrenner obviously does not see Boone as part of the problem.
“I know Aaron fully embraces our expectations of success,” Steinbrenner said. “And I look forward to drawing on his intelligence, instincts, and leadership in pursuit of our next World Series championship.”
