NEW YORK — Aaron Boone is sticking around after another early playoff exit left New York Yankees fans agitated.
The club is bringing the manager back for the 2027 season, a source confirmed to the New York Daily News on Monday. Boone, 53, is entering the final year of a two-year extension that he signed two spring trainings ago and is owed $5.5 million in what will be his 10th season at the helm.
The Bergen Record’s Pete Caldera first reported Boone’s return.
The expected decision to retain Boone comes with the Yankees less than two weeks removed from getting swept by the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALDS. The embarrassing series featured several mistakes from the Bombers and minimal offense. It also extended their title drought to 17 years, tying their longest stretch since Babe Ruth led baseball’s winningest franchise to its first World Series championship in 1923.
Boone has taken the Yankees to one World Series. That was in 2024, and they lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in a sloppy showing. The Yanks have settled for the American League’s top wild-card spot and been knocked out of the ALDS by a division rival in each of the two years since.
Following this year’s ALDS loss, Boone said that he would like to remain as manager, but that his job status was a conversation for “another day.”
His players, meanwhile, remained steadfast in their longstanding support of a manager with the seventh-most regular season wins in Yankees history — Boone’s 790-565 record only trails the Dodgers’ Dave Roberts among active skippers — but a 27-30 mark in the postseason.
“I think Boonie’s been amazing. I know every guy in this locker room stands behind him. I don’t see a reason why that needs to change,” said Cam Schlittler, the impending AL Cy Young. “He’s someone that is going to put his players first, and I think that’s very important. He’s been great to this team and to the guys in here, and we trust him. There’s not a single day where I haven’t trusted him or a decision he’s made. I have a great relationship with him. I’ll back him up. I hope that I’m playing here for a long time and he’s still the manager. So he might take the blame for the way we perform, but at the end of the day, it comes down to us, and the expectation needs to be a little bit better.”
While the Yankees failed to win the AL East and got bounced in the ALDS again in 2026, Boone had one of his better regular season performances. He successfully navigated a bullpen that required multiple breakouts and heavy workloads, as well as a slew of injuries to his mega-millions roster. Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton totaled just 90 games, while Gerrit Cole, Max Fried and Carlos Rodón only combined for 58 starts.
Ben Rice was the only member of the team’s Opening Day lineup that didn’t go on the IL, yet the Yankees still went 93-68, posting the second-best record in the AL behind the Rays (98-64).
“[Boone] puts us in the right position to go out there and succeed,” said Judge, who missed the playoffs with a calf strain. “Especially a season like this where I’m banged up missing 100 games. You miss Big G, Cole, Rodón. You miss a lot of guys like Trent Grisham and Cody Bellinger, who is an MVP, for a little bit. For him to manage it the way he did and put us in the best position to get into the postseason and get an opportunity to win a World Series, he’s definitely had our back and is the guy.”
Ultimately, the Yankees decided that their longtime manager is still the guy, bucking the wishes of disgruntled fans who chanted “Fire Boone” at the conclusion of the ALDS.
Despite the public thirst for blood, it’s an unsurprising decision, as general manager Brian Cashman gave Boone a vote of confidence before Game 3 of the ALDS, the Yankees’ final game of the postseason. Meanwhile, Hal Steinbrenner would have had to pay two managers for what may not amount to a full 2027 campaign with the threat of a lockout looming. A potential work stoppage would have prohibited a new manager from interacting with Yankees players between the expiration of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement on Dec. 1 and the ratification of a new one, whenever that may be.
It would have been a less-than-ideal situation for a newcomer. Then again, so is a nine-year, championship-less tenure for a franchise that insists every season without one is a failure. Regardless, the Yankees are now set to give Boone a 10th try, matching the amount of time that his predecessor, Joe Girardi, got as skipper.
Girardi, of course, won the Yankees’ last title in 2009, his second year in charge. His predecessor, Joe Torre, won four championships over 12 years. Both saw their contracts through before the Yankees moved on.
While Boone is returning, there is still no official word on Cashman’s status, though he is also expected back. The general manager’s current contract runs through the 2026 season.
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