The Yankees exercised the 2025 option on Aaron Boone on Friday. This currently means he will be subject to a one-year 'take-it-or-no-take' referendum on his future managerial role. But the truth is, if this is the only measure they're going to take against Boone, it's a bad idea regardless of which side of the Boone spectrum you are on.
The only way Boone's tenure as captain will be more unpleasant than it has been in recent years is if Boone's detractors add “lame duck” to the list of adjectives used to describe him. But that's where we are right now, and we'll be there until the Yankees decide to extend his contract.
There's nothing gray about Aaron Boone, because we don't live in gray times. Except, perhaps, for a few strands that got into his hair during his seven years as Yankees manager. There are almost no neutrals around him. Ask any Yankee fan about Boone, and you're guaranteed not to get an answer like this:
“I haven't really thought about it.”
If you're Mr. Plo Boone, and your humble storyteller has been and always will be, you'd start with the fact that he averaged 95 wins in all six seasons he was captain. . Add in the fact that he went 6-for-7 in his playoff appearance. Perhaps you could mention the steep mountain of a Hall of Fame manager who is trailing Boone's .584 winning percentage so far. Or that he has a high approval rating in his own clubhouse, something that is never a given in professional sports. Is it easy to lead the Yankees to the playoffs? Tell that to Joe Girardi. Remember how he missed them for 40 percent of his amazing 10 years as a manager?
If you're anti-Boone, your first bet should be on Boone's playoff record of 22-23. This goes up to 7 wins and 19 losses if you remove October's AL Central Division games (which seems to be part of Yankee Analytics these days).
There are other signs of the yard. I don't know if Pollyanna's public denunciations of the team were the cause of the Yankees' subpar base running and occasional abnormally low baseball IQ, but the fifth inning of Game 5 was a sign of hope. – Became a diamond. This discussion.
(Editor's note: If you're anti-Boone, you'll be voting “yes” on all of these.)
Most notably, he has never won a championship.
And the Yankees manager always carries that burden. The Yankees have had Hall of Fame managers win titles (Miller Huggins, Joe McCarthy, Casey Stengel, Joe Torre). They had good managers just below that rank who won titles (Ralph Hawk, Billy Martin) and very good managers who won titles (Joe Girardi). They also had some ham-and-eggers who got them to the finish line (Bucky Harris, Bob Lemon).
Until he gets one win, Boone will be locked in the same room as players with names like Buck Showalter, Dick Hauser and Lou Piniella. They were all winning managers who had plenty of success elsewhere, but none of them reached the finish line with the Yankees retention. Commissioner's Trophy.
All three are often remembered fondly, especially Hauser, who struggled with the same issues Boone was dealing with. Although he was strict and demanding behind closed doors, he was mostly amiable and easy-going in public. He never deceived his players, but they felt his wrath personally. Then he made some unfortunate choices in the 1980 ALCS that changed his fortunes.
In Hauser's case, it wasn't many fans who turned against him, but one fan: George Steinbrenner. He fired Hauser, immediately calling it the worst decision of his career and marking the end of a 16-year wait for his next championship.
Even if Hal were as reactionary as the old man, the same karmic fate would not befall his son Hal – for starters, next year will be 16 years since his last title win. He isn't. It's something he's proven frequently over the years, sometimes even boiling in the same cauldron as Boone. This explains the type of patience Boone wants to reward with his first World Series appearance since 2009.
But that's only half the battle. Without a full-boat extension, the groans will be louder in the first four consecutive losses, even louder in the first in-game operation heading south, and will be deafening if there is a crisis in midsummer.
One Boone opponent told me Friday. This doesn't seem like a team you should be trying to give it back, though. [Juan] Soto will go elsewhere, and Boone will once again lead the team in 2023. What is he going to do with it?
It's probably not as sophisticated as the criticism that Boone will go deeper in a lame duck year.
(Unless they start 50-22…oh wait…)
The extension does nothing to quiet his critics, it only puts Steinbrenner in the same kettle as his lieutenants. But at least the gray will wash out a little.
