Yankees pick up option on manager Aaron Boone

Aaron Boone will be the Yankees' manager in 2025.

Beyond that remains a question.

The Yankees had 10 days from the conclusion of the World Series to exercise their club option on Boone for next season and, as was wholly expected, they did, announcing the move on Friday.

No extension, however, was announced for Boone, who just finished his seventh season in the dugout. He led the Yankees  to their first World Series appearance since 2009, the year of the franchise’s last championship.

Unless an extension is done before spring training begins in February, Boone, 51, will enter the 2025 season as a lame duck.

“I am grateful for the trust placed in me to lead this team. It’s a responsibility — and an opportunity — that I will never take lightly,” Boone said Friday in the team’s release making the announcement regarding the option. “It’s a great privilege to show up for work every day and be surrounded by so many determined and talented players, coaches and staff members.

"Starting with the Steinbrenner family, there is a collective commitment to excellence within this organization that is embedded in all that we do. I’m already looking forward to reporting for spring training in Tampa and working tirelessly to return the Yankees to the postseason to compete for a World Championship.”

There was never really any drama regarding Boone’s return in 2025. He is well-liked by the club hierarchy — especially managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner and general manager Brian Cashman — and has been exactly what the higher-ups were looking for when they hired him to replace Joe Girardi after the 2017 season.

That is, someone all-in on the franchise’s universal embrace of all things analytics and sports science, with little pushback from the manager’s chair. Additionally, there was a desire for a master communicator in the clubhouse. Boone has been that, overwhelmingly connecting with the vast majority of his players  (Aaron Judge, most importantly).

"Aaron is a steadying presence in our clubhouse and possesses a profound ability to connect with and foster relationships with his players,” Cashman said in a statement Friday. “Consistently exhibiting these skills in such a demanding and pressurized market is what makes him one of the game’s finest managers. Our work is clearly not done, but as we pursue the ultimate prize in 2025, I am excited to have Aaron back to lead our team."

Though he’s gone the longest of any Yankees manager without a title — seven years — Boone has been successful  despite  never previously coaching or managing before he was hired. He is 603-429 (.584) and has made the postseason six times. Boone, who led the Yankees to the AL East title this season, going an American League-best 94-68, became the third Yankees manager to make the playoffs in six of his first seven seasons with the club, joining Casey Stengel (also six of the first seven) and Joe Torre (each of his first 12). Since 2018, the Yankees have the second-best record in the AL and the fourth-best record in the majors, trailing the Dodgers (656-377), Astros (618-413) and Atlanta (604-427).

“I knew Boone was a great manager. He really is a good manager for all the reasons I’ve talked about in the past,” Steinbrenner said on the field in Cleveland after the Yankees clinched their 41st pennant. “The team wants to play for him, the team’s behind him, and I think this is a testament to that.”