Yankees GM Brian Cashman: Re-signing Aaron Boone is a 'process'

SAN ANTONIO – The endorsement didn’t fall in the category of lukewarm.

Far from it.

But Brian Cashman didn’t say the Yankees picking up Aaron Boone’s option for 2025 to continue as manager was a shoo-in, either.

That still, to be clear, is the way to bet as all indications remain Boone, who just finished his seventh season and led the franchise to its first World Series berth since 2009, has the backing of club hierarchy.

Starting with Cashman.

“I’ll let the whole process be involved,” Cashman said Tuesday at the annual general managers’ meetings. “I’m a big Aaron Boone fan, I think he’s a great manager and I think we’ve been lucky to have him, but obviously we’ll still walk through the process and have the conversations that haven’t been had with the people above me.”

The Yankees have until 10 days after the conclusion of the World Series to exercise the option, in this case Nov. 9.

Those Cashman referenced as being “above” him essentially means two people – managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner and team president Randy Levine. Steinbrenner has been among Boone’s most ardent supporters through the years, telling Newsday on the field after the Yankees won the ALCS in Cleveland: “I knew Boone was a great manager. He really is a good manager for all the reasons I’ve talked about in the past. The team wants to play for him, the team’s behind him, and I think this is a testament to that.”

It is unlikely a World Series loss changed Boone’s standing in the eyes of the owner, though there was plenty of criticism for the decision to go with Nestor Cortes in Game 1 of the Series, a game lost on Freddie Freeman’s walk-off grand slam in the 10th.

“He’s done a great job, but at the same time, it’s a very hard job to do, always,” Cashman said. “And it gets harder in the postseason because, ultimately, whatever you do either works or it doesn't. There’s no gray area.”