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Jorge Castillo
TAMPA, Fla. — The New York Yankees and manager Aaron Boone have agreed on a two-year contract extension that will run through the 2027 season, the team announced Thursday, on the eve of the club’s Grapefruit League opener.
Hired before the 2018 season, Boone is entering his eighth year as Yankees manager. The contract would take him through 10 seasons.
“Thrilled,” Boone, 51, said. “Just excited to kind of knock it out and get that out of the way. There’s no other place I want to be. No other team, organization, group of people I want to be doing this with.”
A 12-year major leaguer and 2003 National League All-Star as a player, Boone is one of three managers in franchise history to lead the Yankees to the postseason in six of his first seven years, alongside Casey Stengel and Joe Torre. His .599 career win percentage ranks 10th all time and second among active managers behind Los Angeles Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts. His 603 career wins rank seventh out of 33 managers on the Yankees’ all-time wins list.
New York has won the American League East division titles three times under his watch. Last season, without a guaranteed contract beyond the year, the franchise rebounded from an 82-win campaign without a playoff berth in 2023 to win the American League pennant for the first time since 2009. A World Series title, however, remains elusive, evoking constant ire from a demanding fanbase.
“I don’t like that we haven’t won a championship yet,” Boone said. “So that bothers me. But I know what I signed up for when I got into this. And we talk about it all the time: I wouldn’t want it any other way. The fact that it matters as much as it does here and that there’s such a high standard and there’s so many expectations, that so much beats the alternative in my view.
“I’m confident in what I’m doing. I feel like I’m pretty good at this. But, also, it’s the humility of sports too that always keeps you grinding, keeps you on your toes.”
Boone was selected to replace Joe Girardi as the 33rd manager in Yankees history before Aaron Judge‘s second full major league season and led the Yankees to consecutive 100-win campaigns. The star outfielder and team captain noted the stability in the managerial role and Boone’s ability to manage different personalities in a clubhouse provide a sturdy foundation for the club.
“We’ve got so many different personalities that come through here and different egos, different guys that have won MVPs, won Cy Youngs, this and that,” Judge said. “To bring us all together, he does such a good job at that.”
Soon after the Yankees fell to the Dodgers in the World Series in October, the organization exercised the club option on Boone’s contract for the 2025 season, and owner Hal Steinbrenner and general manager Brian Cashman communicated their desire to extend Boone’s deal.
Cashman reiterated the franchise’s stance last week, declaring there would be a “feeding frenzy” among other clubs interested in hiring Boone if he were let go. He highlighted Boone’s temperament managing in the New York market as a strength, and signaled an extension was coming.
“I’ve been working through that, and Hal Steinbrenner has been working through that, with Aaron Boone,” Cashman said. “Hopefully at some point, sooner than later we’ll be able to officially cement something, but obviously I haven’t gotten there yet. But just give us time.”
They needed until Thursday to seal the deal before the games started and the pursuit for World Series title No. 28 commenced.
“I think I’m better at this than when I started,” Boone said. “I think I know more, and I think you realize in this game, especially where there’s so much information and there’s constantly new initiatives being pushed and groundbreaking things constantly happening…you really realize you never know as much as you think you do.”