There have been no talks about an Aaron Boone contract extension, Boone said, and the Yankees manager is not placing public pressure on the organization to offer a longer term deal.
It is possible and maybe likely that Boone, who was a lame duck in 2021 and essentially a lame duck this past season, again will manage the Yankees without any contractual promise that he will return the following season.
According to Boone, he would be OK with that.
“I mean, here I am,” Boone said over Zoom on Monday, when he spoke following the club picking up his 2025 option late last week. “The reality is: There’s tons of people going to work every single day with that existence, where it’s year to year.”
Boone knows this well because he has been among those people.
Hired ahead of the 2018 campaign, Boone played out his first managerial contract, which expired after the 2021 season. He then signed a three-year deal with a club option for 2025.
He managed all of 2024 — which included a World Series appearance but not a championship — without knowing whether he would be back for ’25.
He now knows but has no security beyond next season, which has vexed some managers in the past.
“I’m excited to be back, and we’ll see if there’s any more dialogue that goes on,” said Boone, who has made the postseason in six of seven seasons but not yet won a title.
Last week, general manager Brian Cashman said he is “a big Aaron Boone fan.”
The Yankees dealt with more immediate free-agent talks before addressing Boone’s status, which did not have to be finalized until 10 days after the end of the World Series.
According to Boone, the organization now will deal with more pressing matters — there are in-house contracts that are expiring as well as free-agent business that requires time — before they discuss a long-term pact.
“I know there’s a lot of loose ends to tie up organizationally, so we’ll see what unfolds,” Boone said. “But either way, I’m prepared and ready to go and excited for 2025.”
Will the Yankees have a chance at landing Roki Sasaki, the 23-year-old phenom from Japan who profiles as an ace and will be posted this offseason?
“We’ll see,” Boone said of the right-hander, who will have to be wooed by fit and not by money because he is coming to the majors as an amateur, as when Shohei Ohtani signed with the Angels for $2.3 million.
Boone has not seen the NPB star pitch in person, but has seen video of an arm that throws triple-digit heat and a splitter.
“We know it’s a unique and special talent, a guy with top-of-the-rotation qualities,” Boone said. “Hopefully we’re in the mix with him. But I really haven’t started to have those conversations even with our organization.”
Boone said he was out of the loop on the Gerrit Cole negotiations while he himself was in limbo. Cole, who opted out then essentially opted back in, will be a Yankee through 2028, neither testing free agency nor getting the 2029 season added to his deal.
“I’m definitely excited to have Gerrit back because he leads our rotation in a profound way,” Boone said of the 34-year-old. “I’ve always felt like he is going to be a guy that — I even saw this year — has that ability to evolve as he gets older. He just has that pitchability that’s going to allow him to, I think, thrive for many more years.”
