Aaron Boone isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
The Yankees signed Boone to a two-year contract extension through the 2027 season, the team announced Thursday, ensuring that he will not enter this season as a lame-duck manager.
“Thrilled,” Boone said Thursday afternoon after workouts at Steinbrenner Field. “Just excited we were able to knock it out, get it out of the way. No other place I’d want to be, no other team, organization, group of people I’d want to be doing this with. To get to do it in New York in front of passionate New York Yankee fans, this is the end result I certainly wanted and glad it was able to work out.”
While Hal Steinbrenner has typically shied away from negotiating extensions until a player or manager’s contract expires — as Boone’s was set to after this season — he has made a few exceptions in recent years, including Aaron Judge, Juan Soto and now Boone.
Aaron Boone had been entering the last year of his contract.
After the Yankees fell to the Dodgers in the World Series in October, the Yankees picked up Boone’s option for 2025 and then focused on roster construction during the offseason.
But Steinbrenner had recently said the Yankees would begin talks with Boone, 51, and it did not take long for a deal to get done.
“I love doing it for Hal and this ownership group and the front office,” Boone said. “The people I get to do this with is what it’s all about. … I certainly appreciate my relationship that I’ve developed with Hal over the years. We’ve kind of gone through this together.”
The Yankees had Joe Torre for 12 years and Joe Girardi for 10; if Boone makes it through the end of this contract, he will have managed 10 seasons in The Bronx.
Through his first seven, the Yankees have won three division titles, reached the ALCS four times and averaged 95 wins per season (while going 603-429), though a championship has eluded them.
“I don’t like that we haven’t won a championship yet, so that bothers me,” Boone said. “But I know what I signed up for when I got into this. I wouldn’t want it any other way. The fact that it matters as much as it does here and there’s such a high standard and so much 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 and keeps you on your toes.”
Besides Steinbrenner and general manager Brian Cashman, Boone also has the support of his clubhouse, led by Judge.
Players appreciate his even-keel nature and constant public backing of them through the ups and downs of a season.
“That’s what you need,” Judge said. “He’ll get out there and show his temper a little bit when he needs to, to have our back. But through the long winning streaks to the little stretches during the season where you gotta answer a lot of questions with you guys [reporters], he’s kind of the pillar for us that we go to. We see his interviews, we see what he says, we see him after the games talking with us: ‘Hey, it’s another day, just keep it moving boys.’
Aaron Boone celebrates winning the ALCS.
“When you have a guy like that that you can lean on and he stays even-keel no matter the situation if we’re up and down, that helps us go out there and play our best.”
Judge also credited Boone for creating a strong clubhouse by letting his players be themselves and meshing so many different personalities and egos.
“I think the No. 1 thing is the care and passion he has for everybody in this room,” Judge said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re first year in here in big league camp or 15-year vet getting a chance to come over and play for the Yankees, he’s going to make you feel like you’re the most important person in the room. When you do that, it equals a lot of wins when you feel comfortable.”
