Report: Yankees Leaning Towards Keeping Manager Aaron Boone
The Aaron Boone era sounds like it will continue beyond the 2021 season for the New York Yankees.
According to ESPN’s Buster Olney, Yankees’ owner Hal Steinbrenner appears to be leaning towards keeping Boone as manager.
"He likes [Boone], and I don't think he blames him for what happened," a source told Olney.
Despite drawing heavy criticism for his in-game decision making, Steinbrenner does not blame Boone for the Yankees’ disappointing season, where they were knocked out of the American League Wild Card Game by their hated rivals in the Boston Red Sox.
Instead, Steinbrenner is directing accountability towards the number of players who underperformed during the 2021 campaign. And the owner does have a point, as names such as DJ LeMahieu, Gleyber Torres and Clint Frazier were all counted on to be three crucial pieces in the Yankees’ lineup this year. However, things didn’t work out that way.
Following the World Series, Boone’s contract is set to expire, which means the Yankees must decide on whether they will re-up or let him walk.
Since taking over as manager in 2018, Boone’s Yankees have gone 328-218 and have averaged 98 wins per season while making the playoffs in all four years he has been at the helm. But the Yankees haven’t won a pennant under Boone, nor have they done so since 2009.
READ: Aaron Boone Could Emerge As Candidate For Padres Manager Job
During Boone’s tenure as manager, the Yankees have been eliminated in the ALDS by the Red Sox, the ALCS by the Houston Astros, the ALDS by the Tampa Bay Rays and then this season’s Wild Card Game in Boston.
As Olney went on to report, if the Yankees let Boone go, he could become a candidate to replace Jayce Tingler who the San Diego Padres recently fired from the managerial chair after an epic second half collapse this past season.
If Boone goes, Olney believes the Yankees will strongly consider Astros bench coach Joe Espada, as a candidate. Espada was New York’s third base and infield coach from 2015-17.
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