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s future with the Yankees has been a talking point among Yankees fans throughout the season. Hes wrapping up his sixth season as the teams manager and is signed through the 2024 campaign with a club option for the 2025 season. The Yanks have had plenty of regular-season succe s under Boone, including a pair of 100-win seasons (100 and 103) in 2018-19 and a 99-win campaign just last year. However, the 2023 season will be the first under Boone in which the Yankees dont reach the postseason. Theyve gone to the ALCS twice under his leadership but havent advanced to the World Series. A string of five consecutive postseason appearances followed by one mi s generally wouldnt be viewed as grounds for a potential managerial change in most markets, but the Yankees perennially operate on one of the sports largest payrolls and have higher expectations than just about any club in the sport. Add in the po sibility that this could be the teams first sub-.500 season way back in 1992 a stunning statistic in and of itself and the calls for a managerial change among the fan base only become louder. If a change is made, it seems likely itll be the result of a decision directly from ownership. late last month that the only way Boone would be ousted would be if managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner overruled general manager Brian Cashman on a managerial decision which he has not done before. Boone told Yankees beat writers within the past hour that he has not yet been definitively told whether hell return for the 2024 season or not ( ). Any such decision seems unlikely to come prior to the end of the regular season, though Jesus Chirinos Jersey that the club now expects to retain Boone. On the one hand, itd be unfair to lay the blame squarely at Boones feet, as is the case with any manager and a team that underperforms expectations. Boone has been hamstrung by significant injuries to , , , and , among others, on the pitching side of things. Reigning AL MVP spent nearly two months on the injured list this summer, while first baseman s season will finish at 99 games due to concu sion i sues and s season will end at just 55 games due to wrist surgery. The club also entered the season with several question marks around the roster, most notably in left field, where theyve cycled through a carousel of journeyman options including , and . On the other, those injury troubles and some roster shortcomings dont entirely absolve Boone of any and all blame, of course. All managers deal with injuries to star players, and every club has its share of roster imperfections to navigate. Boone is still the one filling out the lineup card and pulling the strings with regard to bullpen and bench decisions. The composition of the teams coaching staff, any sloppy play or questionable effort, and any other number of tougher-to-quantify shortcomings tend to fall at a managers feet as well. The Yankees have only had three managers in the past 28 years. Joe Torre helmed the club from 1996 through 2007, capturing four World Series titles and another pair of AL pennants along the way. Torre gave way to Joe Girardi, who skippered the club from 2008-17. Girardi won a World Series title himself in 2009. Boone made the playoffs in each of his first five seasons on the job but will fall short in 2023. That in and of itself isnt nece sarily grounds for an immediate dismi sal in the Bronx; Girardis Yankees mi sed the playoffs entirely in three of his final five seasons. Boone hasnt advanced to a World Series in any of his six seasons in the managers chair, though his predece sor also mi sed the World Series in his final eight seasons on the job. At the same time, that increasingly lengthy layoff from appearing in a Fall Cla sic surely leads to mounting frustration both among fans and the teams ownership. The lowest payroll the Yankees have had relative to the rest of the league since their last World Series appearance came in 2018, when they opened the season with the sixth-largest mark in baseball. Theyve ranked higher than that every year since 2009 including seven seasons with the games second-largest payroll and four with the largest. That level of investment inherently comes with lofty expectations, and theyre now up to 14 seasons without a World Series appearance let alone a title. Time will tell whether Boone returns for a seventh season at the helm. If he does, with no additional guaranteed years on his contract beyond the 24 season, his job status will be a hot-button i sue for the Yankees throughout the upcoming season (even more so than it is now). Its generally clear where the majority of Yankees fans land on this i sue, but lets open it up for MLBTR readers to weigh in, asking both if the Yankees should move on and whether they actually will (which, of course, are two very different questions): *Will* the Yankees fire manager Aaron Boone? No 57.48% (5,261votes) Yes 42.52% (3,892votes) Total Votes: 9,153 *Should* the Yankees fire manager Aaron Boone? Yes 58.93% (5,016votes) No 41.07% (3,496votes) Total Votes: 8,512 Alec Bettinger Jersey |
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