Yankees fans aren’t as excited as the team about bringing back Aaron Boone for the 2025 season

The New York Yankees reached the World Series for the first time since 2009, but was defeated in five games by the Los Angeles Dodgers. A lot went wrong for the Yankees, whether it was manager Aaron Boone’s decision to go to Nestor Cortes in the tenth inning of Game 1, to the baserunning errors, to the three errors in the fifth inning of Game 5 that failed a 5-0 lead. Still, the Yankees can say they were just three games away from capturing their 28th World Series title, no matter how weak the American League field was.

With an important offseason ahead of them, culminating in the Juan Soto sweepstakes, the Yankees decided to make a move to increase stability.

The Yankees announced Friday that they are picking up Boone’s club option for the 2025 season. This isn’t necessarily a surprise, but The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner points out that it is these are expected to be discussions about a long-term extension also.

Boone is a polarizing figure in the Yankees fan base. He does have a regular season record (603-429), but his lack of playoff success other than this season’s appearance in the World Series, his positive evaluations after brutal games and his overly defensive attitude in relation to the players, this did not result. made him a universal fan favorite. With that, there were Yankees fans who were not excited about this news.

General manager Brian Cashman himself chose Boone as the Yankees’ manager after they moved on from Joe Girardi after the 2017 season, despite the latter taking the team one win away from the World Series. While Fan may not like his positive attitude after, say, a game of striking out 18 batters, he has led the team to the playoffs in six of the past seven seasons. Not only that, but the team is prioritizing his ability to build relationships with the players and establish the culture in the clubhouse, whether fans agree with the team’s mentality or not.

Look no further than Cashman’s statement following news of Boone’s returnBryan Hoch from h/t MLB.com:

“Aaron is a permanent presence in our clubhouse and has a deep ability to connect and foster relationships with his players. Consistently displaying these skills in such a demanding and pressurized market makes him one of the game’s best managers. Our work is clearly not done yet, but as we pursue the ultimate prize in 2025, I’m excited to have Aaron back to lead our team.”

The first sentence says it all. Boone is loved by the players on the roster, and one player who is his biggest supporter is team captain Aaron Judge. Perhaps most importantly, Cashman and team owner Hal Steinbrenner are fans of his approach. So it’s not necessarily shocking that a long-term contract extension is in the works.

But make no mistake: there will be a lot more pressure on Boone next season. Whether Soto is on the roster or not, expectations are high in 2025. With various members of the Dodgers called out the Yankees’ lack of fundamental valuesBoone needs to make sure that area is completely tightened up, because it did cost them something in the World Series. Can he do that, the question remains.