The Yankees’ coaching staff will be changing, but the man leading it will not.
Even after another year of coming up short of the franchise’s expectations, with the Yankees getting knocked out in the ALDS, Brian Cashman doubled down on his support of Aaron Boone, who will be coming back for a ninth season next year.
“I think he’s a good manager,” Cashman said Thursday at Yankee Stadium in his end-of-season press conference. “I think he’s one of the better managers. In this environment, if he was out there right now, he’d get a job probably quickly. But I also know, because of our environment, he’s someone that can be second-guessed 10 million times over. I don’t care who you put in that [job], that would be the same whoever else would be there.
“I trust him. I think he’s a good man. I think he works his tail off. I think he’s got good people that help support him. And he’s got good players. With all that, it doesn’t guarantee the outcome we’re all fighting for.”
Boone, who signed a two-year extension before this season that keeps him under contract through 2027, has gone 697-497 during the regular season, but has yet to lead his team to a World Series championship. He said Thursday that “in a lot of ways, I do think I’m much better” than when he started in 2018.
Heading into these playoffs, Boone said he thought this was the best roster he had during his tenure here, but the Yankees still suffered an all-too-familiar ending, getting outplayed by the Blue Jays in the ALDS.
Still, Cashman said that what he cared about from a managerial aspect had to do with the work behind the scenes, which Boone was doing. He reiterated New York being a “pressure cooker” and having to manage personalities through that challenge.
“These managerial jobs are so hard, so difficult,” Cashman said. “So I try to keep it simple: do they have a good process? Are they spending the time to assess the opponent, the scouting reports, the numbers, the players they have and know who’s capable of what at what time? If they do all that work, I feel like you got a good one. He’s had a lot of success in the regular season, he’s had some success in the postseason. There’s a lot of things for him to be proud of.”
But Boone’s staff will once again look different next year.
The Yankees are not bringing back longtime bullpen coach Mike Harkey (who is one of Boone’s closest friends) and infield/first base coach Travis Chapman, while assistant hitting coach Pat Roessler will not return in that role.
They are adding minor league hitting coordinator Jake Hirst, who had MLB offers elsewhere, as an assistant hitting coach. And there could be more changes if hitting coach James Rowson (Twins) or third base/outfield coach Luis Rojas (Orioles) were to get the managerial jobs for which they are interviewing.
Boone indicated that the decisions on Harkey and Chapman, whose contracts were expiring, were made by the organization.
“Those are awful days to go through,” Boone said. “Both guys that I have a ton of respect for, and ultimately the organization needs to make difficult decisions sometimes as you move forward.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
