Despite Calls For Change, Aaron Boone Will Manage The New York Yankees In 2023

In the wake of the New York Yankees capping a tedious 92-win 2021 season with their 6-2 loss in the wild-card game at Fenway Park last year the internet mob and certain voices calling up talk radio wanted someone to be held accountable.

And in most cases since the players cannot necessarily be fired unless a team is willing to absorb the sunken costs of a bloated contract, the person on the firing line was manager Aaron Boone.

A year later after the Yankees saw their season ended with Sunday’s 6-5 loss to Houston in Game 4 of the ALCS, the pattern repeated and perhaps with more vigor.

Shortly after the loss in Boston, Boone was not only retained but also awarded a three-year contract extension with a team option for a fourth season. Assuming he completes the three years and gets the option picked up, Boone will be the manager of the Yankees for nine seasons.

The hypothetical timeline falls in line with the managerial trends of the Yankees since 1991. The Yankees changed managers 18 times from 1973 to 1991, a timeline that included five stints for Billy Martin and two apiece for Bob Lemon and Lou Piniella.

Then they hired Buck Showalter, whose four seasons started the run of winning seasons. After Showalter would not accept the firing of coaches following Edgar Martinez’s series-ending single on Oct. 8, 1995 in the Kingdome, he departed and in came Joe Torre.

Torre lasted 12 seasons, winning four titles and getting six pennants but it ended badly. With the Yankees facing elimination from the ALDS on Oct. 7, his job was considered to be in jeopardy and about two weeks after they were eliminated in four games by Cleveland, Torre was officially ousted despite getting the support of his players, including Mariano Rivera.

“I don’t feel good about it,” Rivera said Oct. 10, 2007 at a postmortem inside the old Yankee locker room at Yankee Stadium. “The kind of person he is and the kind of manager he is, I don’t see why they’re even thinking about it. If you ask me what I will want, I want him back. I’ve been with Joe for so many years.”

About a month after Rivera’s words of support, Joe Girardi came in, offering more of a sense of rigidness but also some tension at times, especially in 2008 as the Yankees played their final season at the Old Yankee Stadium. Eventually Girardi lasted through the 2017 season, but his personality was viewed as deciding factor for not being retained after a surprising run to Game 7 of the ALCS in Houston, which later was revealed to be stealing signs

A little over 15 years later after Torre’s exit, came the news of Hal Steinbrenner telling the Associated Press he intended to keep Boone much to the consternation of large swaths of fans, who booed him at various points through the regular season and postseason and even during a ceremony to honor Paul O’Neill on Aug. 21 — the day after Boone pounded the table in the interview room following a 5-2 loss to Toronto.

While Steinbrenner’s comments emerged Wednesday in Tampa, so did some differing comments by Rivera, who said the following at Sports Forum of the Panamanian Association of Business Executives:

“If I’m the owner Aaron Boone would not stay. When things don’t come out the way we want them to, all of the fault goes on the manager. Somebody has to pay the price and we won’t put that on the players.”

Whether player performance can be blamed on the manager is an age-old debate that goes up there with who is considered the greatest of all time in a given sport. After all, the manager is not taking the at-bats that result in Aaron Judge going 5-for-32 in the postseason following a 62-homer season or Josh Donaldson going 5-for-29, which is a point Derek Jeter noted when speaking to reporters at his Turn 2 Foundation Benefit.

“Sometimes, when you’re in a situation like that, you’re in a no-win situation unless you win. But I like Aaron. I haven’t been around. I had my head down in Miami for 4 1/2 years. I wasn’t paying close attention. But I like Aaron, and, look, he puts them in a position every year to have that chance to win. Ultimately, it comes down to the players, right?”

And in this day and age, it is a strong possibility Boone was not the one deciding to play three different shortstops and an unprecedented four leadoff hitters during a nine-game postseason run.

One thing is certain, based on what Steinbrenner told the Associated Press, Boone will be in the dugout.

And six days after the World Series ends with Houston or Philadelphia as a champion, comes the mission of making sure Judge is a Yankee on Opening Day next season and not elsewhere, notably the San Francisco Giants – who just happen to be the opponent in the season opener.