New York Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner has revealed what could cause him to fire manager Aaron Boone at any point.
“I think one of the most important things for me is he has the respect of the players,” Steinbrenner said about Boone during the latest edition of “The Show with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman” podcast, as shared by Kevin Manahan of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. “They want to play for him and they want to win for him. And if I saw that disappear, then I make a change. And I’ve talked to Aaron about this, and people can say what they want to say about players not wanting to [play for him], that’s just not true. They do want to play for him. They want to win for him. They respect him. I think he’s a good leader of the players. He’s a good communicator.”
Steinbrenner gave Boone a vote of confidence last fall after the Yankees were swept by the Houston Astros in the American League Championship Series. Boone signed a three-year contract that includes a club option for 2025 back in October 2021, and the 50-year-old began Wednesday holding a career managerial record of 452-300 (.601 win percentage) across five-plus seasons. However, he hasn’t yet erased the fact that the Yankees haven’t appeared in a World Series since they won the 2009 Fall Classic.
Steinbrenner re-signed senior vice president and general manager Brian Cashman this past December via a contract that runs through the 2026 season. Under Boone and Cashman, the 2023 Yankees entered Wednesday’s MLB action trailing the first-place Tampa Bay Rays by seven-and-a-half games in the AL East standings.
“I can take any manager and look at a hundred decisions he made during the game and I’m sure there’s a ton I won’t agree with,” Steinbrenner added about Boone. “But he does a good job, just like [Cashman] does.”
For better or for worse, it sounds like Yankees fans are stuck with Boone and Cashman through at least this summer.
