Yanks, Boone agree to 3-year contract
Cashman: “A manager is only as good as the players he’s got”
Aaron Boone will be back with the New York Yankees next year, their first manager since Miller Huggins in 1922 to return for a fifth season after failing to win a title during his first four.
“A manager is only as good as the players he’s got,” general manager Brian Cashman said Tuesday after announcing a three-year contract for Boone.
The contract contains a club option for 2025.
“If he was entering the freeagent market, I believe he’d be the number one managerial candidate in baseball,” Cashman said. “There’s a number of different vacancies, and we would be going to market looking for someone like him.”
Cashman and Boone held lengthy end-of-season news conferences, explaining the decision to fire third-base coach Phil Nevin, hitting coach Marcus Thames and assistant hitting coach P.J. Pilittere.
Boone had talked to Nevin about returning and said of getting rid of the trio: “That hurt, honestly.”
“That was one of the things I had to struggle through for a couple days,” Boone said. “That was a tough couple days for me, honestly. I did have to, I guess, do some soul searching.”
A third-generation major leaguer who hit a pennant-winning home run for the Yankees in 2003, Boone led the team to a 328-218 record and four postseason appearances but just one AL East title.
“I think I can help lead us to the top. That’s why I’m here. That’s why I came back,” Boone said. “Ultimately, though, the proof will be in the pudding.”
Cashman revealed he is in the market for a shortstop to replace Gleyber Torres, who was moved to second base on Sept. 13. He also said right-hander Jameson Taillon will have ankle surgery next week and will not be 100 percent when spring training is scheduled to start.
“Bottom line, shortstop is an area of need,” Cashman said. “I think Gleyber is best served at second base.”
More Yankees: INF DJ Lemahieu had sports hernia surgery performed on Oct. 12 by Dr. William C. Meyers in Philadelphia, and an eight-week recovery was projected.
Note: The price of a qualifying offer to Major League Baseball free agents dropped by $500,000 to $18.4 million, a sign of the slide in salaries. The figure is determined by the average of the top 125 major league contracts this year and marks only the second fall. The price fell by $100,000 to $17.8 million in 2019, then rose to $18.9 million in 2020.