The New York Yankees have extended Aaron Boone's contract, ensuring he'll remain the team's manager through the 2027 season. This decision hardly comes as a surprise, as both sides have claimed over and over again that they wanted to get a deal done as soon as possible.
The New York Yankees today announced that they have signed Manager Aaron Boone to a two-year contract extension through the 2027 season.
— Yankees PR Dept. (@YankeesPR) February 20, 2025
It isn't hard to see why the Yankees were eager to extend Boone. In addition to him being an ideal fit in their clubhouse (in the team's mind, at least), Boone has gone 603-429 in the regular season in seven years as New York's manager and just led the team to its first World Series appearance since 2009.
With that being said, though, the mission statement in the Bronx is abundantly clear: It's World Series or bust every year, and Boone has failed to meet the organization's top goal, whether it's his fault or not. Of course, despite that failure, Brian Cashman extended his contract anyway. By doing so, Cashman is admitting the team's failures are not on Boone — leading one to wonder just whose fault it might be.
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Brian Cashman sets himself up to take blame for Yankees future failures
Yankees fans might feel differently, but the organization is making a statement by extending Boone: They believe he's a manager good enough to win a World Series. It's an implicit admission that, whether they end up succeeding or not, it isn't on Boone. And if it isn't on Boone, it has to be on Cashman.
Eventually, something is going to have to change in the Bronx. The Yankees, a team that expects to win every year, have not won a World Series in 15 years. They have just one AL pennant in that span. Cashman has been running the show for all 15 of those years. Extending Boone must mean Cashman has something to prove.
Cashman, while he's put good rosters together, has not put together a complete enough roster to win it all; the results prove that. Even the 2025 Yankees are a potent roster — perhaps the best in the AL. They are also one without a clear leadoff hitter, without a third baseman, and without a clear second-best hitter to pair with Aaron Judge after losing Juan Soto.
Boone is not blame-free. He's been managing for seven seasons and has not gotten the team over the hump. Even with that, though, the Yankees are making it clear that they believe he's far from the problem. If that's the case, Cashman has to be the one to take the fall if the team continues to fall short, if they're at all serious about living up to their mission statement.