Aaron Boone deserves 10th season with Yankees

NEW YORK -- Aaron Boone will be back for a 10th season as manager of the New York Yankees.  

That’s a good thing because he is coming off his best season as the field boss. One could say that Boone deserves American League Manager of the Year votes. Why? The 2026 Yankees dealt with a lot of injuries and still won 93 games before succumbing to the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Division Series.

This is what Boone had to deal with in 2026: Eighteen players made a total of 24 appearances on the injured list. It started with right fielder Aaron Judge, who missed 93 games because of a fractured right rib and right calf strain. Let’s not forget Giancarlo Stanton missing 135 games with calf injuries.     

While Cam Schlittler was a steady presence on the mound, four of the Yankee starters – Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, Carlos Rodon and Clark Schmidt spent time on the IL. 

With his veterans out of commission for a lengthy period or not producing, Boone relied on much younger players besides Schlittler. It turned out that Ben Rice was New York’s best hitter, hitting a career-high 41 home runs, while shortstop George Lombard Jr. and outfielder Spencer Jones saw significant playing time after the All-Star Break. 

Anthony Volpe seemed more comfortable at second and third base than he did at shortstop. Volpe even went 17-for-51 (.333) with runners in scoring position. Right-hander Will Warren, who spent most of the season in the rotation, was second behind Schlittler in victories (11). 

Boone lucked out with relievers Brent Headrick, Paul Blackburn, John Schreiber and Ryan Yarbrough, who saw a lot of action before closer David Bednar saw the ninth inning. Blackburn was arguably Boone’s best reliever, winning seven games with a 1.59 ERA in 62 games.         

During his tenure with the Yankees, Boone has won 790 games, guided the team to the postseason eight of the last nine seasons and went to the World Series in 2024, only to lose to the Dodgers in five games.

Prior to ‘26, Boone received plenty of criticism because the team never won a World Series title under his watch and relied heavily on analytics. This year, the team was flawed. There were times when small ball had to be in play because the Yankees ranked 26th in the major leagues in hitting and sixth in strikeouts.

New York was near the middle of the pack in defensive runs saved. But it was defense that hurt the Yankees in the ALDS. Who can forget the three errors they committed in the first inning of Game 2, a contest they lost 5-2 and that put them in a 2-0 hole in the series. 

"Look, obviously we dealt with a lot of adversity throughout the year … from the injury front, but guys stepped up all year, and we were able to win a lot of games and give ourselves an opportunity and then just came up short," Boone said after the Yankees were eliminated from postseason play.  

All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.