Aaron Boone’s future with Yankees could hinge on one key factor
The New York Yankees announced multiple changes to their coaching staff on Thursday. However, the organization was notably silent on the future of manager Aaron Boone.
The Yankees will not renew the contracts of hitting coach Marcus Thames and third base coach Phil Nevin, the team announced Thursday. The moves are notable in part because both Nevin and Thames had been elevated to their roles by Boone in 2018.
What does it mean for Boone? That’s not clear. According to Brendan Kuty of NJ.com, the Yankees remain undecided on Boone’s fate. Whether they bring him back or not could depend on whether Boone is willing to accept the Yankees taking away some of his control over coaching hires.
Source: Despite the coaching staff moves today, the Yankees are still undecided (as of this moment) on Aaron Boone's fate. Part of the equation may be whether he wants to stick w/ the coaching staff the Yankees are going to dictate to him.
— Brendan Kuty (@BrendanKutyNJ) October 14, 2021
The Yankees do still seem to have a fairly high opinion of Boone. However, it’s clear they weren’t happy with some of his coaches. In fact, Andy Martino of SNY suggested that some within the organization blamed Nevin’s influence for some of Boone’s more unpopular in-game tactical moves.
There was a sense among some on Yankees organization last yesterday that the Boone in-game moves that were unpopular internally were due to Nevin influence. Now Boone would have different voice in his ear during games.
— Andy Martino (@martinonyc) October 14, 2021
The picture looks pretty clear. The Yankees felt Nevin in particular was a bad influence on the manager. They’ll want to hand-pick someone they can put alongside Boone. Whether Boone is open to that sort of arrangement, especially when he and Nevin were close, could decide his future.
Rumors indicate the Yankees would like to bring back Boone, whose contract will expire at the end of the World Series. Despite that, the situation is clearly very uncertain right now.
