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Yankees Rumors: Insiders Would Be 'Stunned' If Cashman Replaces Boone After 2021
July 1, 2021
New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone shouldn't have to worry about job security while general manager Brian Cashman is in charge. It just remains to be seen if the status quo will remain in the front office.
According to SNY's Andy Martino, Cashman doesn't appear ready to move on from Boone despite New York falling to fourth in the American League East and nine games back of the first-place Boston Red Sox.
"In addition to covering the Yankees on a daily basis, SNY spoke this week to five league sources with a feel for the team’s dynamics," Martino wrote. "To put it simply, people around Brian Cashman will be stunned if the GM decides to change managers after this season, even if the Yankees miss the playoffs. But those same people wonder if it will be Cashman’s decision to make."
New York is 41-39 with a minus-three run differential as the All-Star break nears.
Boone's contract with the Yankees ends after this season. The team's managing partner, Hal Steinbrenner, wouldn't commit to the manager returning next year if New York fails to reach the playoffs, telling reporters on a Thursday Zoom call he "can't answer that" with so much of the season left.
“That’s a hypothetical, and these aren’t things I want to contemplate hard on until the season is over,” Steinbrenner said. "But making the playoffs is important, and the reason it’s important is not just because we do it every year and the fans expect it—that’s important—but it’s important because it will show that we have come back, because we ain’t there right now."
Steinbrenner also placed blame on the players for the Yankees' offense ranking 23rd in runs (329), 14th in OPS (.720) and tied for 10th in strikeouts (737). It doesn't help matters that New York has gone 17-24 against the AL East including 0-6 against the Red Sox.
Martino noted Steinbrenner's declaration Thursday leaves room for the team to either overrule Cashman on Boone's future or even bring in a new general manager who would then decide Boone's fate.
The one-time Yankees playoff hero has gone 277-187 as the team's manager since taking over for Joe Girardi in the Bronx, having won the AL East in 2019, but has only advanced to the American League Championship Series once. New York lost to the Houston Astros in six games in 2019.
It doesn't appear likely New York will make a change at manager during the season, but things could always escalate quickly if the Yankees continue to slump.