Aaron Boone is heading into his eighth year managing the New York Yankees after the team exercised his club option for the 2025 campaign. Technically, he’s a lame duck candidate with the season set to begin in a few months.

But the Yankees plan to rectify that relatively soon. Fans were expecting to hear more about it this offseason, and they finally got confirmation from owner Hal Steinbrenner this week.

In his highly publicized interview on YES Network this week, Steinbrenner revealed the Yankees will be speaking with Boone “in the days and weeks to come” regarding a contract extension, which would mark his second such deal with the organization.

Boone signed a three-year deal in 2018 and then another three-year extension in 2021, which included the 2025 option. We know the Yankees prefer to keep longstanding relationships with their managers in the modern era, something Brian Cashman alluded to years ago when he said they had hoped to keep Boone around for a decade. Joe Torre got 12 years and then Joe Girardi got 10. If Boone signs another extension, it could very well take him beyond 10.

Boone is nowhere near the realm of those two. Torre is one of the greatest managers ever. Girardi delivered in 2009 with sky-high expectations and then had to deal with controversy, an aging roster, and a ton of awful spending in 2014. He typically did more with less, but most importantly he held his players accountable.

Torre’s success makes Boone look like an amateur. Girardi’s disciplinarian nature and ability to handle the media dwarf Boone’s abilities in both departments. Yet, Boone somehow has the chance to outlast both of those guys as long as the Yankees’ talent continues to carry them to the postseason?

Will Aaron Boone really outlast Joe Torre, Joe Girardi with Yankees?

We’ll be the first to acknowledge that Boone isn’t the problem with the Yankees, but he’s one of them! We don’t need to dive too deep to determine that, either. Just rewind to Game 1 of the World Series, when he prematurely removed Gerrit Cole and then later inserted Nestor Cortes to face Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman with the bases loaded after the left-hander hadn’t pitched in a month due to an arm injury. That loss completely ruined New York’s chances in a series they ultimately lost in five games.

But the Yankees don’t seem to care about the minutiae regarding Boone that has come back to bite them countless times. After seven years at the helm, Boone still struggles with all of the key tenets of the job. His lineup construction is questionable far too often. His pitching decisions in big moments enrage the fanbase. His incessant backing of his players, despite the need for a more ordered approach when faced with lack of effort and poor performance, is unlike anything fans have ever seen in New York.

None of it matters, though. Not to Steinbrenner. Not to Cashman. Are the Yankees doing just enough to remain competitive? Are the Yankees remaining relevant in the news? Did they technically just get the farthest the franchise has since 2009? All of those answers are “yes.” But in between, they’ve been swiftly surpassed by the Dodgers. They’ve allowed the Mets to get the last word on far too many occasions. The Boston Red Sox and Houston Astros have beaten the Yankees to a pulp over the last seven years. The Yankees have yet to conquer the most daunting obstacles they have faced since Boone took over as manager.

Some of it is on the players, yes. But many would argue the messaging and direction has gone stale, and that’s the only momentous change that could be made in order to witness a tangible shift.