New York Yankees

Aaron Boone has been manager of the New York Yankees since 2018, and he has yet to deliver the Bronx a World Series title despite boasting a roster that includes All-Star talent in Aaron Judge, Gerrit Cole and others.

While fans of the Pinstripes have been calling for the Yankees to fire Boone since they were eliminated from the 2022 postseason with a loss to the Houston Astros in the American League Championship Series, the 49-year-old claims he's not worried about losing his job.

"As far as the job security, I’ve never worried about that—ever," Boone said, per Larry Fleisher of the Associated Press. "And the reality is last year I signed an extension and so my focus is on putting my steps forward to what’s next."

Boone's comments come after he was asked during an appearance on The Michael Kay Show (via SNY's Garrett Stepien) Thursday if he thought his job was in jeopardy. He responded:

"Well, I don't know. I really don't (worry about that stuff). Obviously, last year, when my contract was up -- obviously, that was speculated on a lot and I didn't even worry about it then. It's like, 'If it works out and we come together and work out a deal, great.' We were able to do that. So I think, finishing this year, I didn't look at it like that. I look at it as, 'I've got a few years left on my contract and the goal doesn't stop.'

"Even though there's the disappointment and the finality of this season, you've also got to pick yourself off the mat and understand that now starts the building toward next year and trying to get to this point and ultimately push through. That's what you continue to work for and that's what you focus on. You don't really worry about the -- I guess the -- job security. You understand that comes with the territory. And you certainly understand that when you sign up in this profession or this role."

Boone agreed to a three-year contact with the Yankees in October 2021, and team owner Hal Steinbrenner told the Associated Press after the Yankees were eliminated from the 2022 postseason that he intended to keep the manager in 2023.

In his five years as Yankees manager, Boone is 427-281. While his team has made the playoffs in each of his five seasons, it has never made it past the ALCS.

The Yankees put together an impressive 2022 campaign, claiming the AL East title with a 99-63 record. They entered the postseason with high hopes to make the World Series, but the bats went dormant and the pitching faltered against an Astros team that is now one win away from winning its first title since 2017.

New York will be championship or bust in 2023, especially if Judge returns on a new contract. If the Yankees fail to make the World Series for the sixth straight year under Boone, then it might be time for them to consider a change in the dugout.

The New York Yankees exercised their $15 million team option on starting pitcher Luis Severino on Monday, keeping him in the Bronx for the 2023 season.

General manager Brian Cashman announced the Yankees would pick up the option while speaking to reporters Friday.

Severino, who is entering his age-29 season, went 7-3 with a 3.18 ERA (1.00 WHIP) and 112 strikeouts in 102 innings in 2022.

He landed on the injured list July 14 with a low-grade right lat strain but returned to the team Sept. 21 and made three starts down the stretch. His best start came Oct. 3 with seven no-hit innings against the Texas Rangers.

The right-hander also made two starts in the postseason. He allowed three runs each in starts against the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Division Series and Houston Astros in the AL Championship Series.

Severino was one of the American League's top aces in 2017 and 2018, finishing third and ninth in the AL Cy Young voting, respectively.

Unfortunately, injuries have kept him off the field for large chunks of time since then.

In 2019 spring training, Severino suffered rotator cuff inflammation. He then missed five months during the 2019 season after being diagnosed with a Grade 2 lat strain.

He did not take part in the 2020 season after Tommy John surgery. Severino sat out the beginning of the 2021 campaign as he continued his recovery, but then a Grade 2 groin strain pushed his comeback to September 2021.

The two-time All-Star returned to the rotation on a full-time basis in 2022 after a four-year absence.

Severino, Gerrit Cole and Nestor Cortes are all expected to be back with the Yankees in 2023. The Bronx Bombers won the AL East with a 99-63 record, but the Astros swept them in the ALCS.

Longtime New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman says he wants to stay with the franchise but does not have a contract.

"I have had a brief conversation with Hal Steinbrenner," Cashman told reporters Friday. "So my contract expired October 31. He said we'll obviously talk and expressed interest in having me back, and of course I'd like to stay. But we have not had any further discussion on that."

Cashman has been the Yankees' general manager since 1998. The franchise has captured four World Series championships during his tenure, though none since 2009.

The Yankees have not reached the Fall Classic since winning that 2009 championship, falling short in the American League Championship Series on five occasions. The Houston Astros toppled the Yankees in the 2017, 2019 and 2022 ALCS, including a four-game sweep last month.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported Cashman is "100 percent" likely to stay with the organization. Steinbrenner told the Associated Press last month the team also plans to retain manager Aaron Boone, who took criticism amid the team's second-half slide and subsequent playoff disappointment.

Assuming Cashman does sign a new contract, he'll walk into the offseason with the task of signing presumptive AL MVP Aaron Judge to a new contract. Judge set an AL record with 62 home runs during his walk year and will almost certainly land a contract worth more than $300 million guaranteed.

Cashman's front office offered Judge a seven-year, $213.5 million contract before the season, which the slugger declined. If he leaves in free agency, that type of flub can cost a general manager his job. But since the Yankees need to make a decision on Cashman well before Judge makes his choice, odds are the GM will be back for at least the 2023 season.

New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge is set to become an unrestricted free agent this winter, and there's a very real possibility he signs elsewhere ahead of the 2023 campaign.

However, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said this week that he hopes Judge spends his entire career in pinstripes, via MLB.com's Bryan Hoch:

“Hopefully we get to the point where he’s back in pinstripes for his entire career, like I believe it should be. You never know where it’s going to end up. If that comes [and Judge leaves], you’ve got to be able to adapt and adjust and find other ways to get things done. We’ll see how it plays out, but, hopefully, it does work out between Aaron [and the Yankees]. He’s going to win MVP, and you couldn’t have a better person leading your organization from a player standpoint.”

The Yankees have been adamant about retaining Judge and making him a competitive contract offer in free agency. Team president Randy Levine said on The Show podcast in September (h/t ESPN):

"We think Aaron Judge is an all-time Yankee. We think he's a great player, beyond a great player. We think he's a great person. That's why we offered him the highest position player contract in the history of the Yankees.

"I admire him that he went out and took this upon his shoulders and we'll sit down with him and hopefully figure it out. I think there's no question we want him back and no question we value him."

Judge declined a seven-year, $213.5 million offer from the Yankees in April, and he admitted at the time that he was disappointed contract negotiations stalled because he wanted to spend his entire career in the Bronx.

"I'm just disappointed because I've been vocal that I want to be a Yankee for life," Judge told reporters.

However, he added that he was comfortable going to free agency:

"Very few people get this opportunity to talk extension. Me getting this opportunity is something special, and I appreciate the Yankees wanting to do that. But I don't mind going into free agency. It is what it is. At the end of this year, I’ll talk to 30 teams. The Yankees will be one of those teams."

Judge deciding to bet on himself during the 2022 campaign paid off more than anyone could have expected, and the star slugger is set to become one of the highest-paid players in baseball after a historic year.

The 30-year-old slashed .311/.425/.686 with 62 home runs, 131 RBI and 16 stolen bases in 157 regular-season games. He set the American League record for the most home runs in a single season, breaking former Yankee Roger Maris' record.

If Judge signs elsewhere, the Yankees organization is going to have a lot of explaining to do.

New York Yankees fans are no stranger to booing players they believe should be performing better, but the booing of Aaron Judge, the team's best player, during the American League Championship Series against the Houston Astros was surprising to many.

Even Astros closer Ryan Pressly told reporters Thursday that players in Houston's bullpen couldn't believe Yankees fans booed Judge during the ALCS.

"I don't understand why you would boo a guy that has given you nothing but joy, especially this year...I was pretty surprised to hear him get booed out there," Pressly said.

The Yankees were swept by the Astros in four games and eliminated from the 2022 postseason at Yankee Stadium. Judge's performance at the dish was heavily scrutinized as he posted just one hit in 16 at-bats.

That came after he posted four hits, including two home runs, in 20 at-bats in five games of the American League Division Series against the Cleveland Guardians.

Although Judge was booed by Yankees fans in Games 3 of the ALCS, he told reporters after the team's Game 3 loss that he understood why fans, who have incredibly high expectations for the Bronx Bombers, were upset:

“There’s a big Game 4 coming up and if we get down, they’ll stick with us and we’ll do our thing. I understand why there is boos and why they’re yelling at times. But we’ve got to pick it up as a team and we’ll take their support, that’s for sure."

However, SNY's Andy Martino reported Thursday that Yankees players were "taken aback by the level of negativity hitting them" during the ALCS, though it's unclear if Judge was one of those players:

"More than one Yankee player has told his agent this week that playing at the stadium last weekend was an unusually brutal experience. It was hard for many teammates to believe that fans booed [Aaron] Judge. Even a difficult person and underperformer like Josh Donaldson was turned into a somewhat sympathetic figure internally by the force of the jeering."

Judge is set to become an unrestricted free agent this winter, and the boos by Yankees fans could have him packing his bags for a new destination come 2023. Though the Yankees know they can't afford to lose the All-Star slugger, they have reiterated that they will make him a competitive offer.

However, it wouldn't be surprising to see Judge sign elsewhere, especially considering he'll likely have his choice of more than a handful of teams to choose from by the time he needs to make a decision.

Aaron Boone will return as the New York Yankees' manager in 2023, team owner Hal Steinbrenner said Wednesday.

"As far as Boone’s concerned, we just signed him and for all the same reasons I listed a year ago, I believe he is a very good manager," Steinbrenner told Mark Didtler of the Associated Press. "I don’t see a change there."

The Yankees re-signed Boone to a three-year contract with a club option for 2025 last year, and Steinbrenner told reporters at the time:

"We have a person and manager in Aaron Boone who possesses the baseball acumen and widespread respect in our clubhouse to continue to guide us forward. As a team and as an organization, we must grow, evolve and improve. We need to get better. Period. I know Aaron fully embraces our expectations of success and I look forward to drawing on his intelligence, instincts and leadership in pursuit of our next World Series championship."

The Yankees hired Boone to replace Joe Girardi as manager after the 2017 season. He's posted a 427-281 regular-season record over five seasons, all of which have ended with Yankees playoff appearances.

However, none of New York's postseason runs under Boone have ended in World Series berths. They went as far as the American League Championship Series on two occasions (2019, 2022) but fell to the Houston Astros each time. Houston notably swept New York in the ALCS this season.

The rival Boston Red Sox ended their postseason runs in 2018 and 2021, while the Tampa Bay Rays did so in 2020.

Boone's teams have largely excelled in the regular season save for the occasional slump.

The Yankees have won two AL East titles under his watch, including this season following a 99-63 campaign. They also won 100 games in 2018 and 103 in 2019.

But the postseason has not gone well for Boone's Yankees. The team has posted just a 14-17 record in the playoffs under Boone, who played in the major leagues from 1997 to 2009 before working as an ESPN analyst from 2010 to 2017.

This year's team failed in the playoffs against Houston largely because of an offense that hit just .162 and had more than twice as many strikeouts (50) as hits (21) in the ALCS.

The Yankees will go back to the drawing board with Boone at the helm for at least one more year.

The New York Yankees were reportedly "taken aback by the level of negativity hitting them" during American League Championship Series home games over the weekend, according to SNY's Andy Martino.

The Yankees were swept in four games by the Houston Astros, leading to a tense environment at Yankee Stadium as New York lost the final two games of the series.

Per that report: "More than one Yankee player has told his agent this week that playing at the stadium last weekend was an unusually brutal experience. It was hard for many teammates to believe that fans booed [Aaron] Judge. Even a difficult person and underperformer like Josh Donaldson was turned into a somewhat sympathetic figure internally by the force of the jeering."

Some consternation was to be expected.

The Yankees returned to New York already trailing 2-0 in the series and promptly dropped Game 3 5-0. The Yankees had also been tested by the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Division Series, needing all five games to eliminate them after trailing two games to one. That came after an August swoon—the team went just 10-18 in the month—likely cost them home-field advantage in the ALCS.

There might have been the brewing feeling that the Yankees were ripe to underachieve in the ALCS, in other words, though the Astros have also been on an absolute tear since May and have yet to lose in these playoffs. Outside of New York, it didn't come as a surprise that the Astros advanced to the World Series, though the sweep was a bit of a twist.

So combine a Yankees fanbase that has incredibly high expectations, has been spoiled by past successes and may have felt like its team was dramatically overmatched, and you get a cauldron for angst.

But that perhaps went haywire when Judge—who had an incredible, MVP-caliber season, blasting an American League-record 62 home runs—was booed by Yankees fans throughout the postseason.

Judge struggled, no doubt, going 5-for-36 with 15 strikeouts in the playoffs and 1-for-16 in the ALCS, and he made the final out in Game 4 against the Astros, a 6-5 loss. But the greater context is that Judge is set to become a free agent, and the Yankees cannot afford to lose him.

He's hardly the only superstar to be booed in New York. But it's hard to imagine he won't at least consider the reception he received at Yankee Stadium in these playoffs when it comes time to make a decision. It has to be a huge concern for the front office with other teams lurking and an enormous payday on the horizon.

After being swept out of the American League Championship Series, the New York Yankees face the possibility of losing outfielder Aaron Judge in free agency.

In a profile from ESPN's Jeff Passan, Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo said the presumptive AL MVP told Rizzo he was "worth more" than what the team offered after general manager Brian Cashman went public with the contract offer in April.

Judge set a deadline of Opening Day to reach an agreement on a long-term deal with the Yankees.

When that didn't happen, Cashman took the unusual step of publicly disclosing that Judge turned down a seven-year extension worth $213.5 million. The deal would have started in 2023.

The Yankees would have combined that extension with a $17 million arbitration salary for 2022, bringing the total value to $230.5 million over eight years. The $28.8 million average annual salary under those terms would have ranked 16th in MLB, sandwiched between Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Chris Sale ($29 million) and New York Mets starter Jacob deGrom ($27.5 million).

Per Jon Heyman of the New York Post, Judge made a counteroffer to the Yankees with a deal for nine or 10 years and $36 million annually. Heyman said a source close to Judge denied the terms of the counterproposal, though.

While some have speculated Judge could sign the richest contract in MLB history this offseason, teams need to take some factors into consideration. He turns 31 on April 26 and missed at least 32 games in each season from 2018 to 2020.

The San Francisco Giants appear to be all-in on signing Judge. Randy Miller of NJ.com reported the National League West club will "spend whatever it takes" to sign the California native.

Rejecting the offer seems like it'll pay off for Judge. He had a historic 2022 campaign in which he set a new AL record with 62 homers and had the highest wRC+ (208) since Barry Bonds in 2004 (233).

Judge has been the face of the Yankees since his rookie season in 2017. He has hit 220 homers with a .977 OPS in 729 career games. New York has made the playoffs in each of his six seasons, but it hasn't advanced past the ALCS.

The Yankees won the AL East this season for the first time since 2019, but they were swept in the ALCS by the Houston Astros.

The New York Yankees aren't planning to make any major changes following their sweep to the Houston Astros in the American League Championship Series.

SNY's Andy Martino reported the Yankees are likely to retain general manager Brian Cashman, whose contract is expiring. And as long as Cashman stays, manager Aaron Boone "is expected to come back, too."

"The only way it seems that this could go sideways for either of them is if fan vitriol becomes so toxic that [team owner Hal] Steinbrenner decides he must initiate a GM change that no one believes he wants to make," Martino reported.

Any season that doesn't end in a World Series triumph is typically considered a disappointment among Yankees fans. Maintaining the status quo may not cut it when the franchise hasn't won a title since 2009. In Boone's case, the absence of a single appearance in the Fall Classic across five years is glaring.

In situations like this, there's always the danger of being a prisoner of the moment.

Cashman is a proven GM with four rings. Since he took over in 1998, the Bronx Bombers have missed the playoffs just four times. The 55-year-old has consistently done well to not only pursue the marquee stars fans are accustomed to seeing in pinstripes, but also developing homegrown talent through the farm system.

In Boone's case, he has guided New York to two 100-win seasons and came one victory of that threshold in 2022. Excluding the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign, the Yankees have won at least 92 games every year under Boone. By comparison, they had four straight 80-win seasons under Joe Girardi before going 91-17 in 2017, his last year in charge.

At the same time, you can make a legitimate case to fire both Cashman and Boone.

The 2022 playoffs exposed how top-heavy the Yankees offense had become. The lineup was heavily dependent on Aaron Judge, and the team was toast with him posting a .490 OPS across the postseason.

Meanwhile, Boone's handling of the bullpen drew criticism for the second playoffs in a row. Using the rival Boston Red Sox as a source of inspiration with your back against the wall is the kind of thing that's bound to get mocked as well.

Maybe Steinbrenner's faith in Cashman and Boone will be repaid next October.

For now, ownership will likely be perceived as feeling satisfied with falling short of a championship as long as it doesn't jeopardize the bottom line.

First baseman Anthony Rizzo wants to see the New York Yankees make a significant commitment to outfielder Aaron Judge in free agency.

According to MLB.com's Bryan Hoch, Rizzo said the following when asked about Judge's future: "I hope it's in a Yankee uniform, for him and for baseball in general. We're seeing people jump ship so much. … The fitting thing would be for him to do a press conference receiving not only the money he deserves, but also the captain title."

Judge is set to hit free agency this offseason after turning in the best season of his career in 2022, which will likely result in an American League MVP.

The 30-year-old Judge earned his fourth career All-Star nod this season and entered the year having already been an AL Rookie of the Year, a two-time Silver Slugger Award winner and a second-place finisher in the AL MVP voting, but he took his game to the next level in 2022.

Judge set new career highs across the board, slashing .311/.425/.686 with 62 home runs, 131 RBI, 133 runs scored, 111 walks and 16 stolen bases.

The 6'7" slugger led the AL in homers, RBI, runs and walks, and he set a new single-season American League home run record, as his 62 surpassed the previous record set by fellow Yankees outfielder Roger Maris in 1961.

With Judge leading the way, the Yankees went 99-63 and won their first AL East title since 2019. They also got past the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Division Series, but they were swept out of the American League Championship Series by the Houston Astros.

Now, there is a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the Yankees for next season and beyond. Aside from Judge's impending free-agent status, it is unclear if manager Aaron Boone and general manager Brian Cashman will be back.

Also, relievers Aroldis Chapman and Zack Britton, starting pitcher Jameson Taillon and outfielder Andrew Benintendi will be free agents, while the team has a club option on starting pitcher Luis Severino and Rizzo has a player option.

Rizzo's comments suggest he would perhaps like to return to New York in 2023, which would be a huge boost for the Yankees after the powerful lefty tied his career high with 32 home runs this season.

Things are perhaps less certain with Judge since the two sides failed to get a new deal done before the 2022 season, and he likely played his way into a far more robust contract.

High-profile sports agent Leigh Steinberg told Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports that Judge could land a 10-year contract worth $500 million in free agency, which would be a new MLB record.

The Yankees also figure to have a ton of competition when it comes to signing Judge, especially from teams in his home state of California, such as the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers.

While paying up would undoubtedly help the Yankees retain Judge, the symbolic gesture of making him captain would perhaps be of interest to Judge as well.

The Yankees have had only 15 captains in club history, and they have not designated a new one since Hall of Fame shortstop Derek Jeter retired after the 2014 season.

Judge has earned the right to be the next Yankees captain, and giving him that distinction along with a hefty, new contract would cement his place in team history.