After Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle tweeted Friday evening that Hensley Meulens is not leaving the Giants to become the New York Yankees manager, all signs seemed to point Aaron Boone as the club’s next skipper.
“I would say in a way I’ve been preparing for this job for the last 44 years,” Boone said following his interview.
Boone’s preparation officially paid off Friday, when Buster Olney of ESPN.com confirmed him as the 35th manager in franchise history Friday. The 44-year-old was one of six candidates to interview for the Yanks’ managerial vacancy. Rob Thomson, Eric Wedge, Carlos Beltran, Chris Woodward, and Meulens were the other five.
The club was reportedly done interviewing candidates on Friday after the six initial interviews. The Bronx search for the next skipper slowly dwindled down to Boone and Meulens. Schulman’s tweet Friday evening indicating that Meulens planned to stay in the Bay Area all but confirmed Boone’s hiring.
The search for a new manager came following the decision of general manager Brian Cashman to fire Joe Girardi on October 26. Girardi led the Yankees to the ALCS in his 10th year as skipper during the final year of his four-year contract worth $16 million.
Despite being one win away from the World Series, Cashman parted ways with Girardi due to a lack of “connectivity” inside the clubhouse.
While connectivity and chemistry appears to be what the Yankees’ brass wanted in a manager, Boone has no managerial experience under his belt. He is best known for his 2003 ALCS heroics, when he belted a Game 7 walk-off home run against Tim Wakefield that would lift the Yanks to the World Series. He most recently served as an analyst for ESPN.
Boone’s inaugural stint as a skipper will see him inherit a young, exciting team that is poised for October baseball for years to come. He will look to bring the most historic organization in baseball its 28th World Series title and first since 2009.
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