Yankees' Aaron Judge talks Aaron Boone, comments on change

New York Yankees All-Star slugger and captain Aaron Judge insists he wants manager Aaron Boone to remain with the organization following a disappointing season. 

"I’ve been with Boonie here since 2018," Judge told Randy Miller of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. "I think he’s definitely the right man for the job. He knows his players. He knows how to talk to them. He knows when to push them. He knows when to have those tough conversations. I think it’s just about giving Boonie a good supporting cast, the right type of guys who are going to run through a wall for him." 

Judge offered similar comments about Boone earlier this month before the Yankees were officially eliminated from postseason contention and before Bob Klapisch of NJ Advance Media reported on Wednesday that a source close to team owner Hal Steinbrenner "believes there will be 'massive' changes in the way the Yankees do business in 2024." Klapisch added such changes could possibly cost Boone his job, but MLB insider Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic said on Wednesday that "the Yankees do not seem inclined to" move on from the skipper who guided the club to the playoffs each year from 2018 through 2022.

Boone has a year left on a contract that includes a club option for 2025.

Judge agreed to a nine-year, $360M deal to stay with the Yankees last offseason and was later named the 16th captain in the history of the franchise. He generated headlines this past weekend when he publicly said that "we got a lot to work on, a lot of things to change and a lot of stuff going on around here that needs to be fixed" before spring training opens in February. 

"There are a couple of quick fixes and then there’s some other things that are going to take some tough conversations and some long talks with a lot of people in the room," Judge told Miller. "I won’t get into that right now. I can sit here and talk about it all I want, but it’s about us sitting down and getting it figured out and getting it done. It’s going to take a lot of people. You have a season like this, it opens eyes with some people. You can mask some things by winning. This season puts us in a different light. It’s going to give us a chance to get some things right." 

Steinbrenner reportedly is retaining senior vice president and general manager Brian Cashman, who signed a four-year contract that runs through the 2026 season last December. While Steinbrenner told Mark Didtler of The Associated Press late last month he wanted to hire an outside company "to really take a look at the analytics side (and baseball operations) of what we do," it appears the owner has already decided on Cashman's future. 

It sounds like Judge will recommend to Steinbrenner that Boone also stays put through at least Opening Day 2024.