Should Boone, 48, return for a fifth season, it will be the most dramatic alteration of the team’s major-league coaching staff under him. The Yankees went 328-218 under Boone in his first four years, but the past two seasons have been more of a struggle. They finished second in the American League East this season behind the more capable Tampa Bay Rays and reached the playoffs as a wild-card team.
Despite all their spending, the Yankees have not won, let alone reached, a World Series since 2009. The rosters constructed by the front office of late were imperfect and cracks showed as the season progressed. Boone has said that he wants to return but that he recognizes the decision isn’t entirely his own.
“Whatever does happen, I’m at peace with,” Boone said after the Yankees had lost the A.L. wild-card game to the Boston Red Sox, 6-2, on Oct. 5. “I know that I can hold my head high.”