As the New York Yankees continue to plummet down the American League standings, more and more fans of the team have been questioning Aaron Boone’s longevity as the Yankees manager. And Chris Russo did just that on Monday, coming short of outright demanding the Yankees part ways with Boone and expressing that the Yankees are clearly settling as long as Boone is calling the shots in New York.

On Monday, Russo appeared on The Show podcast, hosted by Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman of the New York Post. And naturally, Boone’s name came up on a number of occasions throughout the podcast.

When asked to give his assessment of Boone’s time as manager in New York, Russo brought up Boone’s shortcomings in the postseason before declaring that seven current MLB managers better than Boone, some of which were attainable for the Yankees this past offseason.

“Here is what I would say about the Yankees,” said Russo. “(Aaron) Boone has been there eight years, he has won one World Series game. And he won the game when they were down 3-0. That’s a long time as a Yankee manager to win… And let’s face it, the Royals and the Guardians last year were not a gauntlet. They were not getting by the ’78 Red Sox. Let’s be fair when they beat the AL Central. Here is what I’ll say about the Yankees. Rank Boone as a manager.

“He’s not better than (Alex) Cora, not better than (Bruce) Bochy, not better than (Terry) Francona. He’s not better than Dave Roberts, not better than Torey Lovullo, not better than A.J. Hinch. He is probably not better than (Craig) Counsell, although postseason has been spotty. I mean, how do the Yankees have who is the eighth best? I mean, you guys might have him higher than I do. But I think there are eight managers in the sport better than Boone. I mean, I’m not gonna give you (Brian) Snitker because he’s old. But he won a world championship, too. There are a lot of managers in the sport better than Boone.”

“These are the New York Yankees… I know they didn’t want to hire Bochy because then they have to listen to front office and all that nonsense. Francona gets a job again. You are telling me Boone is a better manager than Terry Francona? Are you freaking crazy? How did Francona end up with the Reds? Did the Yankees put a call in to Francona? ‘Hey Terry, we had a bad World Series. Our manager killed us in Game 1.’ He killed them in Game 1, guys. And Francona ends up in Cincinnati? Listen, everybody loves Boone. He’s not a bad manager, but he has been there a long time with one World Series win. In my opinion, there are seven managers in the sport better than Boone. And yet, here he is.”



One could argue that Russo is being a bit hard on Boone. After all, Russo has been comparing Boone to Miller Huggins, who of course won three World Series during his time managing the Yankees nearly a century ago in a far less competitive era of baseball, which isn’t exactly a fair comparison.

But on the other hand, there have been plenty of very valid reasons why Boone has been critiqued extensively by media members this season. Most notably, Boone’s reluctance to move off of Devin Williams as the Yankees closer, despite Williams being in the midst of a career-worst season. That has come back to bite the Yankees on numerous occasions.

Ultimately, Boone just signed a two-year extension this past offseason after reaching the World Series in 2024. So unless there is real urgency shown by Yankees ownership to make a drastic move to shake things up, don’t expect Boone to be let go anytime soon.

But clearly, as long as the Yankees continue to flounder throughout the second half of the 2025 season, Boone’s name will continue to float around the hot seat for the foreseeable future.