4 Aaron Boone replacements the Yankees should have on speed dial

The New York Yankees’ dream postseason has turned into a nightmare almost overnight. Game 3 of the World Series was depressingly more of the same as New York’s offense was silenced again in a 4-2 loss that gives the Los Angeles Dodgers a commanding 3-0 series lead and more or less extinguishes the lights on the Yankees’ title hopes . While the season isn’t technically over yet, most fans are more than ready to turn their attention to what numbers should be a defining offseason.

Juan Soto’s free agency is the $600 million question, but Brian Cashman has at least one more immediate matter to attend to: the future of embattled manager Aaron Boone. It’s unclear if Boone will be back for an eighth season in the Bronx, but after several gaffes in this World Series, it feels like the time to make a change is long overdue. Which begs the question: Who should the Yankees look to as a replacement? Here are three names the team would be crazy not to call.

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This might not be the flashiest name for Cashman to consider, but it would be a prudent one. A former second-round pick by the Yankees back in 2001, Duncan spent three years with the team as a player from 2007 to 2009. After retiring in 2014, he immediately stepped into coaching, bouncing from the Diamondbacks to the Blue Jays to the White Sox. He returned to New York last winter when Cashman named him manager of the team’s Triple-A affiliate in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Duncan’s first season in Scranton was a bumpy one, but he led the RailRiders to an 89-60 record in 2024 while helping develop players like Ben Rice, Everson Pereira and Jorbit Vivas. Duncan knows the organization’s development methods and priorities, and he appears to have a knack for running a clubhouse. He also comes from a pretty impressive background: Duncan’s father, Dave, was among the best pitching coaches in the sport for decades, and he put forth the quality arms that fueled Tony La Russa’s run with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Schumaker fell victim to the Miami Marlins’ jaw-dropping organizational purge, but their loss could be the Yankees’ game. Just last year, Schumaker took home NL Manager of the Year honors for helping an undermanned Marlins roster make it all the way to the postseason, and before that he was seemingly beloved as a bench coach for the Cardinals. Schumaker’s desire to win clashed with Miami’s front office with skin flint, but he wanted no such problems in New York. Perhaps he will sit for a year and see if, for example, St. Louis finds himself looking for a new manager next winter. If he’s interested, though, the Yankees will have to give him the hard sell for his mix of clubhouse presence and analytical conviction.

If Schumaker isn’t the biggest name around right now, Venable is. Reportedly a finalist for openings with both Miami and the Chicago White Sox, his post-playing resume is impressive: Venables began his coaching career as a special assistant to then-Chicago Cubs president Theo Epstein, then served as the Red Sox bench coach before winning a ring as part of Bruce Bochy’s coaching staff with the Texas Rangers in 2023. Venable played his college ball at Princeton, so he’s at least familiar with the tristate area, and like Schumaker, his background is an enticing combination of old-school ( Bochy) ) and new-age (Epstein).

Pipe dream? Sure, but hear me out. Before leading the Philadelphia Phillies to three straight postseason berths and an NL pennant, Thomson was a Yankees stalwart, spending nearly three decades with the organization from 1990 to 2017. He bounced between Minor League manager and front office staff before was called up to serve as Joe Girardi’s bench coach prior to the 2008 season and was an integral part of the last New York team to win a title back in 2009.

Thomson and the Phillies just agreed to a contract extension a few weeks ago, and Dave Dombrowski gave his skipper a vote of confidence heading into this offseason. But things are a bit fraught in Philly right now amid diminishing playoff returns, and Thomson undoubtedly still has plenty of connections with the Yankees from his time there. He speaks their language and clearly his players love playing for him; At least New York has to make him say no.