A cat may have nine lives, but Aaron Boone has 10. 

Despite another early playoff exit, and the noise surrounding Boone’s job perhaps reaching an all-time high, the Yankees are bringing their manager back for a 10th season next year, a source confirmed to The Post on Monday. 

If and when baseball is played in 2027, with a lockout looming, it will be the final guaranteed year on Boone’s contract. As if there were not enough already, there will be even more pressure on the 53-year-old baseball lifer to finally get the Yankees over the hump in October, a feat that remained insurmountable this year when they were swept in the ALDS by the AL East champion Rays. 

Yankees manager Aaron Boone #17, laughing on the field before Game 3 against the Rays. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post

Boone has achieved plenty of regular-season success during his tenure (a 790-565 record and three division titles), but he has been unable to parlay that success into a championship, coming closest in 2024 with a trip to the World Series in which the Yankees fell flat against the Dodgers. 

Questions remain about whether Boone can be the manager that gets the Yankees back to the Canyon of Heroes, and what will be different in Year 10 — the same number of years that Joe Girardi got before him (with Joe Torre staying for 12 years before that). 

Yankees manager Aaron Boone (17) argues with a umpire after José Caballero (72) is called out on strikes. Robert Sabo for NY Post

There were some in the organization who thought this past regular season was Boone’s finest as a manager, given that the Yankees were missing three-time MVP Aaron Judge for over half the season, in addition to sizable injury absences for Giancarlo Stanton, Cody Bellinger, Max Fried, Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón and Trent Grisham. 

General manager Brian Cashman, who before Game 3 of the ALDS called Boone “a really good manager,” has an expiring contract but is expected to remain in his post and partner with Boone again in trying to bring home the organization’s 28th World Series championship. They are expected to speak to reporters later this week for the first time since their playoff run ended to chants of “Fire Boone” after Game 3 of the ALDS. 

The Record (Hackensack, N.J.) first reported the news of Boone’s return. 

Boone’s biggest supporters over his tenure have included Hal Steinbrenner, Cashman and, in the clubhouse, Aaron Judge. But on multiple occasions over the past two seasons, the captain notably voiced his frustration with Boone’s comments about his comeback from injuries, which put his manager in the crosshairs and raised questions about them not being on the same page. 

“He puts us in the right position to go out there and succeed, especially a season like this where I’m banged up missing 100 games,” Judge said the night the Yankees were eliminated. “… For him to manage it the way he did and put us in the best position to get into the postseason and get an opportunity to win a World Series, he’s definitely had our back and is the guy.” 

Throughout his tenure, Boone has been known for standing behind his players, sometimes to a fault, as it can sometimes come across to fans as a lack of accountability when they make mistakes. 

“He might take the blame for the way we perform, but at the end of the day, it comes down to us,” Cam Schlittler said after the ALDS. “The expectation needs to be a little bit better.” 

There were also some more practical reasons for the Yankees to stick with Boone, with a lockout looming Dec. 1, when baseball’s current collective bargaining agreement expires. If the Yankees had decided to find a new manager, they might not have been able to finalize one until November, at which point that manager might have had just a few weeks to start getting to know his new players before having to cut off contact starting Dec. 1 until what may be an expedited spring training. 

It remains to be seen whether Boone will be making any changes to his staff. Two of his coaches — pitching coach Matt Blake and director of catching Tanner Swanson — have expiring contracts but are highly regarded and widely expected to return barring promotions.