Sources: Aaron Boone to be named next manager of Yankees

Aaron Boone will be named the next manager of the New York Yankees, sources told ESPN's Buster Olney.

Boone, an ESPN baseball analyst since 2010, has never managed or coached at any level.

The Yankees' decision to replace Joe Girardi ultimately came down to Boone and San Francisco Giants bench coach Hensley "Bam Bam" Meulens.

Along with Boone and Meulens, the Yankees interviewed four other candidates: recently retired outfielder Carlos Beltran, longtime Yankees coach Rob Thomson (who sources say will now join the Phillies as their bench coach), former big league manager Eric Wedge and Dodgers third-base coach Chris Woodward.

Boone, 44, is best known for his Game 7-winning home run in the 2003 American League Championship Series that extended the Boston Red Sox's curse and sent the Yankees to the World Series.

He was a big league third baseman from 1997 to 2009 and was an All-Star in 2003, when New York acquired him from the Cincinnati Reds at the trade deadline. He tore a knee ligament during a pickup basketball game in the offseason after his home run off Boston's Tim Wakefield and was released by New York, which replaced him by acquiring Alex Rodriguez.

Boone said during the interview process that he didn't think his lack of managerial experience would be a deterrent.

"I would say in a way I've been preparing for this job for the last 44 years," Boone said last month.

Boone's father has worked for the Washington Nationals since December 2004 and currently is an assistant general manager.

"He definitely recognizes how much it's changed over the last couple years, five years, 10 years, to where -- especially with analytics these days, it's a different job," Aaron Boone said. "There's a lot to consider, and there's a lot of great information out there that is instilled into the game today. And it's I think now more than ever more of a partnership from front office to manager.

"We are an extension of the front office and a part of the front office," he added, "and how we gather information and get it in the hands of the players is a very important part of the job nowadays."

Speaking earlier Friday, senior vice president and general manager Brian Cashman said he had consulted with Rodriguez about the candidates but said the former Yankee was not one of them.

"I reached out to Alex a number of times, 'Hey, what do you got?' I looked for a lot of guidance from a lot of people that I have a lot of respect for, and Alex knows baseball as well as anybody," Cashman said. "He never expressed interest in any way, shape or form in it. I engaged him, but -- I don't want to speak for him -- but I don't think he has any interest in that position."

Girardi and the Yankees parted ways after he completed the final season of a four-year, $16 million contract in October, his final game a Game 7 ALCS loss to the Houston Astros. Sources told Olney then that Cashman recommended to owner Hal Steinbrenner that the team change managers.

The New York Daily News was first to report Boone's hiring.

ESPN's Andrew Marchand and The Associated Press contributed to this report.