Yankees: Incomplete Finish is the Product of an Incomplete Start...

  

Photo Credit: Ishika Samant/Getty Images

Not addressing the team’s needs last offseason led to disappointing results…

The New York Yankees ended their season nearly three weeks ago, and the time has not done much to heal the wounds of a disappointing season.

The early exit at the hands of the current World Series participant, the Toronto Blue Jays, stung because the Yankees seemingly had the better team on paper. Of course, the best team on paper plus a dime will only get you ten cents. This year’s disappointment began last offseason when the Yankees failed to address third base and went into the season as a flawed team. Just when it looked like the Yankees had learned how to build a dominant bullpen in recent years, 2025 was a mess. Devin Williams looked better late in the year, but he shares significant blame for why the Yankees failed to repeat as the AL East champions. Luke Weaver, who most likely departs the team this offseason as a free agent in search of a starting gig, regressed, going from a lockdown reliever to another replaceable arm. His personality will be missed. David Bednar was the most crucial deadline acquisition, but he could not do it alone.

Photo Credit: Tim Heitman/Imagn Images

The Yankees have a large offseason needs list. They will soon meet to identify their offseason priorities, yet I fear it will be another Winter of ‘stopping short.’ Or worse, they try to run it back with the current roster, albeit with some minor adjustments.

Ryan McMahon was a needed acquisition at the deadline, and his glove helped to bring stability to the position, but the bat, with only occasional pop, is underwhelming. The Yankees should have tried harder to get a stronger overall player for the position last Winter. McMahon will be the third baseman for the near future, which is okay only if the Yankees are fully engaged in the coming weeks to build the best possible roster. McMahon is not the reason the Yankees got bounced early, and he will be a Yankee until 2027 unless the team finds a better option between now and then. I like his glove at third base so long as we do not need to rely on his bat. The phrase ‘offensive production’ can be taken several ways with him, yet he is what he is, and he was an upgrade over the departed DJ LeMahieu or trying to play Jazz Chisholm, Jr. out of position.    

The Yankees need to address their starting rotation. Gerrit Cole’s recovery from Tommy John surgery puts him as a mid-season option. Yet, it takes time to regain full form after Tommy John surgery. Immediate success may not come. We may not see Cole at his best until 2027. Carlos Rodón will not be ready for Opening Day after his recent surgery to remove loose bodies and shave down a bone spur in his left elbow. Clarke Schmidt is recovering from Tommy John surgery and will not be an early 2026 option. There has been some speculation that he will be non-tendered. The decision reminds me of the Yankees’ decision to cut Nathan Eovaldi in a comparable situation and how Eovaldi has been a much better pitcher since. For Opening Day 2026, the Yankees have Max Fried, Cam Schlittler, and Will Warren. Luis Gil will also be available, but in the long term, he seems better suited for the bullpen despite his starting success in 2024. Warren is “just that dude” at the back end of the rotation. Not expecting much from him other than to keep the Yankees in games.

We can dream about Detroit’s Tarik Skubal, but the Dodgers or the Mets seem like a more probable destination if the Tigers decide to trade away their ace. The Yankees should focus on other starters while the Dodgers and Mets are focused on Skubal. Milwaukee’s Freddy Peralta seems like a good trade target if the rumors are true about Peralta’s availability. There will be competition for his services, but the Yankees can assemble an aggressive package to make it happen. Although the trades are unrelated, Milwaukee, by winning the Devin Williams trade, at least has some good feelings about trading with the Yankees. Former Yankee and current San Diego Padre Michael King is expected to opt out of the final year of his contract to become a free agent, and he looms as a possibility. I would enjoy a reunion with King. It was tough to give him up for what turned out to be only one year of Juan Soto. This year, he was powerful for the Padres, going 13-7 with fourteen quality starts, a 2.85 ERA, and 201 strikeouts.

Photo Credit: K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune

The bullpen needs offseason attention. David Bednar showed that he is the man for the ninth inning, but he needs a better supporting cast. Hopefully, last season was an aberration, and the Yankees can resume their prowess at picking relief arms. It would help to have a manager who does not routinely make bonehead decisions late in games, but it is what it is. Manager Aaron Boone is not going anywhere, whether you love or hate him. In Boone’s years as manager, I hoped for continued growth and evolution, but he is reaching the ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’ stage.

Managing General Partner Hal Steinbrenner has the money to hire the best talent for the front office and the coaching staff. Yet, he is content with winning seasons that line his family’s pockets with wealth over his late father's ‘going for it’ style. General Manager Brian Cashman may be one of the better GMs in the game, but with no championships since 2009, it is time for new voices in the room. The game has evolved since Cashman became the team’s GM in 1998. I say it every year, and nothing happens. Still, the Yankees should move Randy Levine, the Team’s President, to the business side and appoint Cashman as the President of Baseball Operations, allowing the team to hire a new general manager. Granted, Cashman could overrule a new hire’s decisions, but bestowing power and authority in a younger, brighter mind would help.

Going down the ‘Fire Aaron Boone’ rabbit hole is senseless since Hal will not make a change.

First base is or is not a position of need. Granted, Paul Goldschmidt departs through free agency after one season. Yet, the Yankees need Ben Rice in the everyday lineup. If he is not catching, and Giancarlo Stanton continues to occupy the DH spot, first base is the best spot to plant Rice. I have seen some express interest in free agent first baseman Pete Alonso. I would rather focus on the outfield, pursuing free agent Kyle Tucker, despite his “Yankee-like” performance (i.e., unproductive October bat) in the Cubs’ losing playoff effort against the Milwaukee Brewers earlier this month. If the Yankees cannot sign Tucker (who seems like a future Dodger), they must re-sign Cody Bellinger, who will opt out of his contract next month after a productive first year in Pinstripes. I am not saying Bellinger is better than Tucker (he is not); nevertheless, I enjoy Belli’s versatility, and he provides an easy alternative to pair with Rice at first base when he is not playing in left field. If the Yankees cannot get at least one of Tucker or Bellinger, the offseason will be disappointing, regardless of how much you believe Spencer Jones can be the answer.

I am among many Yankee fans ready to move on from shortstop Anthony Volpe. Yet, he seems as entrenched at shortstop as Boone does as the Yankees manager. The projected ETA for top prospect George Lombard, Jr. is 2027, which means we must endure at least one more season of Volpe at short unless the Yankees make other moves at shortstop (unlikely). A full season of the speedy Jose Caballero provides backup support while we wait on young Lombard, Jr. That is better than Volpe and nothing that was featured before the trade deadline this year.

Trent Grisham will not return. He was the surprise of the season and earned the right to get paid. The Yankees have too many other needs to invest more bank in Grisham. They need to fully commit to Jasson Dominguez as the everyday centerfielder or make a trade for a younger (or, as Hal would say, cheaper) option to place between Aaron Judge and Tucker/Bellinger/Mystery Player in the outfield from right to left. There is a chance Grisham stays if the Yankees put a qualifying offer on him and he accepts it. I think he will be looking for a lucrative long-term deal to cash in on what might be his career year when it is all said and done and will reject the QO if given. Whether another team wants to give up a draft pick to sign him remains to be seen. Every offseason of free agency is different.

The coaching staff will feature new faces, while Aaron Boone continues to blow bubbles in the dugout. The Yankees have already parted ways with First Base/Infield Coach Travis Chapman and Bullpen Coach Mike Harkey. They also removed respected Assistant Hitting Coach Pat Roessler, with some speculation that he will be offered another role in the organization. Hitting Coach James Rowson remains a finalist in the Minnesota Twins’ search for a new manager to replace the fired Rocco Baldelli, so he may depart. There was early talk about Luis Rojas in managerial searches, but there is a better chance he returns as the Yankees’ Third Base Coach. To replace Roessler, the Yankees promoted minor league hitting coordinator Jake Hirst. If Hirst had not been promoted, he most likely would have left the organization for better opportunities, so Roessler appears to be the sacrificial lamb to retain the younger, talented Hirst. The poor bullpen performance is not Mike Harkey’s fault, but neither Michael Fishman nor Brian Cashman will fire themselves for assembling a leaky pen.

I look forward to the end of the World Series so the offseason rebuilding can begin. I know it will set us up for disappointment when Spring Training rolls around, but there is always HOPE the Yankees will make the right moves, even if history shows they never quite do enough to field the best possible team. Thinking about the possibilities (such as Tucker or Peralta) is exciting until they are off the board. Maybe Cashman pulls off another trade that shocks us all. The offseason is like Christmas…the anticipation of the gifts that await us.

I am glad to see Don Mattingly experience a World Series, yet I wish it had been with a team other than a hated division rival (or Houston). Dave Winfield, who battled Mattingly for the batting title in 1984, which Mattingly won on the season’s final day, won his only World Series with the 1992 Toronto Blue Jays. If the Blue Jays defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers, he will be another former Yankee great who had to go north of the Border to find the game’s most fantastic prize. Although I have been a long-time Mattingly fan, I am pulling for the Dodgers to win the World Series. While I am not crazy about the Dodgers winning back-to-back titles, it is a better alternative than the Blue Jays as the World Series Champions. Ironically, Mattingly’s path to the World Series this year meant facing two of his former teams (he was the Dodgers manager before Dave Roberts).

Photo Credit: Hunter Martin/Getty Images

I was surprised when the Blue Jays crushed the Dodgers, 11-4, in the first game of the current World Series, but Yoshinobu Yamamoto's dominant complete-game pitching performance in Game Two last night, leading the Dodgers to a 5-1 win, sent the Series to Dodger Stadium with strong momentum for Game Three on Monday. The Dodgers’ starting pitchers will be the difference-maker in the Series despite Blake Snell’s clunker in the opener.

I cannot wait for the World Series to end and the Hot Stove League to open.

As always, Go Yankees!