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The Yankees have had just over three months since coming up short in the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers to evaluate what went wrong and how they can improve the roster.
The additions were many – first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, outfielder Cody Bellinger, closer Devin Williams, starter Max Fried – and the losses were most notably headlined by Juan Soto signing with the Mets
General manager Brian Cashman, who admitted losing Soto “hurts,” couldn’t say one way or the other if he sees the Yanks roster as better now. They spent the winter attacking the club’s areas of weakness.
“It’s different in the fact that on paper maybe more improved defensively, more athletic, maybe more balanced on the offensive side, more strikeouts on paper coming out of the ‘pen maybe than previous tears, deeper starting rotation than it was, all those things are positives,” Cashman said Friday. “Negative is that we lost a generational talent in Juan Soto and how do you overcome that?”
Here are the takeaways from the architect of the defending American League champions…
Defensive improvement
“I thought we were bad defensively,” Cashman said bluntly when a reporter mentioned public advanced metrics didn’t see the Yanks defense as that bad.
“We tried to deal with it,” he said. “… As the season plays out you try to certainly work through it, if you can, and improve upon it, if you can. Our work product was able to get us into the World Series but not win the World Series. Hopefully, this version is a little bit different and allows us to get longer.”
He said earlier: “Defensively we were challenged in a lot of positions last year. And I think some of the additions that we added will significantly improve our run prevention with superior defense compared to where we were in previous years.”
Hopes for Jasson Dominguez
“Ultimately there’s a lane for him to take and we know he’s got the talent to take it,” Cashman said. “He’s obviously still young in this game and he missed a good portion of last season coming back from Tommy John and then he had the setback with the strain that pushed his season back a little deeper than we wanted. So it’s good to get him back out and up and running . … We’re looking forward to seeing a real quality player on both sides of the ball and we think he can help us. And he’s got an opportunity to prove he can help us.”
DJ LeMahieu question still to be answered
Last season was marked by poor play during an injury-plagued season that limited the veteran to just 67 games and some career-low numbers. The GM said LeMahieu will be “given an opportunity” to compete and win the starting job at third.
“Hopefully, all that can be thrown out the door and we see a different version of DJ this spring because ultimately the one thing that we haven’t been in position to see is a DJ that’s a healthy version,” he said. “… We’ll see where it plays out and it will answer itself on its own.”
The Yanks appear pretty well settled at several positions, but second base and third remain up for grabs, with Cashman noting, “It is unusual to have every position 100 percent solidified or every spot on the roster – starting pitching, bullpen, or position players – it would be very unusual to have all of that locked up on paper as you enter the spring.”
Young catchers a risk worth taking
“We made it a difficult decision when I traded (Jose) Trevino to the Reds… he was our front-line guy at one point — was a nice security blanket,” Cashman said. “But we do have a nice stable of players even though they’re inexperienced.
“I had to make a decision whether I wanted to rob Peter to pay Paul to improve one aspect coming from another aspect and it wasn’t something that was on my bingo card to do. And sure there are risks involved, but I felt like the rewards might outweigh the risks.”
Austin Wells and J.C. Escarra are seen as the team’s catchers entering the spring.
Aaron Boone’s contract situation
Cashman said talks between the manager and the organization on working out a contract extension are ongoing, and that there is a possibility a deal will be reached before spring training ends.
“We picked up his option last year,” Cashman said about the manager’s contract for the 2025 season. “But… our intent is to find an extension. I’ve been working through that and Hal Steinbrenner has been working through that with Aaron Boone and we’re hopeful sooner than later to be able to officially cement something.
“… Our main focus this winter has been on roster construction and some of this other stuff we’re just getting to, but our intention is to make sure Aaron Boone is going to continue with the Yankees past the 2025 season.”
SNY MLB Insider Andy Martino reported earlier this week that “it would be out of character for the team to agree to an extension during the regular season, so expect resolution sooner than later.”
When it comes to some of the criticism of Boone from fans, Cashman said that dealing with the “slings and arrows” comes with the territory of managing in New York and unfortunately the skipper has to “take a lot of the brunt of it.”
“I think Booney understands that and the one thing I’m so impressed with is his temperament,” he said. “He’s handled the ups and downs, the successes, the failures all the same way. and I think that is a strength, that is a benefit. I know that if he wasn’t the Yankee manager it would be a feeding frenzy [from other organizations]…. And we’re hopeful we can find common ground to continue his leading our players from that dugout.”
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