The Yankees have had just over three months since their loss in the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers to review what went wrong and how to strengthen the team.
They made many new additions, including first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, outfielder Cody Bellinger, closer Devin Williams, and starter Max Fried. The major loss was Juan Soto, who signed with the Mets.
General manager Brian Cashman, who admitted that losing Soto “hurts,” couldn’t confirm if the Yankees’ roster is better now. They spent the offseason addressing 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 years, 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 key points from the general manager of the defending American League champions:
Defensive changes
“I thought we were bad defensively,” Cashman said bluntly when a reporter mentioned that public advanced metrics didn’t see the Yankees’ defense as 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 added, “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.”
Jasson Dominguez is hopeful
“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.”
Jasson Domínguez catches the ball in the 1st inningDJ LeMahieu’s Role is still not clear
Last season was marked by a rough performance due to injuries, which kept the veteran to just 67 games and caused him to post some career-low numbers. The general manager mentioned that LeMahieu will be “given an opportunity” to compete for the starting third base spot.
“Hopefully, all that can be thrown out the door and we see a different version of DJ this spring because the one thing that we haven’t been able to see is a healthy version of DJ,” he said. “… We’ll see where it plays out and it will answer itself on its own.”
While many positions on the team are secure, second base and third base are still open. Cashman pointed out, “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 are a bit risky but it is worth it
“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 explained. “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 expected to be the team’s catchers for spring training.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone lashes out at the umpireAaron Boone’s contract extension talks
Cashman confirmed that talks about extending the manager’s contract are ongoing and there’s a chance a deal could be reached before spring training ends.
“We picked up his option last year,” Cashman said about Boone’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.”
Andy Martino reported 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.”
Addressing some of the criticism Boone has faced, Cashman acknowledged that managing in New York means handling “slings and arrows” from fans, with the manager taking much of the heat.
“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.”
