In the month since the Yankees’ crucial offseason began, there have only been small hints and bread crumbs about what changes might be coming — nothing about specifics or the scale of them.
But some answers may finally begin to come this week as the league convenes in Scottsdale, Ariz., for the general managers’ meetings.
Yankees GM Brian Cashman, who has yet to speak publicly since the end of the season that he described in August as a “disaster,” is expected to address reporters on Tuesday to perhaps shed some light on how the club plans to get back on track.
“I think once we get past [the World Series] and through the offseason is when we’re going to see bigger moves,” Aaron Judge said last week at the World Series. “We have still got a lot of time, but I know they are busy working. Literally since our season ended I know they have been working down there in Tampa. They are working hard and I am looking forward to getting some updates.”
Their frustrated fan base is, too.
Near the end of the Yankees’ 82-80 season — narrowly avoiding what would have been their first losing season since 1992 — Hal Steinbrenner promised an organizational deep dive to figure out what was ailing the club.
Steinbrenner said last month at a Sportico conference that the Yankees would indeed make changes, but “some may be more subtle than others.”
All indications are that manager Aaron Boone will be back for a seventh season.
He still has one year left on his contract, plus a club option for 2025, but there will be at least one change on his staff as hitting coach Sean Casey announced he will not return for family reasons.
Whether any changes are coming to Cashman’s staff remains to be seen, though the club is contracting with Zelus Analytics to determine whether their own analytics department is up to snuff.
Judge said at the end of the season that the Yankees needed to reevaluate how they use and value analytics — including a better process to funnel them down to the players.
That may be part of the most significant need of the Yankees’ offseason: improving an offense that was one of the worst in the league last season.
Cashman made his first in-season dismissal of a coach or manager during his 26-year tenure, when he fired Dillon Lawson at the All-Star break and hired Casey, but the offense remained largely stagnant.
As they try to address that problem, whether through personnel or philosophy, the Yankees are expected to be in the market for a left fielder, center fielder and perhaps a rotation reinforcement.
Adding left-handed bats would help a lineup that has skewed too right-handed in recent years and featured Anthony Rizzo as its only regular left-handed bat this season.
Cody Bellinger, the top bat on the market (not including two-way star Shohei Ohtani) who happens to play the outfield and hit left-handed, would appear to be a strong target for the Yankees.
Bellinger, 28, split time between center field and first base last season while putting together a strong bounce-back year with the Cubs.
The Yankees also figure to be one of the many teams interested in Juan Soto if the Padres decide to deal him with one year left on his contract.
Soto, a lefty like Bellinger, would bring the high average and on-base percentage that the Yankees were largely missing this season.
On the pitching side, the Yankees could also be players for Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, whom they have scouted extensively.
They have soon-to-be Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole leading the rotation, but he did not get much help behind him this season because of underperformance and injuries, particularly from Carlos Rodon, whom they signed to a six-year, $162 million deal last offseason.
The GM meetings are unlikely to spur major action around the league in terms of free agency and trades, but it is a starting point in a vital offseason for the Yankees.
“Changes could mean a lot of different things,” Judge said last week. “From philosophies, players, coaches, everything. We haven’t made it to the big dance in quite a few years, so we got some work to do, even on the player side. So looking forward to hopefully getting us back to the promised land with some good moves.”
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