Author: Zachary Patlin
The Yankees just endured a roller coaster of a season, ending with a loss to the Boston’s Red Sox in the American League Wild Card Game. After starting off the season as basically a .500 team through the all star break, the Yankees rebounded in the second half after some key acquisitions. Cashman and the front office pulled the trigger on Joey Gallo, Anthony Rizzo, Joely Rodrigues, Wandy Peralta, and Clay Holmes. Surprisingly enough, Clay Homes and Wandy Peralta topped that list for production for the Yankees, however it cannot be overlooked the balance that Gallo and Rizzo brought to the lineup.
Heading into the off-season the first choice management had to make was on the manager and the coaching staff. Shortly before bringing back Aaron Boone on a 3 year deal plus a club option for the fourth deal, the Yankees fired coaches Phil Nevin, Marcus Thames, and PJ Pilittere. Since, Reggie Willits has decided to join the coaching staff of Oklahoma.
With some stability at manager and pitching coach, the Yankees must first fill out the rest of the coaching staff, with the new hitting coach as arguably the most important piece. The first move to the coaching staff outside of Boone was bringing in former Mets manager Luis Rojas to be their third base coach. He adds a lot of experience to a young coaching staff. Aaron Boone has done a good job keeping the club together despite all the injuries over the past few years. His relationship with Cashman and the front office can not be overlooked as he looks to bring the Yankees to their first World Series since 2009.
The biggest need for the New York Yankees, as according to Brian Cashman, is Shortstop. Whether that be Corey Seager, Carlos Correa, Trevor Story, Marcus Semien, or multiple other candidates, remains to be determined. But it does appear that Gleyber Torres will permanently move back to second base, a position he has thrived at in the big leagues. This will either move DJ Lemahieu to third base or first base depending on the rest of the moves the Yankees make. After getting their white whale short stop this offseason, which seems almost inevitable, there are plenty other areas of need as well.
First base saw very little production in 2021 for the Yankees. Due to injuries with Luke Voit, the position lacked offense. That led to the acquisition of Anthony Rizzo. Reports also surfaced recently of Rizzo wanting to be back with the Yankees. He fits a big area of need for the team, a lefty first baseman with power but more importantly good bat to ball skills to separate their big righty sluggers. If they are able to get Rizzo back at a favorable length to the club, that can help propel this team to some stability and make all the infielders better. The one concern with Rizzo is age, as he will enter his age 33 season and took a slight step backward at the plate last season. However, Matt Olsen of the Oakland A’s appears to be a big name available via trade this offseason. Outside of freeman he might be the best hitter on the market, so it remains to be seen how much he will command in a trade this offseason.
Centerfield was another position last year that saw very little production. However the team does not believe they need to make an improvement from outside at that position because Aaron Hicks looks to be healthy and ready to go for spring training. He will start in CF and will provide balance in the middle of this lineup. The Yankees have and will continue to check in on players like Sterling Marte as they are always looking to be strong up the middle. Catcher is another position that Cashman will surely look at, however Gary Sanchez will most likely be back and the starting catcher for the 2022 season, as there simply aren’t better offensive option on the market. Tucker Barnhardt was amongst players the Yankees should at least do their due diligence towards, however he quickly agreed to a contract elsewhere.
Lastly, we will talk about their offseason moves on the pitching side. The Yankees had the second best team ERA in the AL last season, trailing just the Rays, and that was with an array of injuries. Next season, the rotation projects to be Cole, Severino, Taillon, Montgomery, and German headlining. They also have plenty of young options such as the improved Nestor Cortes Jr, Mike King, Luis Gil, Deivi Garcia, and Clarke Schmidt. If they are able to go out and get another middle of the line starter they will have another very strong rotation in the AL. Starting pitching, for once, is not their biggest area of need. They have done their due diligence on Justin Verlander, who if healthy is the best pitcher on the market despite his age. Their bullpen is also one or two small pieces away from being unstoppable, as it already looks to be amongst the best in the sport. Featuring Chapman, Green, Loisiga, Holmes, Peralta, amongst many other good arms, the bullpen looks to remain a strength. Joely Rodriguez was their first official signing of the offseason.
Overall the Yankees have a very busy offseason coming, especially after comments made by Brian Cashman that their team simply isn’t athletic enough and has too many strikeouts in the lineup. I expect this offseason for them to make many changes to the personnel of the offense to get this team back to where they need to be, in the World Series. This free agent class is excellent and I am very excited to see how the offseason plays out. Watch for a couple trades that Cashman will make that appear to come out of the blue, with names that no one is considering.
SPORTS ARE OUR UNIVERSE
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