NEW YORK — Aaron Decide walked slowly from first base towards the dugout, turning his head simply lengthy sufficient to look at what should have appeared like a re-run: one other October, and one other visiting crew carrying blue, celebrating atop the Yankee Stadium mound.
It was the Blue Jays, with Cody Bellinger swinging by way of the ultimate pitch of the American League Division Sequence. The earlier yr, it had been the Dodgers ending the World Sequence. These are the mountains that Decide and the Yankees should climb to assert a championship.
“Once I signed again with the Yankees in ’23, I needed to complete a job right here and produce again a World Sequence,” Decide mentioned. “We’re nonetheless on that mission.”
So what now? Yankees managing basic accomplice Hal Steinbrenner mentioned followers ought to enter Spring Coaching with a sensible perception that their crew can win a title. He felt that method, and so did Aaron Boone, who thought the 2025 membership was his strongest but.
Each groups received 94 video games, tying for the AL’s greatest, but the separation was palpable throughout the common season. The Jays received eight of 13 conferences with New York, and that carried over into the postseason. As Steinbrenner identified, the Blue Jays scored 34 runs in a 34-inning ALDS.
“You’re not going to beat the Blue Jays, pretty much as good a crew as they’re, doing that,” Steinbrenner mentioned. “They undoubtedly performed higher than us. They slugged higher than us, they hit the ball and put it in play higher than us, they usually pitched higher than us. That’s why they received.”
Nonetheless, the Yankees insist the hole is smaller than outsiders assume.
Steinbrenner mentioned he considers spending to be “a weak correlation” to successful, even after watching the Dodgers grow to be the primary back-to-back champions for the reason that dynasty Yankees in 1998-2000.
Whereas the Dodgers’ reported $415 million in expenditures simply dwarfs all others, Steinbrenner famous that the second- and third-highest payrolls belonged to the Mets and Yankees, respectively. The Mets missed the playoffs totally, and the Yanks’ run ended not quickly after.
“Hats off to them. It’s not simple to do twice, they usually did it in dramatic style this time,” Steinbrenner mentioned. “We’ll see what they do subsequent yr and the way it pans out. However there was nothing low about my payroll and the Mets’ payroll, and look the place we ended up.”
So it’s not essentially how a lot a crew spends, however how correctly. Of what Steinbrenner mentioned was a $319 million payroll, there have been massive expenditures towards Marcus Stroman ($18.5 million), DJ LeMahieu ($15 million) and even Aaron Hicks ($10.785 million).
LeMahieu stays on the books for yet another season, however that may’t hinder the Yanks as they appear to strengthen their core round Decide, now a three-time American League MVP nonetheless in his prime.
Ought to they land one, Jasson Domínguez and Spencer Jones might hear their names talked about in commerce rumors.
“There’s sure wage ranges we’ll tag out at,” Cashman mentioned. “That’s but to be decided. At instances, we’ve pushed onerous and nonetheless not gotten issues executed as a result of the markets take it — whether or not it was [Yoshinobu] Yamamoto or [Juan] Soto, they go on and on to locations you by no means anticipated.”
As for the infield, the Yankees sound tempted to run again their ’25 alignment. That might imply Ben Rice, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Anthony Volpe (additionally rehabbing from surgical procedure) and Ryan McMahon sooner or later, with José Caballero and Oswaldo Cabrera competing to be the Opening Day shortstop.
That, too, seems to be an space the place Cashman and his workers might look to reinforce. Steinbrenner and Cashman have all however circled the bullpen in crimson marker as an apparent space of want, particularly with Devin Williams and Luke Weaver at present free brokers.
The Yankees are assured of their rotation, although they’ll need to climate early-season absences of Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón, each of whom are recovering from surgical procedure. Clarke Schmidt could possibly be a second-half contributor.
“Hopefully well being is blessed within the early portion of February, March and April,” Cashman mentioned. “However you possibly can’t rely on that. We’ll be exploring tips on how to defend ourselves so we’re not taking up water early.”
How a lot of that is posturing forward of the Winter Conferences? We’re about to search out out.
