Yankees’ youngsters must step up to recognize championship dreams
TAMPA This is the optimism portion of the major league calendar. The time when new players plus restructured philosophies are an equation to maximize victories, everyone is in the best shape of his life or well ahead of schedule on the injury calendar or fresh out of Driveline with a new pitch or a new swing approach.
If you cant get excited now, well, then you are probably an As or White Sox fan. But on pitchers and catchers report date, when Aaron Boone sums up an organizational feeling as Were hellbent on being a champion well, sure, why not? After all, adding Juan Soto to Gerrit Cole and Aaron Judge formed a Big 3 that even the Phoenix Suns could admire.
And, no doubt, the distance from Steinbrenner Field in February to The Canyon of Heroes in November comes into greater focus if Cole remains unbreakable, Judge plays 150-plus games and Soto is undeterred by New York and his walk year.
But this isnt basketball. So more is needed to fulfill Boones vision in which, he said, Hopefully, in the end, we are holding that trophy. There is a talented veteran group behind the Big 3 that has upside, but also red flags in physicality and/or personality. And to be the team they want to be in 2024 and moving forward the Yankees need their farm pipeline to provide greater output than over the past two-plus decades.
When Im looking at the league now, the clubs that are really good and good for a long window have homegrown impact, Cole said Wednesday in the newly refurbished Steinbrenner Field home clubhouse. The best teams are developing players. Forget the money thing. The best teams are acquiring through the draft players that turn into 3.0, 4.0, 5.0 WAR-type players and making sustained runs.
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Coming off a season-ending injury, Jasson Dominguez will have to provide a mid-season jolt. Charles Wenzelberg / New York PostNot every young player is exclusively homegrown. But to provide some context: the top 10 teams in positional WAR (FanGraphs) for players 29 and under all had winning records, led by the Braves at 34.2. The Yanks were at 5.8, only better than the Rockies and White Sox and just ahead of the As; thus, surrounded by three of four teams that lost 100-plus games in 2023.
Ten of the top 11 in pitching WAR for players 29 and under had winning records. The Yankees were 22nd at 5.5 of which 2.2 came from Michael King, a key to the Soto deal.
Since the Core Four, the Yankees have been at best meh at development very good at getting quantity to the majors with limited above-average quality that makes it easier, for example, to fill out a roster prudently to, say, make retaining Soto long term an easier decision for Hal Steinbrenner.
The Soto trade was part of a recent trend, along with deals, for example, for Andrew Benintendi, Frankie Montas, Anthony Rizzo, Jameson Taillon and Alex Verdugo, that leaned heavily on dealing pitching prospects for veterans.
King, Jhony Brito and Randy Vasquez combined to give the Yankees 232 / innings and a 3.37 ERA last year, and they were dealt for Soto along with well-regarded Drew Thorpe, who would have been among the first options to be summoned this year. Even if Nestor Cortes and Carlos Rodon have rebound years, would you bet on them to make more than 40 starts combined? The Yanks have used at least 11 starters (this includes openers) in every 162-game season since 2016.
Luis Gil has plenty to prove to the Yankees this season. Charles Wenzelberg/New York PostThey re-signed Luke Weaver off a positive late-season cameo and seem encouraged that non-roster invite Cody Poteet could be a surprise. From their system, the Yankees see Will Warren as ready, Chase Hampton as close to ready and Clayton Beeter and Luis Gil as in line to prove they are starters not relievers.
Relief is generally not a place to worry with the Yankees, who have excelled at identifying talent then upgrading it, and they have a group of non-roster arms in which the names Nick Burdi, Joey Gerber and Art Warren come up positively.
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Check out more newslettersBut they have lacked the same touch positionally.
Boone said he is expecting the Yankees to revive from dismal to an elite offense. But elite cannot be reached with just Judge and Soto. At least two of DJ LeMahieu, Anthony Rizzo and Giancarlo Stanton would have to be healthy and productive. And youngsters must be a factor or more.
Can, for example, Anthony Volpe drop his strikeout rate to, say, 23-24 percent and raise his OPS toward the MLB average of .734? If so, his speed plays more and his impact expands. Can Austin Wells catch well enough to get a lefty bat that shined late last year into the lineup regularly? Can Jasson Dominguez get healthy after Tommy John surgery and provide a midseason jolt? Can Oswaldo Cabrera look more like the 2022 switch-hitting, versatile benefit than last seasons plummet? Can Oswald Peraza and/or Everson Pereira deliver at least competence when their numbers are called all while Spencer Jones percolates toward the majors to justify the trades the Yankees did not include him in?
Can the Yankees feel as optimistic in 10 weeks, and then 10 weeks after that, as they do today?
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