November 18, 2025

200 thoughts on “Yankees.com: Who’s in, who’s out? Looking at how the Yankees’ offseason could go”

  2. Tucker is a year and a half young and figures to have an OPS+ 15-20 points higher than Bellinger. Bellinger is an excellent fielder, Tucker is average. Bellinger is just a couple of years removed from being released. We really need someone to stop teams from walking Judge.
    Hal/ Cash will go for the cheaper option. Book it.

  3. If they want to win with Judge and Cole, this is the year.
    Right now.
    I believe they have to do it now, this year, or they can forget about winning for another five of six years.
    Go all in or go home.
    (Cashbrenner won’t.)

    1. Do you trust Cashman to use the excess money really well?
      In Brian’s option B, I just don’t believe in Cashman’s ability to use the “savings” on a level any higher than “just not quite well enough.”
      –
      And really, of course have the money to get Tucker and add those pieces anyway and remain profitable – in fact, get more profitable, I’d imagine. (They won’t.)
      –
      Dominguez was always a good center-fielder, right? So I don’t see a reason to worry about that.
      –
      Spencer, with his strikeout rate, is not even a rational option, as pleasant as it is to dream about another monster bat in the lineup.

    2. Well, they do have several potential stud pitchers coming up. Schlittler looked great, the only concern, as always, is those guys staying healthy.

    3. You have no concern about them consistently ruining young players after an initial show of promise?

    4. Seems to happen to their young hitters far more often in the past decade. They really haven’t had top-fight pitching prospects during that same period of time.

    8. Sorry that I may have lost the thread. While Sevy was a top-flight pitching prospect, he fell off more because of injuries than bad coaching. Not sure how much of those injuries were modifiable by conditioning or mechanical adjustments. (I suppose if pitchers are getting hurt more in the quest for more stuff, that is modifiable…)

  4. The judge and Cole windows may be closing soon so go all in for 2026 and forget the rest of the decade.

    If so, is bellinger plus a few relievers on short desks isbetter than tucker?

    But does anyone think cashman is the right guy to do this? I don’t.

    1. I hear the NY Post asked his Dodgers teammate about it, hoping they could justify a headline, “Ohtani: Betts Off”.

    2. The way you compensate for that is by having enough superstars that one of them inevitably underperforming is something you can overcome.
      Unfortunately for the Yankees, that strategy is only available to a high-income, big-spending team like the Dodgers.

    3. Boone uses another version of that strategy in deploying the bullpen. That is, he uses enough relievers that one of them inevitably underperforms in a way the team cannot overcome.

  9. The Yankees like position versatility too much. That leads them to getting lesser players and playing them in positions they CAN play, but don’t play as well or even well at all. Inevitably, they get cute and try to stick some of them in those positions permanently to fill a need created by one of those lesser players not working out.

    Just get the better players, play them in their best positions consistently, and live with backups filling in every once in a while to give people rest.

    Of course, most of what they do is done as a way to save money because Cashman is poor at roster construction and payroll management and he is always banging up against the tax threshold with a roster full of lesser players and trying to make up for their deficiencies.

    1. Of course David Popkins is a better hitting coach than Rowson. Even David S. Pumpkins would make a better hitting coach than Rowson.

    3. CAN IT BE TRUE?
      And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
      O frabjous day!
      Callooh! Callay!

  15. Blake Snell looks like a Richard Scarry worm so he’s probably my favorite Dodgers pitcher.

    Hopefully the Jays only tag him for 10 or so while cruising to the victory.

    Then they can save some bigger offense for game 6.

    2. Can we be upset that we did nothing in game 4, the bullpen game? Or that Seattle played Toronto so much tougher than we did? Or that Toronto destroyed us in the regular season without Yescavage? Or that Boone is a sub 500 post season manager?

  21. Can we be upset that we did nothing in game 4, the bullpen game? Or that Seattle played Toronto so much tougher than we did? Or that Toronto destroyed us in the regular season without Yescavage? Or that Boone is a sub 500 post season manager?

    Per the saboteur aka Brian Cashman, post season is a crap shoot. And any manager would be criticized, so he keeps Boone around.

  22. We should be upset – at a past-his-prime GM who continues to defend his never-was-any-good manager with an owner who doesn’t give a damn.

    I just can’t be upset when what seems to be a good pitcher shuts my team down.

  23. I wonder if they’d have a championship with Mattingly instead of Boone.

    Cashman didn’t give him an interview because he was a beloved Yankee from before his time, and that threatened him.

    I am not saying Mattingly is a great manager, but he had experience and I don’t think he’d embarrassed himself the way Boone has, so what other reason could there be?

    Hope he gets his ring tomorrow.

  24. If you took the 2025 roster and simply replaced Luke Weaver and Devin Williams with normal average relievers, they would’ve won the AL East by 4 or 5 games and would likely have been the 1-seed. I’m excited to see a full season of Bednar closing.

    This team doesn’t need to do much beyond adding a couple really solid relievers. Tucker would be nice, but Bellinger is enough. The starting rotation next year, barring more injuries, should be other-worldly — Cole, Fried, Rodon, Schlittler, Schmidt, Gil, with Warren and Gil fighting for the 6th and 7th spots, and at least one of them filling in as a long-man option in the pen.

    1. Their offense was helped a lot by Grisham, though. So I think they need more than just Bellinger.

      Plus, they will start the season likely without Cole AND Rodon.

      But yes, in general, I agree with the idea that they SHOULD have the best record in the American League next year.

    2. And get whupped in the playoffs again, given the way they’re built.
      …
      They damned well DO need more than just Bellinger. This offense just isn’t built to overcome better-than-average opposing pitching. It’s more than fine against anything else, that doesn’t help much in the playoffs.
      Unless your goal is to win the regular season division. I agree, they can do that.

    3. They definitely need to replace Grisham’s offense and not by resigning him.. Next year could be the Martian’s year to show us what he has or doesn’t have. Phenom will OPS+ 85, maybe Wells can have a breakout year. Maybe Jazz can swing for the fences a little less and hit 275. At least we know Rowson is the best guy for the job. Look how phenom has improved every year.

    4. bellinger is clearly not enough. the yanks need someone who can punish teams that pitch around judge. the guy who is the best bet to do that on the market available, just for money, is Tucker.

      pay that guy.

    5. “And get whupped in the playoffs again, given the way they’re built”

      See, I don’t agree at all. If you go into the playoffs and you start matching up your starters – 1, Cole vs their 1. 2, Fried vs their 2. 3, Rodon vs. their 3, you’re going to have a massive pitching advantage in at least 3 of those. How many teams are going to have a starter as good as Fried as #2? How many teams are going to have a starter as good as Schlittler or Schmidt at number 4? This was really the strength of the late 90s, early 2000s yankees. They could toss out there Cone, Wells, Pettitte, El Duque, Mussina.

      And if you did what I called for – adding a couple really solid relievers, which is what I really think caused them to get bounced from the playoffs this year, even better.

    6. It’s a fair point about Grisham, but I think Rice also continues to improve, and we may get a look at Spencer Jones or Lombard. They’re sending the Martian to winter ball and you have to hope he will show improvement.

      You can’t just look at people leaving or regressing and not count the people who should be improving.

    7. The dynasty team didn’t hit anything like these teams. They got on base, they hit situationally, they hit not just the same, but unusually well against the best pitchers. That worked in the playoffs – it worked so well we remember the results. That’s is NOT this team.
      And who’s better than Fried in the playoffs? So far, Fried has not been good in the playoffs – granted, he had one great start against the wild-card Red Sox. And he was creamed in the game where he should have been exactly the kind of advantage you’re expecting him to be.
      Yes, the rotation looks to be very good, but you can’t just the value of this team’s offense by its regular season production.

    8. i’m 100% with PW. We just had the team you’re describing. Without Cole anyway, and as much as I admire him he will be a year older and after a layoff.

      Those dynasty teams could hit. in fact, maybe make a direct line between them cheaping out on sheffield instead of vlad and this nonsense with belli.

      we need bats!

    9. “without Cole anyway” is exactly the point, though.

      Cole is a HUGE addition. He slides everyone else down a notch. Fried is not a post-season disaster (see his start against boston, pitching into the seventh, giving up no runs). But him matching up against a team’s #2 rather than their ace is a massive advantage.

      No, the Yankees don’t hit like the early 2000s teams. Most teams these days don’t. Baseball is played very different now than it was 25 years ago. But they hit well enough to beat Toronto this year and move on. The reason they didn’t move on was pitching, and more specifically relief pitching.

      Better starters going deeper helps that, and not having to rely on guys like Luke Weaver helps that even more.

  25. How good will Ben Rice be if he adds another 30 lbs. of muscle this offseason?

    It’s impressive that Rice stayed healthy all season after such a dramatic body change in a short time.

  27. I mean the pessimistic view on the rotation is Cole and Schmidt come back lesser, Fried can’t handle the playoffs, Rodon had a fluke year in 2025, the league figures out Schlittler.

    1. and an unstated-as-yet optimistic one is that the Yankees seem to just manufacture starters now

  28. Maybe the Dodgers are the new new Yankees, since the WC series they’re hitting 214/666 or Volpe like. Bettes is hitting 164/476 bad Gianni like.

  29. You guys are expecting Rice to be even better? I’d love that, of course, but I’m thrilled he was as good as he was.
    Could Dominguez break out? That would be fantastic, but you’re COUNTING on it? You could argue he did as much or more in a week or so in the majors before that injury than he did all of last year. He’s had no power (he used to have a ton), and he’s played a lousy left field (he used to be a very good center fielder, we are told). I’m hoping for it, but you can’t possibly expect it.
    Could Wells break out? He COULD, but it has to seem far less likely than it did before this past season.
    Volpe has been covered here.
    This is very like what we were all saying about these same young players a year ago, only they now seem far LESS promising as a group than they did then. May they beat the odds into a quivering pile of pulp! But you can’t possibly be expecting it.

    2. Something about Rice’s mentality and relative lack of college or minor league experience makes me think he’s a good candidate to keep improving. As for Wells and the Martian that’s just wishin’ and hopin’

    1. The Dodgers had some Yankee ABs in the top of the 9th and an 0-2 HBP in that situation was pure Yankee.

  40. One more thing on the young guys:
    Lost of people seem to relying on Spencer.
    Now, if the stat guys universally were showing us that only 20 or 30 players had ever succeeded with his strikeout rate, you’d have to be skeptical about his chances of success.
    But they don’t say that, of course. Instead, they’re showing us that the number of players in the entire history of MLB who have ever succeeded with his strikeout rate is… zero. There has been absolutely no one, ever, who has succeeded in MLB with that strikeout rate. (And now imagine what he would add to the pathetic flailing against the better pitchers the Yankees have faced in the playoffs over the last few years…)
    Can he bring that strikeout rate down? Sure, there’s a ton of potential there. But until he does… I want some of whatever all these people pencilling him into the starting line-up for next year are smoking.

    2. Yeah, like bop notes, there is no way that the front office is relying on Jones at ALL.

      They MIGHT be relying on Dominguez, though. They were planning on relying on him this past season, but Grisham just hit too well to sit him.

  42. BTW. What nonsense over that ‘stuck ball’ in the ninth inning. The OF’er of the Dodgers made no attempt at picking up the ball, merely pointed at it, and the umpires went along with that. When the OF’er did go for the ball, after the play was over, he had no difficulty picking it up. Pure BS

    1. I read the rules on ground rule doubles, and I think the OFer did what he is supposed to do. If there is even a *chance* that the ball is going to be difficult to retrieve you hold your hands up to signal that. It is up to the umpires to make the decision. A ball stuck under a mat definitely falls into the category of a ball potentially “becoming unplayable”. The classic example is a ball getting stuck in the ivy at Wrigley. Sure, the outfielder might be able to easily retrieve it, but it also might be tricky and take at least an extra second or two. Same with stuck under a mat. It MIGHT be easily retrievable, but the uncertainty many times leads to the dead ball call. I’m OK with the decision here.

    2. Agree with UN. The outfielder and the ump did what they had to do. The outfielder had to think quick. If it were the Yankees it might’ve been an inside the Parker.

    1. It was a 3-2 pitch, so it was really more just Vladdy being dumb and taking a strike.

      I think they figured Vladdy would either put it in play or take the walk.

  45. I am now all in on paying Verlander to fill-in while Cole and Rodon are out, and then let him sit on the bench until the playoffs. Guys like Verlander and Scherzer are guys you can at least sort of trust in the postseason.

  50. Kind of surprised they didn’t start Glasnow. Maybe because then Ohtani couldn’t come in to relieve and still hit. Kind of fuzzy on the rules.

  58. Betts is 33 and signed thru 2032. Feeeman 35 signed thru 2027. Teoscar 32 signed for 3 more years. Smith is 30 and signed in 2024 for a 10 year extension. Ohtani 30 signed thru 2033.

  77. FFS. They almost mess it up but make the catch. RISP Fail now belongs to the Blue Jays. At least six shots with men in scoring position later in the game and no bueno. At least 0-8 since the sixth inning.

    1. They surpassed the Yankees in RISP Fail in that game, so many chances from the 6th inning on, and nothing.

  108. Kirschner Here’s what Hal Steinbrenner said in February last year about the Yankees’ pursuit of Yoshinobu Yamamoto:

    I just think — sooner or later, it’s old, but in these things, you’ve got to go pencils down. I probably went higher than some of our baseball people would have gone. I felt it was important to the fan base and to our chances (in 2024) to really make a run and try to get him. At $300 million, I just felt, right or wrong, that the bidding was going to continue and $300 million was a very good offer, and I think a lot of our fans agreed with it.”

    Was it too much for him to consider $325 million?

    “I felt the 300 was a very, very good offer.”

    1. I totally agree with Hal. Once he got to $300 million over TEN years, and the Dodgers were still his choice, it was clear he wasn’t coming here. All they were doing was raising the price the Dodgers had to pay.

    2. How many TJ surgeries will Yamamoto have in those ten years. That is a ridiculous contract, and he was always going to the Dodgers anyway.

  110. it was like they borrowed True Yankee baserunning and Boone’s bullpen feel the last couple of days. What losers! The worst part is how beatable the Dodgers looked the whole time and they just couldn’t do the little things to actually win, culminating in that fkn double play.

    anyway, i had a big rant about how the yanks need bats earlier, but they really need bats, a starter, relief help, coaches that know what they’re doing and a new manager. so if i was browbeating anyone about how i know what they really need, i was wrong, because it’s a lot of things.

    1. That was awful, just another graduate of TJPSOB at work. I wonder if any of the talking heads mentioned that when it happened.

    2. I was surprised when he didn’t score but I didn’t notice his lead at the time and I don’t think the broadcasters mentioned it.

  112. The formula

    Sarah Langs

    ‪@slangsonsports.bsky.social‬
    This is the sixth straight season in which a Will Smith wins a World Series:

    2025: C Will Smith (LAD)
    2024: C Will Smith (LAD)
    2023: LHP Will Smith (TEX)
    2022: LHP Will Smith (HOU)
    2021: LHP Will Smith (ATL)
    2020: C Will Smith (LAD)
    November 2, 2025 at 12:48 AM

  117. Here’s the thing, you could say Los Doyers lucked into it, but in game 6 the Jays had men on 2/3 with no outs in the 9th. They choked it away two nights in a row. Eat hot shit Canada

  118. I started rooting for the Dodgers during the NLCS this year because, hey, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em! Seriously, they remind me of what the Yankees should be and could be if they still spent in a way that was commensurate with their ability. Once they got to the World Series, it was even easier to root for them because, wow, Vladdy is insufferable.

    I think from this point on Yankees will be my team A and L.A. will by my team B. Frontrunning FTW, baby! It sure feels nice to enjoy a championship again. 🤣

  119. The 9th inning is as good as it gets for a baseball fan. Amazing that the CF they brought it for defense that inning makes that catch.
    And yeah I hate Vlad so I’m glad they lost but I do feel bad for Donnie Baseball. Why the Yanks refuse to hire him is puzzling. Or maybe he is refusing them.

  121. I honestly feel that the main reason the Yankees can’t go for second-tier talent is their ability to do dumb things with the talent they have.
    They need to get players so good that there’s just a limit on how badly the coaching staff can ultimately screw them up.

  122. Looked like Rowson’s approach by the Blue Jays hitters in game 6 and especially in game 7. After knocking Ohtani out in the third inning, they were dreadful w/RISP.

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