December 25, 2025

70 thoughts on “Yankees.com: Yankees finalize coaching staff for 2026 season”

  1. The Red Sox and Pirates are reportedly in agreement on a five-player trade. Starter Johan Oviedo heads to Boston alongside lefty reliever Tyler Samaniego and minor league catcher Adonys Guzman. Pittsburgh gets rookie outfielder Jhostynxon Garcia and A-ball pitching prospect Jesus Travieso. Boston needed to open a spot on the 40-man roster, so they’ll designate righty Cooper Criswell for assignment.

    It’s weird, it’s a nice return for the Red Sox, but it’s really not THAT impressive, either.

    Oviedo certainly HELPS them, but he’s not someone that’s going to scare you, either.

    Crochet
    Gray
    Bello
    Oviedo
    Early

  2. Instead of new coaches how about a new mana…oh forget it.

    How about a bench coach who makes all in-game decisions while Boone is the manager – the guy who talks to the players, press, etc. Seems even that is too much to ask. Though it’s a 5 win move.

    1. A bench coach who was in charge during the game would be nice, A hitting coach who could help phenom, the Martian, and/or Wells get better rather than worse would be better.

  3. PA gives phenom a D- report card. He’s projected to earn 3.9 Million in 26 his first year of arb eligibility.
    “Among qualified hitters in 2025, he finished second-worst in average (.212), third-worst in on-base percentage (.272), tied for fifth-worst in wOBA (.286), and tied for seventh-worst in wRC+ (83). Most concerningly, he even looks out of his league against the pitches that any big leaguer should at least hold his own, placing in the bottom-third league-wide against fastballs and pitches over the heart of the plate.”
    “ The saving grace was that you could at least rely on his defense, Volpe winning a Gold Glove in his rookie season and grading out as the sixth-best defensive shortstop in 2024 with +13 Outs Above Average. That disappeared in a flash in 2025. He tied for the AL lead with 19 errors and finished as the sixth-worst defensive shortstop at -6 OAA”

  6. What would this team, and Boone’s tenure, have looked like if they hadn’t won the utopian lottery of the century with Judge, if Judge hadn’t been smart enough to get his own outside hitting coach, etc.?
    Faintly embarrassed for them just thinking about it – actually, just trying NOT to think about it.

    1. The optimist in me thinks they would have made Soto a must.

      But that’s not welcome here so I’ll say Boone would have become the first player-manager in decades and Hal would have trumpeted how much roster flexibility this gives them.

  7. Cody Bellinger’s name can now also be added to the list, as ESPN’s Jeff Passan writes that the Phillies “have interest in” the former NL MVP. The Phils join the Yankees, Mets, Angels, Dodgers, and Blue Jays as teams known to have some level of interest in Bellinger’s services.

  8. The forecast for 2026 is also encouraging. Steamer, one of the most trusted projection systems around, has Gray at 3.9 WAR, ninth best among pitchers. Crochet checks in third at 5.6, making the Red Sox the only team with two hurlers in the top 15.

    Although the Red Sox had to give up two pitchers in the deal, including promising prospect Brandon Clarke, St. Louis sent Boston $20 million to cover part of Gray’s salary for 2026 and the buyout of his $30 million club option for ’27. That leaves Boston with just $21 million in guaranteed money committed to Gray, preserving flexibility to address the club’s other major need: adding a middle-of-the-order bat.

    https://www.mlb.com/news/sonny-gray-stat-breakdown-after-red-sox-trade

  9. Over the weekend I remembered another cashman blunder. Letting the hero of the 2012 playoffs Ibanez leave and for the same money signing a washed up Travis hafner. As I recall sake money pretty much, same position though Ibanez could stand in the OF, just picked the wrong guy. Plus pissed off fans who loved Ibanez for his major clutch hitting in the 2012 playoffs. I’ve been anti-cashman since then. Not trading Cano at the 2013 deadline when teams would traded lots of chips for him added to my hatred. Letting him walk and then signing ellsbury was the final straw. As Petrus says above with lucking in to judge this team would have been mediocre for years.

  11. So just Jeff Kent. It’s not even that Kent is a bad pick for the Hall of Fame, it’s just that he’s so underwhelming as the only pick.

    And if Jeff Kent is in the Hall of Fame, then Lou Whitaker REALLY needs to be in the Hall of Fame.

  12. Feel bad for Mattingly and Murphy. It’s a REALLY hard road to get in by this committee, since each member can only vote for three guys, and you need 12/16 votes.

    Plus, just take Clemens and Bonds off of this list. If they get in, it should be in a separate ballot for steroid dudes. Don’t force them into the conversation with players who are much worse than them, but might lose some of the limited number of votes to them.

    1. Trump is pushing hard for Clemens. No more universities or law firms to take over, and he has the soccer peace medal, he wants the HOF.

  14. I know it sounds like the old All-Drug Olympics sketch, but I really think the HOF should have a PED Truth and Reconciliation committee ballot, wherein PED users already in the HOF vote on players who also used.
    Who would be on the committee? Start with the ones everybody suspects – Ryan, Ortiz, Piazza, Bagwell, Pudge Rodriguez. Then open it up to any other HOFers who want to ‘fess up. Could even just be for things like Greenies, not just steroids. Give them each an honorarium, and don’t take away their HOF membership.
    Bonds, Clemens, Rodriguez would get in right away. Probably Sheffield, McGwire, Sosa, Cano soon after.

    1. I really do think something like that is ultimately the only way this can go. You can’t have some of the best players of all-time just occasionally pop up on Veterans Committee elections every six years (since neither Bonds nor Clemens reached six votes, they’re now disqualified from appearing on the next Modern Players Veterans Committee ballot in 2028. They’ll have to wait for 2031).

  15. Hoch The Yankees did not make an offer to Devin Williams before he signed with the Mets.

    Brian Cashman: “Cody Bellinger would be a great fit for us. I think he’d be a great fit for anybody. I think he’s a very talented player that can play multiple positions at a high level, and hits lefties, hits righties.”
    Kirschner Brian Cashman said Tucker has NOT visited Steinbrenner Field. He did not say whether or not he expects him to visit at all. He did visit Jays camp.

    1. This Volpe thing is sickening. Yeah the injury is what caused his OPS to be 83; because the year before when he was healthy it was…86.

      Sheesh. I’m not sure there’s ever been a player on the Yankees this bad at hitting that got this many at bats.

    2. Oh i found someone worse that Volpe – Fred Stanley. And they won 2 WS with him! Of course he was a backup but did have over 1,000 at bats with a much lower OPS+ than Volpe.

  18. Remember in 2003 when George told Joel Sherman that he had asked Cash to get Ortiz but was told they had other needs?

    unsurprisingly, Cashman denies this but are there any other general managers that have done the job for one team since that time?

    1. Cashman is currently the longest serving GM, since 1998. The second longest, the Cardinals John Mozeliak, since 2007, retired after the 2025 season. Rizzo, the Nats GM since 2009, was let go by them. So that makes A.J. Preller, Padres, since 2014, the second longest tenured GM.

  19. im so depressed from being sick with the flu, the news, and the sabateur that i literally just caught myself daydreaming about the good old days when Joe Morgan was on national tv.

    i hope this isn’t the first stage of becoming a really shitty old person.

  23. it’s annoying that bud selig is in the hall but the whole class of steroid monsters that he presided over during his long tenure of disaster are shut out.

  24. Because Cashman isn’t doing anything, I’m just going to throw random trade ideas out there.

    How about going after Bryce Eldridge? Similar size and power to Jones, with a slightly lower strikeout rate, and plays a position of greater need. Putting him at 1B lets Rice stick at C/DH, with Wells as backup.
    Giants have a 1B in Devers, but need an outfielder (really just have Ramos and Lee) and starting pitching; and the Yankees have plenty. Could send them Jones and Gil – two young players under team control for a while, who I don’t necessarily see flourishing under continued Yankees management.

    1. not saying it’s a bad idea but gil’s stock seems pretty far down as well.

      best we can hope for is a washington generals spoiler the globetrotters 3peat

    2. Is Eldridge significantly more valuable than Spencer, since you’re throwing in a young pitcher who has great stuff AND has had genuine flashes of greatness? Not getting the added value, although I agree that the positional part should make the trade potentially useful for both NY & SF (without even considering Gil).
      Also, is there a reason to think Eldridge’d be MORE likely to flourish under Yankees management than Spencer?
      But mainly I don’t get why Gil would have to be thrown in.
      Otherwise this seems like giving up Gil for pretty much nothing but improving Spencer’s positional fit (and Eldridge’s for SF).

    3. My two cents: The one thing the yanks should not do is trade for a young hitter with potential because they simply cannot develop young hitters. Judge is the exception and he did it with his own coach. Every young hitter the yanks have had has either never made it or started well and then failed.
      Trade for established hitters and young pitchers. Thats it.

    5. Although it’s unfair to say they simply can’t develop young hitters. In fact, after an occasion initial burst of p performance, young hitters virtually always actively regress once they’ve spent any appreciable amount of time on the Yankees major league squad.

    7. DIY The Athletic: Rice Ben Rice knew he had a problem. Whenever the left-handed hitter finished his swing, his front foot would land across his body — or, in baseball parlance, in a closed stance.
      So Rice spent last offseason teaching himself to begin with his right foot nearly at the edge of the batter’s box — or in an open stance. It made all the difference. With a new stance — and with approximately 10 pounds of added strength — Rice turned in a stellar second big-league season at the plate, hitting .255 with 26 home runs, 65 RBIs and an .836 OPS. His 131 OPS+ meant that he produced at a rate 31 percent better than the league-average hitter.

      “He deserves all the credit,” hitting coach James Rowson said.

    1. I was thinking yesterday, after the possibility was mentioned, that Alonso somehow seems like an O’s kind of player.

  26. Passan BREAKING: First baseman Pete Alonso and the Baltimore Orioles are finalizing a five-year, $155 million contract, sources tell ESPN. Alonso leaves the Mets to make a loaded AL East even better.

  28. Jake (Real)
    ‪@jakemhs.bsky.social‬
    In my opinion Soto should realize he has no lineup around him and a questionable pitching staff and should demand a trade to the New York Yankees (America’s team) (27 rings)

    1. Stearns clearly felt two things.

      1. That Alonso wasn’t worth it for more than three years and
      2. Alonso was going to get a five year offer

      So no need to even offer three, ya know?

    1. They don’t look like they’re going to go after any impact player at all, except maybe Bellinger if the bidding doesn’t go too high, it’s surely the lack of interest in doing anything at all that saved them from going dumb on Alonso.

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