Fans of the New York Yankees must, I fear, prepare to be underwhelmed by the next moves made by the front office to acquire starting pitching. The longer the starting pitching free agent market stretches, the less likely it appears that the Yankees have an overwhelming interest in any of the big-ticket names, such as Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery, or Marcus Stroman. While Yankee fans expect starting pitching to be acquired, which will justify the trade for Juan Soto on a one-year $33 million deal, the front office has not shown its hand as far as what their plan is for the starting rotation since the agreement for Yoshinobu Yamamoto fell through.
Yankee fans rightly believe that the team acquired Juan Soto to address a 2023 season that was “a disaster,” so-called by Yankees Vice President and General Manager Brian Cashman. The 2023 team lacked youth, athleticism, and, most importantly, a left-handed power bat to take advantage of the right-field short porch. Even on a one-year deal, Soto makes sense for the Yankees, and his addition has the makings of creating a super outfield once Jasson Dominguez returns from injury mid-season in 2024 – Aaron Judge in center field, Soto in right field and Dominguez in left field with Alex Verdugo coming off the bench as the fourth outfielder.
The Yankees must bolster the starting rotation for the Soto trade to make sense. On January 3, 2024, the starting rotation certainly consists of Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon, and after that come the question marks, some combination of Clarke Schmidt, Nestor Cortes, and a player to be named later – either brought up through the system or acquired outside the organization. The 2023 rotation finished in the bottom third of the league in fWar and near the bottom third of the league in ERA. Fans fear that the Yankees will not pivot from Yamamoto to another top-tier free agent but instead will target a middle-of-the-rotation pitcher in a move calculated to counter the inflation of the big-ticket free agents after the Yamamoto deal.
Fans are clamoring for the Yankees to reunite with Jordan Montgomery, now a World Series champion and an even more successful pitcher than he was when he was in the Bronx previously. If the Yankees are planning a trade, fans are talking about Corbin Burnes with Milwaukee or Edward Cabrera with Miami, both top-of-the-line pitchers who would immediately bolster the rotation and make it more viable for a postseason run.
2009 is light years away from 2024. Yankee fans expect to root for teams that compete not just for the division but for the World Series. The 2023 Yankees, who went 82-80, were indeed “a disaster” as they saw their season implode when their captain and All-Star Aaron Judge went down for two months with a toe injury. The 2024 Yankees are already deeper with the addition of Soto and need to acquire starting pitching that will propel them to the next level. The starting pitching the Yankees acquire will define how much they want to win in 2024.
Good analysis! I don’t want to be underwhelmed this year.