TAMPA, Fla. — They finally ended a 15-year World Series absence, but scattering for the winter without the Commissioner’s Trophy in hand provided a cruel reminder for the New York Yankees: Pushing the boulder farther up the hill only makes it roll back down even harder.
Ninety-four wins and American League division and championship series conquests of Kansas City and Cleveland soured after a five-game World Series loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers – particularly since they did not look good doing so.
Reunited yet down one generational superstar, the reloaded Yankees are now tasked with turning the nightmare fuel of a Game 5 collapse into propellant.
“You compete your [expletive] off all year,” ace Gerrit Cole told USA TODAY Sports. “You compete your [expletive] off through the DS, through the CS, and you’re competing your [expletive] off in the World Series, too. But you finish second. You lose.
“I think there’s a blend, in each of us, a sense of accomplishment but also sense that we didn’t finish. And we especially didn’t finish the way we wanted to. We wanted to play better. And we didn’t.
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“Guys are grabbing fuel from both ends of the spectrum. We did push this farther than we have pushed this. And yet our goal was not accomplished.”
The desultory decisive game – marked by crucial mistakes from franchise player Aaron Judge (dropped fly ball), shortstop Anthony Volpe (poor throw) and Cole (late covering first base from the mound) – should have been exacerbated by offseason heartbreak.
After all, following one season in the Bronx in which he formed, with Judge, one of the great 1-2 punches in baseball history, Juan Soto crossed town to the Mets for a $765 million contract. A one-year trial with Soto nearly produced a World Series championship and nearly produced a long-term union.
Instead, the Yankees got neither.
Yet the group that has reassembled at Steinbrenner Field has been galvanized, in part by October lessons learned and most notably by the Yankees’ quick-twitch reaction after Soto’s defection.
Left-hander Max Fried: Signed to a $218 million deal just a day after the Mets edged the Yankees at the tape for Soto’s services.
Closer Devin Williams: Acquired in trade from Milwaukee Brewers on Dec. 13.
Center fielder Cody Bellinger: Acquired in trade from Chicago Cubs on Dec. 17.
First baseman Paul Goldschmidt: Signed to one-year deal on Dec. 21.
In less than two weeks, the Yankees lost the Soto Shuffle but turned a Pinstripe Pivot into legitimate dreams in 2025, adding a World Series-winning pitcher, a pair of former MVPs and one of baseball’s premier relievers.
And while Goldschmidt, 37, likely won’t revisit his 2022 NL MVP form, the Yankees have added the game’s best pitcher since 2020 in Fried and a former MVP in Bellinger who won’t turn 30 until July.
The quick strikes were most appreciated by returning Yankees who’d rather not be held hostage by roster rumblings all winter.
“I don’t want to sit by my phone all day. I’ll wait for some credited sources to come out with real info and other than that I’m not paying too much attention to it,” says pitcher Clarke Schmidt. “We realize every time you go out there, you’re not going to have the same team every year. Especially when you have that big of free agents. Especially the biggest free agent.
“I thought they did a great job. We bolstered the pen. We bolstered the rotation. And the bats we added. They did a really, really good job.”
The relief was palpable for both returning and incoming Yankees.
‘The vibe’s incredible’
Bellinger hit 47 home runs in winning the 2019 MVP, and then helped lead the Dodgers to the shortened-season 2020 World Series title, but not before a forearm bash celebrating a Kiké Hernández NLCS home run sidetracked his career.
Shoulder surgery and then a 2021 hairline fracture in his left fibula robbed him of both his upper and lower halves, resulting in two seasons where he batted a combined .193 with a .611 OPS, and the Dodgers non-tendered him.
The past two seasons were spent reestablishing his value at Wrigley Field, to mixed results: He was a 4.4 WAR player in 2023, signed an $80 million deal with two opt-outs and then tailed off to 2.2 WAR last year.
When the strangely penurious Cubs signaled their intent to trade him, Bellinger geared up. And when it was destination, New York, a player who could be playing the what-if game is instead counting his blessings.
“I kind of knew I was going to get traded so I was like, ‘I hope it’s to a good spot,’” says Bellinger. “The Cubs are a great organization. The Dodgers are a great organization. I wanted to go to a place that was cool.
“This has been amazing. I was so pumped up when I got the call. I’m excited to be here.”
The feeling is mutual. Bellinger remains an elite defender in center field and at first base, his presence enabling Judge, who turns 33 in April, to slide back to right field. He can also spell Goldschmidt at first base.
Meanwhile, the Bellinger-Yankees alliance can truly be mutually beneficial should the lefty slugger properly leverage the short right field porch. Soto didn’t quite turn into Babe Ruth in the Bronx, but he did set career highs with 41 homers and a 178 adjusted OPS, along with a .989 OPS.
Suddenly, batting practice takes on a different meaning for Bellinger who can once again opt out of his contract and test free agency after this season.
“Gotta stay inside the baseball,” he says. “Gotta stay inside my swing.
“Good things could and should happen.”
That feeling extends toward the clubhouse, where Bellinger reports that “the vibe’s incredible,” especially following the lead of Judge, whom he credits with “unmatched” energy and presence.
The infusion of new and very accomplished blood is also highly appreciated among the returners.
“They’re major, major additions,” says Volpe, who posted an .815 OPS with five stolen bases in the Yankees’ postseason run. “Not only to the lineup, to the team, to the field, but the clubhouse. Going forward that’s probably going to be most important.”
Still not over it
Equally important was the Yankees’ nimble winter response. Oh, it won’t qualify as a Dodgers-like splurge: Soto’s $31 million salary is pretty much a wash with Fried’s signing bonus and 2025 salary, and the Yankee payroll will once again land somewhere in the $310 million range.
Yet they remain consensus favorites in an AL East that runs five deep yet lacks a true behemoth – unless you count the Yankees.
“Everything happened pretty fast,” says Volpe of the winter maneuvers. “It’s just a good feeling knowing you’re on a team and in an organization that’s going to do whatever it takes to put us over the edge.
“Besides Judgey, Soto’s the best player, by far, I’ve ever played with. Losing him, you can’t ever replace anything like that. But feeling like you’re in an organization that will invest, it’s a good feeling and makes you want to go out there and win.”
Says Cole: “There was a lot of decisiveness. There was a concerted contingency plan. And I’m sure they spent a lot of time and focus on Juan. But the speed at which they moved and the areas with which they targeted to improve, it seemed like there was a lot of critical thought going on prior to Juan doing what he decided to do.”
In Fried, the Yankees get the game’s best ERA – 2.81 – among starting pitchers since 2020. His seven-pitch mix will be a significant changeup from the power arms – Cole, Carlos Rodón, Schmidt and Rookie of the Year Luis Gil – the Yankees will trot out the rest of the time.
Cole and Schmidt by turns call Fried “articulate,” “curious” and “team-centric,” and, most important, “elite at run prevention,” as Cole says.
He’ll also come in with a 2021 World Series ring and no memory of the Yankees’ desultory performance in the most recent Fall Classic.
Yet those that return won’t forget, in a season where learning from the past and quickly moving on from it might be the team’s best attribute.
“Some of those feelings, you don’t necessarily get over, ever,” says Volpe. “But I think our team, our clubhouse have done a pretty good job using those things and those feelings to push us to new heights, new things.
“The best part is I don’t think we’ll ever get over that – that team and that bond, knowing we came that close. But looking at it with the perspective that it’s a good thing, and it will help us.”
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