Yanks Look AWESOME Heading into 2024

Very exciting right now being a Yankee fan.

Spring Training 2024 has just begun and the Yankees look AWESOME — both for 2024 and the next few years.

Juan Soto looks like The perfect fit for this lineup. Aaron Judge is healthy & in his prime.

Spencer Jones looks Great. He’s a year away but might even make team late this yr. With The Martian Jasson Dominguez coming back in late August, Yanks look like they have Future set.

Austin Wells too.

Carlos Rodon & Nestor Cortes look like they’ll have strong comeback seasons.

Cy Young-winner Gerrit Cole, Yankee fan Marcus Stroman, Alex Verdugo, Gleyber Torres, the bullpen, on and on.

Here’s the breakdown:

The Lineup

Is projected to look like this — can you say “Balanced”?

	Hitter (age this year)	Position	Bats
1	DJ LeMahieu (35)	3B	R
2	Juan Soto (25)	RF	L
3	Aaron Judge (32)	CF	R
4	Anthony Rizzo (34)	1B	L
5	Gleyber Torres (27)	2B	R
6	Alex Verdugo (28)	LF	L
7	Giancarlo Stanton (34)	DH	R
8	Jose Trevino (31)/Austin Wells (24)	C	R/L
9	Anthony Volpe (23)	SS	R

Juan Soto, age 25, looks like the Perfect fit for this lineup. Because he walks so much, he will hit #2 in the lineup, before Aaron Judge, pushing Judge back to the #3 spot which is something Judge has been asking for.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1761834133427192022

Aaron Judge is 32 and in his prime. Giancarlo Stanton has shown up to Spring training much trimmed down in weight looking for a comeback season.

Into the Future

Spencer Jones, 6’6 lefty bat and only 23, looks like he is going to be a big-time player. Like Judge, he hits with power and to all fields. He’ll start the season in AA or AAA and there’s a chance we’ll see him at the end of this season. When The Martian Jasson Dominguez (just turned 21 yrs old; lefty bat) returns in late summer, the Yanks will be setup in the outfield now and into the future.

The Starting Rotation

1. Gerrit Cole, RH, 6’4, age 33 — the reigning Cy Young Award winner: 15-4 2.63, led league in ERA.
2. Carlos Rodon, LH, 6’2, age 31 — was 3-8 6.85 last yr in a season of injury. Was 14-8 2.88 in 2022.
3. Nestor Cortes, LH, 5’11, age 29 — was 5-2 4.97 before going on shelf last year. Was 12-4 2.44 in 2022.
4. Marcus Stroman, RH, 5’7, age 33 — was 10-9 3.95 for Cubs last yr. Grew up Yankee fan.
5. Clarke Schmidt, RH, 6’1, age 28 — came into his own last yr; 9-9 4.64 after dreadful 2-5 5.58 start to season.

Insurance Starters:

Aka the legion of 6’2 righties:

• Luke Weaver, RH, 6’2, age 30 — former top young arm; looked great for Yanks at end of last yr.
• Luis Gil, RH, 6’2, age 25 — is coming back off Tommy John surgery.
• Clayton Beeter, RH, 6’2, age 25 — was 6-2 2.08 in AA last yr, & 3-5 4.94 in AAA.
• Will Warren, RH, 6’2, age 25 — was 7-4 3.61 in AAA Scranton last year
• Chase Hampton, RH, 6’2, age 22 — a top prospect; the 6’2 righty should be in AAA this yr.

Gone

Gone from last year are Michael King (to San Diego as major part of the Soto deal), Luis Severino (signed with the Mets), Domingo German (still unsigned at this writing), Jhony Brito (to San Diego as part of Soto deal), and Randy Vasquez. (also to SD as part of Soto deal). Also Frankie Montas. Remember him? He signed with the Reds (just like Sonny Gray did to resuscitate his career after failing with the Yanks.

The Bullpen

• Clay Holmes, RH, age 31
• Ian Hamilton, RH, age 29
• Tommy Kahnle, RH, age 34
• Jonathan Loaisiga, RH, age 29
• Keynan Middleton, RH, age 30
• Ron Marinaccio, RH, age 28
• Caleb Ferguson, LH, age 27 — went 7-4 3.43 for LA Dodgers last yr. Acquired for Christian Zazueta (minors) and Matt Gage.
• Victor Gonzalez, LH, age 28 — picked up from LA Dodgers as part of Trey Sweeney deal. Went 3-3 4.01 last year.
• Clayton Andrews, LH, age 26 — picked up after being released by Brewers.
• Yoendrys Gomez, RH, age 24
• McKinley Moore, RH, age 25 — 6’6 flamethrower picked up after Philly waived him.
• Cody Morris, RH, age 27 — picked up from Cleveland for Estevan Florial.
• Cody Poteet, RH, age 28 — signed as free agent; pitched for Miami.
• Nick Ramirez, LH, age 34

Gone

Gone from last year are Wandy Peralta (signed with the SD Padres), Albert Abreu (signed with the Seibu Lions of the Japanese league), Jimmy Cordero (signed with the Chiba Lotte Marines of the Japanese league), Deivi Garcia (signed with the ChiSox), and others.

Catcher

• Austin Wells, 24, Lefty bat.
• Jose Trevino, 31, Righty bat.

Reserve

• Ben Rortvedt, 26, Lefty bat.

Gone

Gone from last year is Kyle Higashioka.

1st Base

• Anthony Rizzo, 34, Lefty bat.

2nd Base

• Gleyber Torres, 27, Righty bat.

3rd Base

• DJ LeMahieu, 35, Righty bat.

Shortstop

• Anthony Volpe, 23, Righty bat — the Gold Glove winner. Looked good as rook; except must raise avg from .209.

Backup Infielders

• Oswaldo Cabrera, 25, Infielder/Outfielder, Switch hitter
• Oswald Peraza, 24, Infielder, righty bat.
• Jorbit Vivas, 23, Infielder, lefty bat picked up from LA Dodgers for Trey Sweeney.
• Jordan Groshans, 23, 3B, righty bat claimed off waivers from Toronto.
• Jeter Downs, 25, SS — the one-time elite prospect (#44 in MLB Top 100 for 2020) who was a core part of the Red Sox Mookie Betts trade to LA, and was named after Derek Jeter. Didn’t make it in Boston, or Washington afterwards, and Yanks picked him up off waivers during the winter.

Gone from the Infield

Gone from the infield from last year are Isiah Kiner-Falefa (signed with Toronto), and Josh Donaldson (traded near end of year).

Outfield

Right Field

• Alex Verdugo, 28, lefty bat, excellent outfielder.

Centerfield

• Aaron Judge, 32, righty bat — Still in his prime. He wants to play center, but Yanks should give him some rest in right field too, moving Soto to DH on those days. Judge shoulda won several Gold Gloves by now.

Left Field

• Juan Soto, 25, lefty bat — perfect fit for lineup. Must show he can play D in right.

Reserves

• Trent Grisham, 27, centerfielder, Lefty bat.
• Everson Pereira, 23, outfielder, righty bat.
• Greg Allen, 31, centerfielder, switch hitter. Yanks love this guy.

Upcoming

• The Martian Jasson Dominguez, 21, centerfielder, lefty bat — due in late August. Looked Great last year before the injury.
• Spencer Jones, 23, lefty bat — will start the year in AA or AAA. Brian Cashman said many other teams keep asking for Spencer. Has 5-tool talent. Hits HR’s; hits to all fields; stole 40 bases in minors last year.

Gone

Gone from last year is Jake Bauers (now with Milwaukee), Harrison Bader (traded before season ended, and signed with Mets), Willie Calhoun (signed with LA Angels), Franchy Cordero (signed with the Seibu Lions of the Japanese league), and Billy McKinney (traded to Pittsburgh for International Bonus Pool money).

DH

• Giancarlo Stanton, 34, righty bat. Has thinned down to avoid muscle pulls and hopefully increase bat speed/batting average. He batted .191 last year (in an era of historically low batting averages).

Strengths

Everywhere.

• The starting pitching, if Rodon and Cortes have comeback years and stay healthy. Knock on wood Cole of course has to stay healthy. Many Yank fans want NY to sign or trade for another elite starter (like Blake Snell or Dylan Cease) before the season begins, but they don’t need one.
• The bullpen will be a strength again.
• The lineup is rocking.
• The infield defense should be superb.

Weaknesses

• Age is creeping in with LeMahieu at 35. Rizzo and Stanton are both 34 but that is still in the window of a hitter’s best years, albiet at the back end in the non-steroid era. But there’s a ton of youth to counter that.
• You’d like to see more production from 3rd base — LeMahieu is pressed in as the everyday 3rd baseman this year and his true-value position has always been 2nd base. But he can pick it and his 15-44-.243 (.327 OBP) last year is, incredibly, better than it seems in this era of historically low batting averages.
• Judge in centerfield doesn’t seem ideal but he can play the position well and it opens up rightfield for Soto. Soto needs to show he can play a decent outfield.
• Clay Holmes can be fantastic as a closer, and not fantastic as a closer — depending on if his sinker is sinking. Some fans have speculated the Yanks need a more consistent deadly closer. Not sure if there are any out there better than Holmes.
• Then of course there is the competition — Baltimore is stacked with exciting young players and picked up Corbin Burnes to head their rotation this off season. Tampa always wins 100 games it seems.

Early Prediction

Yanks only were 82-80 last year but that was no ordinary 82-80 season. They were decimated by injuries. We had predicted them for 102 wins.

This year they look even more AWESOME. Can they increase their win total by 20 wins? They decreased it by 17 last year (having won 99 in 2022).

We predict 102 wins at this point. If key players stay reasonably healthy. Age is creeping up in some areas but they have a lot of injection of youth going on as well.