DEAL AGREED: Yankees Looking To Break World Series Drought With Blockbuster signing of Retooled Offense, Potential Cy Young Addition

No one associated with the 2023 New York Yankees could find a good lesson from a season that could be legitimately defined as disappointing due to inconsistency, injuries, and unmet club goals and expectations.
How awful was 2023 for the Yankees, who finished fourth out of five clubs in the fiercely tough American League East with an 82-80 record?

Infielder DJ LeMahieu was eager to move on from last season, so he began preparing for 2024 spring training just days after the 2023 season ended.

“I was ready to turn the page on last year,” LeMahieu stated earlier this week. “Everyone struggled last year. “I wanted to give myself every opportunity to be myself in all aspects.”
Several of LeMahieu’s colleagues, notably designated hitter/outfielder Giancarlo Stanton, arrived up to George M. Steinbrenner Field much slimmer than he was a year before and informed reporters that he had “flushed 2023 down the toilet.”

The early spring training approach of LeMahieu, Stanton, and others complemented the hopeful and constructive remarks made earlier this week by Yankee captain and undisputed team leader Aaron Judge.

Judge, who recently suffered a devastating toe injury that he says will require management for the rest of his professional career, said he is encouraged and optimistic about the visible roster changes made by the Yankees, as well as several behind-the-scenes organizational philosophy shifts designed to improve the team.

Following last season’s disappointment, Yankees supporters demanded that the team do something dynamic to improve the roster.
So, on December 6, New York made a massive offseason trade with the San Diego Padres, acquiring Juan Soto and Trent Grisham in exchange for Michael King, Jhony Brito, Randy Vasquez, Drew Thorpe, and Kyle Higashiosaka.
Soto and the Yankees avoided salary arbitration by agreeing to a one-year contract worth $31 million dollars.
Soto, 25, who is rated by baseball experts as a generational talent and one of the top five players in the game, has created quite the excitement in the early days of his rookie Yankees spring training with his bat, overall talent, attitude, and his unique “Soto Shuffle”

He’s a career.284 hitter with 160 home runs and 483 RBIs. The three-time All-Star won a World Series win with the Washington Nationals in 2019 and was named the National League’s batting champion in 2020, hitting.351.
Adding Soto to a lineup that includes LeMahieu, Judge, Anthony Rizzo, Gleyber Torres, Alex Verdugo, Stanton, Anthony Volpe, and Jose Trevino has at least one Yankee veteran excited about the 2024 season.

“We’re going to be a good team this year,” Trevino declared. “Bringing in talent like the guys we brought in…gamers, guys that love to play the game hard-nosed, it’s going to be good.”

Judge, a five-time All-Star and the American League MVP in 2022, contributes significantly to the Yankees’ Zen-like joyful attitude.
Judge, who promised changes quickly after the 2023 season concluded, believes the Bronx Bombers have a chance to demonstrate their naysayers that last year was simply an off year now that the appropriate people (coaches and players) are in place.

“This team has incredible potential,” Judge stated. “Let’s start with Juan Soto…”He’s a player who will get on base, drive the ball all over the park, and is a left-handed bat in the middle that we’ve been looking for. Then there’s Grisham (Trent), another left-handed hitter, a superb outfielder who puts the ball in play, and Verdugo (Alex), who has done a lot of damage against us over the years and now has a chance to join our team. This lineup will just provide us with new alternatives that we have not had in the last few years.”

And, much to the displeasure of Yankee haters around the country, Brian Cashman, New York’s general manager, is still looking to enhance the roster, which could mean reigning 2023 National League Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell joins the team soon.
Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner, speaking with media on Thursday, stated that despite the team’s current payroll, he is willing to evaluate any move proposed by Cashman and his crew.

“I think we have a championship-caliber team right now, but we haven’t stopped looking to improve and we never will,” Steinbrenner said in a statement. “We are not done trying to improve this team.”