ORLANDO — New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone flashed a knowing, light-hearted smile as he walked away from the throng of reporters who had gathered in front of him on Day 2 of the Winter Meetings in a ballroom at the Signa resort and hotel. Then he recited an imaginary headline that he jokingly envisioned reading in the coming hours.

“Boone Thinks They’re Better!” the manager whisper-shouted.

He was referring to his fresh comments about the Toronto Blue Jays, whom he admitted “kicked our ass” last season while also pointing out that his Yankees finished with the same 94-68 record as they did.

Boone said that “the gap is small” between his club and the Blue Jays, which won the American League East because it held the 5-8 tiebreaker over the Yankees and then fell in a historic seven-game World Series to the repeat champion Los Angeles Dodgers.

“We have the exact same record,” Boone said. “But they obviously were a great team last year, an eyelash away from winning the world championship.”

Of course, the Yankees — as constructed — may have a lot of work to do at the Winter Meetings to maintain that gap, whatever the size.

The offseason has already seen the Blue Jays add front-end starting pitcher Dylan Cease on a seven-year, $210 million deal following the departures of starters Chris Bassitt and Max Scherzer and star shortstop Bo Bichette.

Meanwhile, the Yankees maintain that they’re hopeful they can reunite with outfielder/first baseman Cody Bellinger, who is represented by Scott Boras and whose free agency, which is expected to be competitive, could drag on indefinitely. They already re-signed center fielder Trent Grisham to the $22 million qualifying offer, and general manager Brian Cashman has said that the lineup is “too left-handed.” The Yankees are also hopeful that the projected May or June return of ace Gerrit Cole (Tommy John surgery) will be a major boost to the team that fell, 3-1, to Toronto in the AL Division Series last year.

“You’re always trying to improve your club and improve your team,” Boone said, “but also pause and say, ‘Hey, we’re pretty good here.’ And we’ve got a lot of really good players and a lot of really good young core players that emerged on different levels last year that we need to continue to grow in their big-league kind of journey.”

Sonny Gray surprise

Boone said that he was caught off guard by Sonny Gray’s comments upon joining the Boston Red Sox last week, in which Gray praised Boston as a place “easier to hate the Yankees” and that he had “never” wanted to play for the Yankees in the first place. Gray, who was traded from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Red Sox on Nov. 25, spent 1 1/2 dreadful seasons with the Yankees from the trade deadline in 2017 through all of 2018.

“He’s in Boston now,” Boone said. “He’s not supposed to like us anyway. That being said, I’ve always really liked Sonny, gotten along well with him. If he’ll spice up the rivalry a little, there’s nothing wrong with that. But I was a little surprised how deep he went.”

Boone was asked if he could tell at the time that Gray hated playing for the Yankees. Boone managed Gray in 2018 — his first year at the helm in the Bronx.

“I don’t know about hated,” Boone said. “I don’t know if I would have characterized it like that. I know it wasn’t certainly the best stop for him, but one of those probably important steps along what’s been a really good career for him.”

On Sunday, Cashman said that Gray had lied behind the scenes by telling people that he wanted to get traded to the Yankees before they acquired him — a notion that his agent later shot down in comments to The Athletic. Cashman said that he might have changed his mind about trading for Gray if he had known how badly he actually didn’t want to play for the Yankees.

Injury updates

Boone said that Cole threw between six to eight bullpen sessions at Yankee Stadium this offseason before entering a slowdown phase to give his elbow time to recover. Boone said Cole was either in the early stages of his regular winter throwing program or was about to enter it, and that his rehab continues to go well.

Boone added that shortstop Anthony Volpe (partially torn left-shoulder labrum surgery) was at Yankee Stadium essentially every day in the offseason receiving treatment, and that he recently relocated to Tampa for the winter. On Sunday night, Cashman said he didn’t expect Volpe to be back before May.

“He’s making the right kind of progress,” Boone said. “Still in that kind of rehab phase of it all.”