ORLANDO, Fla. — The New York Yankees can’t continue to sit still — and they won’t. While they seem to be waiting on outfielder Cody Bellinger to decide whether he wants to return, general manager Brian Cashman had a simple answer when asked whether the club could make other moves in the meantime: “Yes.”
They must be active sooner rather than later. A league source who has been briefed on talks with Bellinger’s agent, Scott Boras, said it seemed likely Boras could try to get Kyle Tucker to sign before completing a deal for Bellinger, who also seems to have plenty of suitors. The Yankees have problems that signing Bellinger alone wouldn’t solve, and they have the ability to get things done even if a Bellinger deal would almost definitely be their biggest offseason expenditure.
Cashman knows it, even if he’s downplaying the club’s issues.
“The needs aren’t so glaring,” he said Wednesday, the last day of the Winter Meetings at the Waldorf Astoria. “Again … we have good players spread throughout this roster. How do I reconfigure it to make it better? How do I import certain options to make it better?”
The Yankees could start by using the time to address their starting rotation, bullpen and platoon options.
Manager Aaron Boone said “it would be great” if the Yankees could add another starting pitcher. He also said “not necessarily” when asked if they need one, but then he spoke of starting the season with a rotation of Ryan Yarbrough and the potential for their top pitching prospects to contribute “on a limited basis.”
Max Fried led the American League in wins in 2025, but coming off a career high for innings pitched, he will merit being closely monitored. (Nathan Ray Seebeck / Imagn Images)
That’s not how the Yankees should follow up a season in which they finished tied for the best record in the American League and felt so good about their chances in the playoffs that Boone said it was especially “hard” for him to swallow their AL Division Series loss to the Toronto Blue Jays because they were healthy and performing well.
Even with Gerrit Cole (late May/June) and Carlos Rodón (May) set to return to the rotation in the early portion of the year, they’ll have to be careful handling Max Fried, Will Warren and Cam Schlittler, who will be coming off career highs in innings pitched. They’ll also be wary of the oft-injured Luis Gil. And there’s no guarantee Cole, Rodón and Fried will all be healthy at the same time.
The Yankees need front-end rotation security, which is why the club had at least early in the offseason been in contact with agent Casey Close, who represents free-agent righty Michael King — whom Boone on Wednesday called a “stud.” The Yankees have highly regarded pitching talent that could be used in a potential trade to acquire established high-end arms who have been speculated to be on the trading block. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon reported Wednesday that the Yankees were among the teams in the market for the Milwaukee Brewers’ Freddy Peralta. Another league source said there’s been widespread interest in the Cincinnati Reds’ Hunter Greene.
Regarding the bullpen, Boone said the Yankees appeared to be in good shape with David Bednar as closer and Camilo Doval and Fernando Cruz as late-inning options, but that “we’ll probably add something along the way for that to fortify it even more.” Hours later, the Yankees made their first Rule 5 Draft pick in 14 years, selecting hard-throwing righty Cade Winquest from the St. Louis Cardinals. However, it would be foolish to think the Yankees are banking on Winquest to last in the majors the entire season, especially with how often they shuttle relief arms from Triple A.
The Yankees could also use a righty-hitting platoon partner for lefty hitters Ryan McMahon at third base and Ben Rice at first base. A reunion with Amed Rosario could make sense, though the Yankees might prefer someone with better defensive chops. They may also want a righty-hitting backup center fielder to use when Trent Grisham needs a rest. Cashman said Sunday that the Yankees were too left-handed overall, but said Wednesday that he’d like to continue to give the club more options for a platoon advantage — something he was able to do last trade deadline when he imported Rosario and outfielder Austin Slater.
“It’s a vulnerability right now and not a lot of right-handed bats in the game are accessible,” Cashman said. “That’s why you have to have some tough conversations along the way and some tough considerations to balance out. But it might take longer. … The balance is important. If I can balance it out to give us the matchups that we would desire that would be more favorable for us as we enter the battle. That’s what I’d like to do.”
Still, what the Yankees would like most is for Bellinger to make his decision.
“Listen,” Cashman said, “Scott Boras has a very deep roster of players he’s looking to place and how and when he strategically decides to do that.”
But until then, there’s plenty the Yankees could accomplish right away that they didn’t get done at the Winter Meetings.