{"id":561356,"date":"2026-02-08T17:34:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T17:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/561356\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T17:34:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T17:34:16","slug":"the-biggest-yankees-storylines-as-spring-training-nears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/561356\/","title":{"rendered":"The biggest Yankees storylines as spring training nears"},"content":{"rendered":"

Don\u2019t let New York\u2019s frigid weather fool you: spring training is about to begin.<\/p>\n

The Yankees\u2019 pitchers and catchers officially report to camp on Wednesday, which is when Aaron Boone will deliver his first remarks of the spring. And while plenty of players have already been in Tampa for some time, baseball activities will officially begin on Thursday when the pitchers and catchers conduct their first workout.<\/p>\n

Position players report on Feb. 15, which means the Yankees will hold their first full-squad workout at George M. Steinbrenner Field on Feb. 16. The Bombers\u2019 Grapefruit League schedule begins on Feb. 20, as they\u2019ll kick off exhibition play when they visit the Orioles in Sarasota.<\/p>\n

It will be a familiar group in Yankees camp<\/a>, as the team didn\u2019t make too many external additions and re-signed a handful of players from last year\u2019s squad this offseason. Still, there will be plenty of storylines to follow and questions that need answering.<\/p>\n

Below are some of the biggest.<\/p>\n

A RATHER SIMILAR ROSTER<\/p>\n

After winning 94 games and boasting baseball\u2019s best offense but falling short of a division title and getting trounced by the Blue Jays in the ALDS, the Yankees spent the offseason hyping \u2014 and mostly maintaining \u2014 the group that they ended up with last season.<\/p>\n

\"AA statue of George M. Steinbrenner stands outside George M. Steinbrenner Field during a spring training baseball game. (Chris O’Meara\/AP)<\/p>\n

Cody Bellinger was the most notable player that the Yankees brought back, as he agreed to a five-year, $162.5 million deal that also includes some opt outs and a few other perks<\/a>. Trent Grisham is also returning to the outfield after accepting the one-year qualifying offer.<\/p>\n

The Yankees also brought back Ryan Yarbrough, Paul Blackburn, Amed Rosario and Paul Goldschmidt.<\/p>\n

While the club\u2019s decision to keep much of last year\u2019s roster intact has rankled parts of a fanbase that is waiting for its first championship since 2009 \u2014 the team can still add before Opening Day \u2014 there have been a few new additions.<\/p>\n

Ryan Weathers, acquired in a trade with the Marlins<\/a>, was the most notable. He is expected to be in the Yankees\u2019 season-opening rotation with Carlos Rod\u00f3n, Gerrit Cole and Clarke Schmidt all starting off on the injured list.<\/p>\n

The Yankees also swung a deal with the Rockies for Angel Chivilli and selected Cade Winquest in the Rule 5 Draft. Both will get a chance to impact the bullpen.<\/p>\n

CAN THE ROTATION AVOID MORE INJURIES?<\/p>\n

While Rod\u00f3n and Cole are expected to make their season debuts in the earlier parts of the season, and the Yankees have more than five capable starters, there is some reason to worry about their rotation.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because spring training and the early parts of the schedule always seem to bring more injuries \u2014 a reality that the Yankees have acknowledged this winter \u2014 and Max Fried, Cam Schlittler and Will Warren are all coming off career-high workloads. Weathers and Luis Gil, meanwhile, are injury risks.<\/p>\n

That five-man group makes up the Yankees\u2019 season-opening rotation right now, which means swingmen Yarbrough and Blackburn could be forced into the group if the injury bug bites again.<\/p>\n

There are also top pitching prospects Elmer Rodr\u00edguez and Carlos Lagrange<\/a>, though they would get some more minor league seasoning in an ideal world.<\/p>\n

DOES THE BULLPEN HAVE ENOUGH?<\/p>\n

Perhaps one of those starting pitching prospects \u2014 Lagrange has a fitting profile \u2014 gets an opportunity in a bullpen that is short on sure things.<\/p>\n

The Yankees, who lost Devin Williams and Luke Weaver to the Mets, seem set in the closer\u2019s role with David Bednar, though it wasn\u2019t that long ago that he lost that job in Pittsburgh and was sent to Triple-A. Camilo Doval and Fernando Cruz look like the club\u2019s setup men, but they can be just as erratic as they can be nasty. Lefties Yarbrough and Tim Hill round out the group of locked-in relievers, assuming the former isn\u2019t forced into the rotation.<\/p>\n

Blackburn is also likely to get a spot since the Yankees gave him a $2 million deal<\/a>, but it remains to be seen if he can mimic Weaver\u2019s career renaissance. Other bullpen candidates include Chivilli, Winquest, Jake Bird, Brent Headrick, Yerry De los Santos and a few non-roster invitees.<\/p>\n

THE MARTIAN\u2019S OUTLOOK<\/p>\n

With Bellinger and Grisham returning to an outfield that also includes Aaron Judge, Jasson Dom\u00ednguez remains in limbo.<\/p>\n

As a defensively limited left fielder and a switch-hitter who hasn\u2019t been much of a threat from the right side, he\u2019s an imperfect fit as the club\u2019s fourth outfielder<\/a>. There\u2019s still time for the 23-year-old to improve on those things, though regular playing time would help with that. Right now, that would require an injury at the big league level.<\/p>\n

Brian Cashman previously said he did not want to demote The Martian when he found himself in a similar situation last year. However, Goldschmidt\u2019s return could make the Yankees\u2019 bench too crowded for Dom\u00ednguez, who has a minor league option.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t let New York\u2019s frigid weather fool you: spring training is about to begin. The Yankees\u2019 pitchers and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":561357,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2376],"tags":[1797,5,9139,1365,4635,4,1690,62,2548,2547,3352,151,142],"class_list":["post-561356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-yankees","tag-aaron-boone","tag-baseball","tag-catchers","tag-cody-bellinger","tag-grapefruit-league","tag-mlb","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkyankees","tag-pitchers","tag-spring-training","tag-yankees"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116036218622157671","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=561356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/561357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=561356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=561356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=561356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}