After losing the 2024 World Series in five games to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the New York Yankees will have to regroup and assess their future before the 2025 season.
The Yankees made their first World Series appearance since their 2009 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in six games, sadly there will be no ticker tape parade for the Bronx Bombers this year after their humiliating defeat at the hands of the Dodgers, leaving fans, media, and the organization itself clamoring to find out what happens next.
Photo credit: Vincent Carchietta of USA Today Sports
The Yankees Collapse
Five nothing going into the top half of the fifth inning, thats the lead the Yankees had over the LA Dodgers in game five, color commentator and hall of fame pitcher John Smoltz was cracking jokes about the Yankees packing their bags for LA, the Dodgers looked lost in their dugout as self doubt likely began to creep in, then in typical 2020’s New York Yankees fashion, they managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
This happened after the game 1 collapse which was almost worse, when the Dodgers came back from down 3-2 in the bottom of the tenth inning, after superstar first baseman Freddie Freeman, hit the second walkoff grand slam in world series (Nelson Cruz hit the other one for the Texas Rangers in game 2 of the 2011 World Series).
The game 1 collapse led to fans and media questioning the managerial prowess of longtime New York Yankees skipper Aaron Boone, who controversially decided to bring in former All Star left handed starter turned long reliever Nestor Cortes Jr., who hadn’t pitched in over thirty days, over the veteran lefty Tim Hill, who had been red hot down the stretch of the regular season and into the playoffs.
After game 5 of the 2024 World Series, the Yankees should have been leading the series three victories to two, rather than losing at home with Frank Sinatra’s “New York New York” playing over the Yankee Stadium speakers, in an almost mocking manner.
After such disappointment, such humiliation fans have been awaiting what New York would do following this disastrous conclusion to an already emotionally arduous season.
Key New York Yankees Free Agents
Unsurprisingly the Yankees are losing many players to free agency this year, some of them key players, others not as critical to the franchise’s coveted 28th World Series pennant.
Juan Soto, age 26, Outfielder: The 2024 New York Yankees starting right fielder, proved to be a very crucial asset to the Yankees this season. The left handed hitting 26 year old Dominican phenom, will likely be the second runner up in the American League MVP race behind fellow Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, and Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.
In Soto’s lone New York season the wunderkind delivered, with a bWAR of 7.9, a batting average of .288, 41 home runs, 166 hits, and an OPS+ of 178 which is 78 points above league average. Yet again Soto had more walks than strikeouts, with 129 base on balls to 119 punchouts. Along with playing good enough defense to finish as a finalist in American League right field Gold Glove voting.
On top of the dominant regular season Juan Soto showcased, his postseason was almost just as good having had 4 home runs, 9 RBIs, and a walk to strikeout ratio of 14-9 in 14 games played.
The four time All Star is expected to sign for record money, some mock signings have him at 12-15 years for 700 million dollars, others have him at 10 years for 600 million, regardless it’s going to be Scrooge McDuck money.
Resigning Soto is pivotal to the success of the Yankees, already having won a World Series ring with Washington in 2019, “Childish Bambino” is a natural born winner and one of the best floor raisers in the game, it is extremely difficult to be a bad team when you have a talented player of this caliber getting four at bats a game for you at the top of the lineup.
500, 600, 700 million dollars, I do not care, get him back in Yankees pinstripes next season. Juan Soto is not a want for the Yankees, he is a necessity.
Gleyber Torres, age 27, Second Base: Few Yankees have swung Yankees fans’ opinions as much as New York’s long time second baseman. I remember when he got traded from the Cubs in 2016 for Aroldis Chapman, he was supposed to be an important part of the Yankees future, and the two time MLB All Star at times has surpassed even the highest of expectations, and at other times has been unplayably bad while getting booed from home fans.
I honestly do not know what the yankees do with Gleyber, he’s a leadoff man who can’t steal bases, he’s a contact hitter who can’t hit above 270, he’s a fielder who can’t field, he constantly finds himself in pivotal moments and constantly picks the worst imaginable time to screw up, yet most fans would agree he is among the better second baseman in the league.
It’s truly bizarre how drastic he is week to week, game to game, he hit .364 against the Cleveland Guardians in the 2024 ALCS, then hit .143 in the World Series. Gleyber Torres is simply an enigma, he always finishes around average yet is always seemingly way better or way worse than average any given day.
On the season Torres hit .257, 151 hits, 15 homers, 63 RBIs, and OPS+ of 101, again just about at league average. I do think the New York media and fanbase harp on the bad too much, and fail to praise the good.
Gleyber Torres is not a bad player but he definitely needs a change of scenery. Leading up to the trade deadline he played out of his mind and the Yankees kept him, then he struggled again, at times he looks much more engaged than others, he is a horrific base runner, but his inconsistency is something fans and media are just over, honestly I would not be surprised of the Yankees front office feel the same.
Something preventing Gleyber from returning is that he is a redundancy on the roster. The Yankees have DJ LeMahieu who is washed up, but under contract and so bad he isn’t movable for the money he makes, although he can play gold glove caliber defense at three positions, New York acquired Jazz Chisholm Jr. from Miami in July who is a true second baseman who was forced to masquerade as a third baseman this year, switch hitter Oswaldo Cabrera can play second base and has even been used as a defensive replacement for Gleyber.
Perhaps the most interesting Gleyber replacement candidate is Oswald Peraza. At 24 years old, Peraza has been one of New York’s higher ranked prospects, but has struggled offensively at the big league level, granted he has only played in 74 games.
Alex Verdugo, age 28, Outfielder: Alex Verdugo was acquired in a rare Yankees/Red Sox trade in the 2023 offseason, he has been an average player throughout much of his career, and struggled at the plate in 2024 for the Yankees.
Verdugo’s 2024 stats were, 13 home runs, 61 RBIs, 49 walks to 93 strikeouts, a .233 batting average, and an OPS+ of 83. Again, below average in most categories.
Honestly, I do not see a legitimate path to Verdugo coming back. The Yankees are clearly bringing 21 year old switch hitting center fielder Jasson Dominguez up to the main roster next year, Judge is going to be playing the outfield again, and the Yankees are actively pursuing Juan Soto, when the music stops I doubt Verdugo gets a chair in the Bronx.
If the Yankees do not sign Juan Soto, maybe they bring him back, but they could also slide Jazz Chisholm Jr. into one of those outfield spots or Oswaldo Cabrera. There are other free agent outfielder that are better players than Verdugo as well, which I will get to later in this piece.
Perhaps if Verdugo likes New York enough and the feeling is mutual, maybe he comes back as a bench piece, but honestly he has future Colorado Rockie or Miami Marlin written all over him.
Anthony Rizzo, age 35, First Baseman: Former platinum glove winning first baseman, Anthony Rizzo is a reliable first baseman, typically you can count on him to make defensive plays at the position and give competitive at bats.
The 2016 World Series winner is a likely returning candidate, I wouldn’t be too surprised if the Yankees brought him back, every player, coach, and front office member talk about the difference he makes on team culture, and values his opinion in a pseudo player-coach role.
It is well known Rizzo has become close with Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, and superstar outfielder Aaron Judge. The Yankees likely declined his option to try and bring him back on a cheaper deal.
Personally, I think this crop of free agent first baseman is shallow. 30 year old power slugging righty Pete Alonso of the Mets is redundant given the Yankees have a similar archetype with Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge, this reason can also be given for not signing 34 year old Christian Walker.
I believe the cheapest and most likely option is the Yankees bringing back Rizzo, on a cheap 1 year deal for less than 10 million dollars.
Players The Yankees Should Get
Obvisouly the New York Yankees running it back may not be the wisest decision, here are some options for the “Bronx Bombers” to bring in.
Ha-Seong Kim, age 29, Infielder: Ha-Seong Kim is probably one of the most underrated players in the league. Kim plays second base, third base, and shortstop.
Assuming the Yankees decide to move on from Torres, Kim can play third and move Jazz to second, or Kim can play second. Maybe the Yankees want to try Volpe somewhere else, Kim can play gold glove caliber defense at short. The only limitation on this defensive super weapon is his average offensive output.
Kim is coming off a down year offensively, with a batting average of .233, an OPS+ of 96, and just 30 total extra base hits. However in 121 games he managed to steal 22 stolen bases, the Yankees really lack presence on the base paths save for Jazz and Volpe.
Anthony Santander, 30 years old, Right fielder: This is another move the Yankees may make if things don’t pan out with a returning player. Veteran switch hitter Anthony Santander has been one of the better hitters in baseball over the past five seasons, and again one of the more underrated players in the league.
Santander is coming off his only All Star season and will likely get votes for All MLB, after hitting 44 homers, drove in 102 runs, and had an OPS+ of 134. There isn’t much to discredit his offensive ability aside from his .235 batting average which is the second lowest of his career.
Defensively Santander is at or slightly above average based on most metrics. I wouldn’t put him at the top of my offseason wish list, but he could be more than just serviceable if the Yankees are unable to bring back Soto.
Roki Sasaki, 23 years old, Starting Pitcher: A team could always use starting pitching, and despite never pitching in Major League Baseball, 23 year old Roki Sasaki has been on the radar for teams since his 2023 World Baseball Classic run.
In 2023 Sasaki averaged 100.5 miles per hour on his fastball and peaked at 101.9 miles per hour. Obviously this kind of production at just 21 years old raised eyebrows.
Since then, Sasaki has had an ERA of 1.78 in the 2023 NPB regular season, and an ERA of 2.35 last year. The regression and strong reliance on the fastball which typically plays differently in the States, could be something to watch out for, but for a player with this upside, at this age is tremendous, and is impacted more from the rest of the free agent class being almost exclusively aging veteran pitchers searching for one of their last contracts.
Hopefully the Yankees end their season next year with a parade in New York’s canyon of heroes rather than losing at home in the World Series. For more on sports and pop culture visit the Respect MY Region home page.
