Three Priorities for the Bronx: How the Yankees Can Navigate the Post-Bellinger Offseason
While the offense looks elite on paper, the lack of high-leverage certainty and a thin rotation depth chart could be the "Achilles' heel" for a team chasing a championship.
The Yankees made the re-signing of Cody Bellinger official on Monday. The Yankees offseason revolved around bringing Bellinger back, and that has been accomplished.
The Yankees should not be done. There are still holes on the roster. Though, it does seem the team’s priorities are not in line with what they should be given what has been signaled.
Given how the roster currently breaks down, here is what the priorities moving forward should be for the Bombers front office — if the goal is still to win a championship.
1. Bullpen
The Yankees bullpen as currently constructed is an absolute train wreck. Outside of closer David Bednar, everyone else in the bullpen has massive question marks.
Will Comilo Doval and Fernando Cruz be able to sustain throwing strikes for majority of their outings? To pair with that, will both of them stay healthy the whole season after pitching in the WBC?
Will Brent Headrick break out fully this season and be able to face right-handers. This one I have more faith in given his underlying data from the 2025 season in his stints with the Yankees.
Can the Yankees find the lanes for Tim Hill that will benefit the team’s success — like only against lefties? As teams become more platoon oriented, Hill’s role becomes much more complicated as he is much less effective agianst right handed hitters.
What is Cade Winquest?
Will Ryan Yarbrough and Paul Blackburn be able to perform effectively in a regular bullpen role? This is assuming only one of the two is the long reliever in the bullpen.
That is a lot of question marks for one of the essential parts of any roster. It would strongly benefit the Yankees to find a high-end reliever on the trade market to help alleviate a lot of these question marks. Rays lefty Garret Cleavenger and Cardinals lefty JoJo Romero would be very good options for the Yankees.
2. Starting Pitching
The Yankees starting rotation is a unit right now with a high pendulum swing. At it’s hight and full health, it could be one of the best rotations in the sport. If the rotation does not gain and maintain full health, that could be the demise of the 2026 Yankees.
The Yankees could still use a starter. There are a lot of options on the trade market and free agent market, but the prices are high.
The Yankees could seek a trade for Reds starter Brady Singer who won’t be as expensive and is a solid innings eater.
If the Yankees really wanted to go all in, they could sign New Jersey native Zac Gallen to a short term, high AAV offer. That seems rather unrealistic with owner Hal Steinbrenner being stingy with the wallet this offseason with the exception being Bellinger. Though, Gallen’s postseason experience should make him the priority for the Yankees.
3. Offense and Depth
The Yankees offense is fine as it sits now. As I reported on Monday, the Yankees are still looking for a right-handed platoon option for Ben Rice at first base.
While the Yankees have pegged that as somewhat of a priority, it’s not. Their offense was the best in the sport in 2025. That offense should only get better in 2026.
Baring the Yankees acquiring a righty first baseman as I have detailed, we should get a full season of Ben Rice at first base. If he gets some better hitting luck this season, he could be a top 15 hitter in the sport, he’s that good.
If Jazz Chisholm Jr. is healthy, he could be a 40/40 player, building off his 31/31 2025 season. Him being at second base for the full season should also make him more comfortable defensively.
Shortstop is the biggest question mark I have. We don’t truly know what Jose Caballero or Oswaldo Cabrera are going to provide offensively in the first month of the season with Anthony Volpe on the IL. And when Volpe does return, who knows what were going to get.
The Yankees should get more offensively out of the third base platoon of Ryan McMahon and Amed Rosario. McMahon is not as good against left-handers and Rosario is very good against lefties. The Yankees making that deficiency from McMahon’s past and making it an asset pairing him with someone who is a career lefty killer deserves a lot of credit.
The Yankees outfield will be the best outfield in Baseball. Aaron Judge, is well, Aaron Judge. Cody Bellinger is an elite hitter at Yankee Stadium, but not so much on the road. Trent Grisham is the biggest question mark in this group and the underlying numbers show that Grisham’s 2025 season was not a fluke.
Adding to the offense should not be the priority of the Yankees at this point. If something — like Ben Rice against lefties — becomes an issue, the Yankees can simply address it in season with a trade.
The Yankees need to add to their team, but the pitching unit needs to be the focus of the remainder of the offseason.