Yankees Reportedly Could Make Shocking Move This Offseason Involving Two Stars
The New York Yankees have a lot of work to do this offseason and it sounds like they could go big to fix their issues.
New York unsurprisingly has high expectations. The Yankees have one of the highest payrolls in baseball but haven't won a World Series title since 2009. The Yankees have plenty of talent on the roster but won just 82 games in 2023 due to inconsistent play and loads of injuries.
The Yankees are going back to the drawing board and will be busy this offseason. New York has multiple needs throughout the roster The Athletic's Chris Kirschner believes they could fill the roster holes by signing both star outfielder Cody Bellinger and pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto this offseason.
"The Yankees must upgrade their offense after finishing 24th in OPS this season," Kirschner said. "They have immediate holes in left field and center field, with the latter being open because of Jasson Domínguez's Tommy John surgery that will hold him out for at least half of 2024.
"With our prediction of (Hal Steinbrenner) making his biggest statement in years, not only will the Yankees sign one of the best pitchers in Yamamoto but they'll also add Bellinger, too. Bellinger had a resurgent 2023 season after two awful years with the Los Angeles Dodgers, leading them to non-tender him just one year ago."
If the Yankees were to add either Yamamoto or Bellinger, they would be improved. If they could somehow land both as Kirschner hinted, they immediately would be back in the postseason discussion and possibly even World Series. New York certainly has money to spend and has been linked to both Yamamoto and Bellinger on multiple occasions.
It's unclear how likely a move is. Kirschner was going through his offseason predictions but this would be a solid start for New York. The Yankees do have talent on the roster right now. Add Bellinger and Yamamoto into the mix and hopefully better overall team health and the club could do some damage in 2024.
