Yankees Manager Optimistic About Roster Despite Quiet Offseason

The New York Yankees finally signed Cody Bellinger this week. The prolonged standoff between the team and player didn't have to reach into February or dip into Spring Training.

With the big money spent on bringing back their versatile outfielder, now the question is, how else will the Yankees improve? The team will be without Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon to start the season.

Then there's the matter of the bullpen. What was once a position of strength ended up being a glaring hole last season, and there has been little to improve in either area outside of Ryan Weathers, who is more of a project than somebody you can depend on due to his propensity to find himself on the IL.

Pretty Good, According to the Skipper

If you were to ask manager Aaron Boone about his ball club, he would have a rosier outlook than most. According to MLB.com's Bryan Hoch, Boone thinks his team is "pretty good."

"You're always trying to improve your club and improve your team, but you also pause and say, 'Hey, we're pretty good here,' Boone said, according to Hoch. "And we've got a lot of really good players, and a lot of really good, young core players that emerged on different levels last year."

Oct 5, 2025; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone (17) in the fifth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays during game two of the ALDS round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Sousa-Imagn Images | Kevin Sousa-Imagn Images

The 2026 Outlook

The Yankees will probably find themselves in the playoffs again if the season started tomorrow. That isn't the issue here.

The issue is that, if the Yankees don't make more additions, this is essentially the same team that was trounced in the American League Division Series by the Toronto Blue Jays. There weren't many improvements to prevent that from happening again.

The big difference between this team and that one will be the return of Cole to the starting rotation. Cole, though, won't return for a few months after the start of the season, and after being out so long, who knows how long it will take for him to shake the rust off.

As for the bullpen, David Bednar was a rock for the Yankees after being acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates, but one thing they still haven't done is replace the production from Devin Williams, who proved to be dependable himself during the late season stretch in October and the postseason. Hoping for Camilo Doval to find what he once had earlier in his career with the San Francisco Giants is a big ask for a reliever whose 12.6% walk rate is in the 2nd percentile in all of baseball, according to Baseball Savant.

Make sure to bookmark Yankees On SI to get all your daily New York Yankees news, interviews, breakdowns and more!