Top Remaining Offseason Priorities for New York Yankees Ahead of Spring Training

What should the New York Yankees look to upgrade before Spring Training?

Oct 25, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman before game one against the Los Angeles Dodgers the 2024 MLB World Series at Dodger Stadium. | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The New York Yankees will be starting Spring Training in a couple of weeks and while the team is looking good heading into the season, they could still look to make a couple of upgrades.

It has been a busy winter for the Yankees. After a tough battle with the New York Mets for Juan Soto, they had to pivot quickly to make sure they didn’t have a failure of an offseason.

Their front office did a nice job making sure they will be putting a good team on the field in 2025. While they won’t have a superstar in Soto to pair with Aaron Judge, they will arguably have more talent overall going into next season than they did last year.

Even though it has been a good offseason, New York has the highest of expectations coming into the upcoming campaign, so they should still be looking to make upgrades.

Here are three areas the Yankees should look to improve before Opening Day.

Backup Catcher

This isn’t necessarily a need for the playoffs, but is for the regular season. The emergence of Austin Wells in his rookie campaign was a big boost for New York. He will be heading into 2025 as the starter and could be ready for a breakout year based on his success in 2024.

However, while Wells is very good, the backup catcher situation is a bit uncertain.

Adding a veteran to come in makes a lot of sense for the Yankees. Not burning out their young catcher throughout a long season will pay dividends late in the year and in October.

Left-Handed Reliever

While the bullpen received a massive boost with the addition of Devin Williams, they are currently without a left-handed relief pitcher. This is a glaring hole on the team and one that needs to be addressed.

Last year, the Yankees made a great move to bring in Tim Hill. The southpaw went on to have an excellent second half of the season and a playoff run. However, despite his efforts last year, he is still a free agent.

Hill is arguably the best left-handed specialist left on the market, and New York would be wise to bring him back.

Infield Help

One of the most talked about things for the Yankees has been what they will do at either second or third base. With Spring Training right around the corner, options are starting to dwindle to upgrade at either position.

Fortunately, Jazz Chisholm can play either position, which gives New York some more flexibility to when it comes to making additions.

In order to take away any potential weaknesses in the lineup on paper, adding another starting-caliber second or third baseman is very important.