The Most Important Offseason Decision Facing the Yankees After ALDS Elimination

An offseason full of questions begins with figuring out how to get back to being the Bronx Bombers.

One question the New York Yankees must answer this offseason is where Anthony Volpe will play next season. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

There's not much to say after a playoff defeat like that. After losing four pretty uncompetitive games in the 2025 ALDS to the Toronto Blue Jays, they lost in a fashion that perfectly accentuates the difference between them and the Tampa Bay Rays this year.

Tampa wins close games; the Yankees do not. All three games in this series were close, but one team didn't execute.

It will be a very long offseason for the Yankees with the looming lockout, one that will actually seem quick at times in what could become a mad dash before the CBA expires in December. As such, when the World Series ends in a few weeks, the front office will have to figure out how to get out of this rut.

There are questions about fundamentals, the bullpen, the team's hitting philosophy, their coaching, and more, but the No. 1 question that needs to be asked going into the offseason is simple.

How do the Yankees get back to being the Bronx Bombers?

The 2026 Yankees' offense underachieved to a massive degree

After losing to the Blue Jays last October, the Yankees did something you rarely see from a team that underperformed their own lofty expectations: they ran it back.

As much as it looks like a disastrous decision now, we must remember what the Yankees looked like last season. Their offense led the majors in wRC+ (118), home runs (274), and walk rate (10.2%), while being third in on-base percentage (.332). Even after adjusting for some regression, this offense was supposed to be one of the best in the sport.

It just didn't happen. Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Trent Grisham, two of the team's best hitters in the supporting cast around Aaron Judge, collapsed from well above average to league average, with extremely hot and cold stretches that left the offense vulnerable when their captain missed several months due to injury.

Then when you add in missing Giancarlo Stanton for most of the season, missing Cody Bellinger for a month, and the mysterious three-month stretch of Austin Wells being one of the worst hitters in franchise history, and you get an extremely diminished Yankees offense that finished about average across the board, albeit with a significantly lower OBP and significantly higher strikeout rate.

Running it back wasn't the problem; the circumstances of baseball made it look like one. Now, they need to act on it.

What they have right now just isn't good enough

Postseason performance isn't sticky. It's why perennial playoff riser Stanton can have a bad stretch like in 2025, and why a perennial disappointment like Judge can have a Herculean 2025. Reacting based on a five-game sample isn't good analysis, so we should look at what we have.

At catcher, the Yankees have an above-average guy in Wells, assuming the headaches or whatever ailment is behind him. Wells hit like the guy they thought they were getting coming into this year in the second half of the season, and he is one of the league's best defenders. However, they could still use some help with the gaping hole at backup catcher.

Ben Rice and Luis García Jr. are two of the team's best pure hitters and will continue to split first base and DH, but is their rigidity hurting this team's flexibility?

The infield is a mess. Chisholm was mediocre for much of the year and is likely gone. George Lombard Jr. has promise but isn't expected to be this great a hitter right away. Ryan McMahon was a disaster at the plate all season. Guys like Amed Rosario, José Caballero, and Anthony Volpe can be good in roles, but not many of them.

The outfield is in the best shape on the roster, but still has its questions. Grisham is going to be out the door after his heavily disappointing season, so is Spencer Jones the future out there? Can they seriously rely on his volatility? What role does Heliot Ramos play going forward?

And what about Stanton? With one year left on his titanic contract, they've reached the point where they can feasibly cut bait, but on a team that could have offensive questions next year, can they afford to cut a guy who might still have juice left in the tank?

Areas to target in the offseason

An early plan for revamping the lineup in the offseason can look something like this.

A full-time starter at catcher isn't needed, so the team could target old friends Kyle Higashioka or Gary Sanchez to platoon, or could grab the Cubs' Carson Kelly or the A's Jonah Heim to add some right-handed thump.

On the infield, they should strongly consider reuniting with Gleyber Torres, whose high-OBP play style would be a massive jolt in this lineup. Outside of him, options include J.P. Crawford, Luis Arraez, Alec Bohm, and Brandon Lowe. They could also call a couple of NL East teams for CJ Abrams or Xavier Edwards.

In the outfield, multiple bats could be proven options for the Yankees, like Randy Arozarena or Seiya Suzuki, but would it make more sense to get a traditional center fielder? Luis Robert Jr. and Daulton Varsho aren't sexy options, but could work if they want to mix and match.

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