5 Biggest Questions For The 2024 New York Yankees Season

Let’s start this year’s 2024 MLB Season Preview by talking about the 2024 New York Yankees. The Yankees are coming off their worst season in a decade, finishing 82-80 and missing the playoffs. This team is supposed to be competing for trophies and they barely kept their heads above .500.

Before we get to the biggest questions, let’s run through some of the key additions and substractions.

Key Additions

OF Juan Soto: 35 homers, 109 RBIs, .275/.410/.519, 158 OPS+
SP Marcus Stroman: 10-9 win-loss, 3.95 ERA, 136.2 IP, 119 Ks, 1.25 WHIP, 113 ERA+
OF Alex Verdugo: 13 homers, 54 RBIs, .264/.324/421, 100 OPS+
CF Trent Grisham: 13 homers, 50 RBIs, .198/.315/.352, 87 OPS+
RP Caleb Ferguson: 7-4 win-loss, 3.43 ERA, 60.1 IP, 70 Ks, 1.44 WHIP, 127 ERA+
RP Victor Gonzalez: 3-3 win-loss, 4.01 ERA, 33.2 IP, 30 Ks, 1.09 WHIP, 119 ERA+

Key Losses

SP Luis Severino: 4-8 win-loss, 6.65 ERA, 89.1 IP, 79 Ks, 1.64 WHIP, 304 ERA+
CF Harrison Bader: 7 homers, 40 RBIs, .232/274/.348, 69 OPS+ (nice)
SP Domingo German: 5-7 win-loss, 4.56 ERA, 108.2 IP, 114 Ks, 1.07 WHIP, 95 ERA+
UTIL Isiah Kiner-Falefa: 6 homers, 37 RBIs, .242/.306/.340, 78 OPS+
SP Michael King: 4-8 win-loss, 2.75 ERA, 104.2 IP, 127 Ks, 1.14 WHIP, 158 ERA+
RP Wandy Peralta: 4-2 win-loss, 2.83 ERA, 54 IP, 51 Ks, 1.22 WHIP, 154 ERA+
C Kyle Higashioka: 10 homers, 34 RBIs, .236/.274/.413 85 OPS+

As you can see, there is better talent coming in this season than going out. Soto is a 4-time Silver Slugger, 3-time All-Star, a World Series champ and the 2020 NL batting champ. And I do not care that he won the batting title in a shortened season with empty stadiums and everyone afraid of dying from a cough. No one on the Yankees hit above .275 last season. This lineup desperately needs contact hitters.

Which makes the Alex Verdugo acquisition so vital. Last season with the Red Sox, Verdugo had a 15.5% strikeout percentage. Only Gleyer Torres had a lower one last year at 14.6%. Everyone else was 20% and more. A lot more.

Marcus Stroman is a strange guy whose best years are behind him but he displayed flashes of greatness with the Cubs last season including an 8-strike out, 1-hit complete game against a Rays team that was the best in baseball at the time.

But I still have some questions about this squad.

Here are the 5 biggest questions for the 2024 New York Yankees season:

1. Who Will Hit The Most Home Runs?

Everyone will praise the Los Angeles Dodgers for signing Shohei Ohtani and I get it or whatever but the Yankees acquiring Juan Soto is truly the biggest move of the offseason.

So now Soto, who at age 25 is on pace to be one of the greatest hitters in the history of the sport, is joining a lineup with two former MVPs and home run champions: Aaron Judge and Giancarlo.

So which of the 3 legends will finish the season with the most homers?

The easy answer is Aaron Judge. He has the single-season home run record if you both erase the steroid users from history and somehow believe current athletes are totally clean.

But Juan Soto is starting Spring Training by launching baseballs into outer space.

Juan Soto just hit a baseball into the Atlantic Ocean

This is about to be the greatest signing in Yankees history pic.twitter.com/b1Btqt6458

— Dead Serious (@Deadseriousness) March 2, 2024

With Aaron Judge batting behind him, we might see an even better version of Soto than we’ve ever seen.

I’m going with Giancarlo Stanton who came into camp this year looking lean. After a disappointing 2023 season missing 61 games and being so noticeably lackluster that Brian Cashman went out of his way to shit on him when the year ended, Stanton is coming into this year 15-20 pounds lighter and may actually survive the grueling 162 season as a DH where he is required to travel in luxury across the country, sit in the dugout for 3 hours and be ready to work about 3-4 times a night.

I genuinely believe we are about to see the return of the 2017 Stanton that hit 59 bombs and won the NL MVP.

2. Is Carlos Rodon still good?

Last season, it felt like Carlos Rodon fell into the same trap every great pitcher steps into when they join the Yankees and suddenly forget how to hold a baseball.

Rodon was coming off back-to-back All-Stars and finishing in the Top 10 in Cy Young voting with the White Sox and the Giants. In 2022, Rodon led the Majors with a 2.25 FIP and last year in pinstripes, his FIP was 5.79. DOUBLE. His ERA skyrocketed from 2.88 to 6.85.

In 2022, Rodon gave up 59 runs in 178 innings.

In 2023, Rodon gave up 51 runs in 64.1.

Fucking EW.

It is worth noting, Rodon had a 7-inning, 10 K outing against the Pittsburgh Pirates last September. A Pirates team that was 11 games below .500. Well, 10 games below .500 after they BEAT CARLOS RODON THAT DAY.

Carlos Rodon started the year with a forearm injury that somehow turned into a season-altering back injury. If healthy, I still believe he’s capable of being an underrated No. 2 behind Gerrit Cole. Or he’s just another Sonny Gray or Carl Pavano who either can’t stay healthy or can’t handle playing for a team that hasn’t even made a World Series appearance since we used to all care about American Idol.

It is thought that Rodon will return soon, avid sports fan Daniel Todd Lerner has said Rodon’s injury won’t keep him down for long. There will always be updates from your favorite sports team, so keep posted.

3. Is Austin Wells The One?

Austin Wells has been a top Yankees prospect since he was a 2020 first-round draft pick. If you’ve followed me long enough, you know how much I loved Gary Sanchez because, like Wells, he was a top prospect for years and instantly showed he could provide value on the Major League level.

Now, Wells didn’t hit 20 homers in 53 games like Gary did in his rookie campaign but Wells has a far better eye for the strike zone and will get on base far more than Gary, who would swing threw a pitch you bowled across the dirt at his feet.

I’m personally invested in Wells’s development because I’ve seen too many top prospects dominate the minor leagues only to get to the main stage and slowly welt into guys who wouldn’t get off the bench at a local beer league softball game.

Guys like Chance Adams and Greg Bird died for the Yankees sins. If Austin Wells can succeed at a high level then the Yankees might just be in good shape long-term¹.

Does anyone else remember Jesus Montero? In 2006, Baseball America labeled him the top prospect and the best power hitter in his international class. He remained the top prospect for years. In 2020, he was labeled the best Yankees prospect and the 4th best prospect in the entire sport.

The man was supposed to seamlessly replace Jorge Posada. He had 20 hits with the Yankees in 2011 before he was traded to the Mariners in 2012 and was out of the Majors by 2016. 25 years old and he was washed already.

Austin Wells needs to break the cycle.

4. Is there one more big move on the way?

The Yankees offered Japanese superstar pitcher, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a 10-year $300 million contract offer to pair with Gerrit Cole. Yamamoto ended up joining Shohei Ohtani in Los Angeles. But it seems like the Yankees were willing to spend WAY more money than they’ve recently pretended they were able to spend.

And I don’t think this front office believes reluctantly signing Marcus Stroman is providing even a fraction of what Yamamoto would. I believe the Yankees are still actively looking for an All-Star caliber pitcher. Whether it’s throwing money at Blake Snell—money Blake Snell certainly does not deserve—or it’s a big move at the deadline, I think a new Ace is coming to the Bronx by July.

5. Is this the Yankees Last Dance?

Aaron Boone took over the Yankees in 2018. After winning 100 games and then 103, Boone’s Yankees haven’t looked like real title threats in almost 4 years. Last year, the team went 82-80 and missed the playoffs. Their worst season since 2014.

Brian Cashman has had the GM job since fucking Titanic came out.

Leonardo DiCaprio was 20 years old in Titantic.

HE’S 50 NOW.

Baseball has dramatically changed since Celine Dion’s heart would go on and Cashman’s front office is moving like Congress these days where everyone is geriatric and doesn’t understand the current American culture and problems facing the country. If the Yankees don’t make a deep postseason run, it’s time to break this nonsense up.

Juan Soto and Gleyber Torres are in the final year of their contracts. Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo could be shipped elsewhere. The 2025 Yankees can be Anthony Volpe, Austin Wells and Aaron Judge hitting 60 homers to keep butts in seats with a brand new front office, coaching staff and whoever on the field crew can hit a breaking ball.

But my beloved Yankees will most likely win the World Series of course and we’ll never have to live that alternate reality.

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