While losing out on the highly touted Juan Soto to cross-town rival New York Mets is a spot of shame for the New York Yankees, the 2025 season is far from lost. Finding one player to replace someone who slashed .288/.419/.569 a season ago is nearly impossible, but the New York front office did much more than change the longstanding “facial hair” policy. In this week’s edition of Sargeant’s Orders, we will go over what this latest MLB season has in store for the Bronx Bombers.
A significant move that the Yankees made was to move on from first baseman Anthony Rizzo, inking Paul Goldschmidt to a team-friendly one-year $12.5 million deal. While the 37-year-old’s best days are well behind him, the former Diamondback has proven that he can still do some damage from the dish. Despite coming off his worst season offensively, Goldschmidt slashed .245/.302/.414 from the plate, including 22 home runs. Considering that this is a one-year deal, New York still has the option to bring someone else in mid-season if this arrangement does not work out.
New York Yankees’ Max Fried speaks during a baseball news conference, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo / Frank Franklin II)
New York also massively improved their rotation, bringing in Max Fried on an 8-year, $218 million deal. The 31-year-old is coming off an excellent 2024 campaign where he posted a 3.25 ERA, appeared in 29 contests and was an excellent ground ball pitcher, forcing ground balls on over 58% of batted balls. This is a positive sign considering nearly any hard hit flyball in Yankee Stadium is a homerun. Since Fried is only 31, the southpaw is entering his “prime” for his career, meaning that there is a chance that he can come close to replicating his Cy Young Award-worthy 2022 season.
Of course, a significant addition to New York’s roster this offseason was Cody Bellinger, as New York acquired the former Dodger in a trade with the Cubs. The 29-year-old is coming off a down year, slashing .266/.225/.426. However, the lefty has shown in the past that he can be an effective hitter down the stretch. His 2019 campaign with the Dodgers is nothing to scoff at; Bellinger slashed .305/.406/.629 with a WAR of 9.0. Considering that Yankee Stadium is the home of the “short porch,” there is an excellent chance that Bellinger will feast this season and post yet another career year.
As proven as all of New York’s newest acquisitions are, the team will need a big 2025 from Jasson Domínguez, who is poised for a breakout year. While The Martian’s .207 career batting average is enough to dispel some on the 22-year-old’s major league potential, the Yankees should not be so quick to throw in the towel. A season ago, Domínguez was extremely disciplined at the plate, swinging at less than 30% of balls outside of the strike zone and boasting a Z-Swing% of 71%, meaning he is seeing pitches well at the major league level. Not to mention, a season ago, Domínguez owned a hard-hit rate of 46%, meaning that the bat is getting to the ball. For context, the league average in this metric is around 35% whereas the MLB’s best hover around 45%. By no means am I implying that Domínguez will have a 40-40 season, but if Aaron Boone gives the outfielder 600 at-bats or so, a .250 20-25 home run season near the bottom of the order is a real possibility.
Of course, when you talk about the Yankees, it’s impossible to not talk about the captain: Aaron Judge. While Judge dominated the regular season, winning AL MVP and terrorizing opposing pitchers along the way, his postseason was significantly worse. This team will only go as far as Judge will take it; considering that Soto is gone, Judge is the big bat in the Bronx, and with this year’s squad, it will be nearly impossible to make up for his lack of production. While October is a long way away, his postseason bat will single-handedly decide this team’s fate. Though extreme, this is not an overstatement, and Yankee fans should be cognizant of this.
One of the biggest strengths of this year’s Yankees team is their rotation. Boasting a rotation consisting of Fried, Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil, Carlos Rodon and Clarke Schmidt, nearly no other franchise in the league can compete. The Yankees also improved their bullpen in a significant manner, trading for Devin Williams from Milwaukee. This acquisition proves that even if the bats only plate two or three runs, this pitching staff can limit the damage that their opponents cause and single-handedly win a significant amount of ball games on any given night.
At the time of writing this, the Yankees are the betting favorites not only to win their division but also to win the American League outright and rematch the Dodgers in this year’s fall classic. Of course, the Mets have also improved, but in terms of the American League, it is the Yankees league to lose. Seeing how players like Rodon bounce back from a tough 2024 and how Anthony Volpe leaps from a solid second year will be the difference maker in how this season shakes out for New York.