The New York Yankees didn’t have the most prolific offseason. They didn’t land multiple All-Stars like the New York Mets or the Los Angeles Dodgers, and didn’t swing big deals and trades like the Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles, or Boston Red Sox.
But the Yankees did bring back Trent Grisham and Cody Bellinger, along with trading for Ryan Weathers to go with the plethora of depth additions Brian Cashman made.
While the 94-68 Yankees are running it back, Jim Bowden of The Athletic gave the Yankees a “C” grade for their offseason. He highlighted five players the Yankees are relying on, and expressed concern about whether they should rely on those players or not.
Ex-MLB GM gives Yankees lackluster offseason grade amid five players overly relied upon
“The Yankees will be counting on Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon, and Anthony Volpe to successfully return from their injuries after starting the season on the IL,” Bowden writes. “They are hopeful Volpe, Austin Wells, and Ben Rice will have breakout seasons.”
Thanks to very few changes being made to the roster for the 2026 season, the Yankees will need to get a lot of development and progress from these five players.
Bowden singled out Cole and Rodon as two of the Yankees’ biggest question marks for the 2026 season: “Can Cole and Rodon bounce back from their injuries to give the Yankees one of the best starting rotations in baseball?”
While seeing Cole and Rodon bounce back in a major way is within the realm of possibility, there’s no guarantee when they’ll be back, and even when they do return, they might not be nearly as good as they once were.
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Relying on Rodon and Cole for a positive outlook in 2026 is risky for the Yankees, and that’s not the only risk at play.
When Volpe returns from injury is also uncertain, and as Bowden notes, the Yankees will not just need him back; they will be hoping for a breakout year from the young shortstop.
Relying on Volpe to such a degree is a lot on his plate, and even though Aaron Judge, Bellinger, and others will help alleviate the need for Volpe to breakout to win, to get over the hump and back into the World Series, he likely does need to breakout.
Add on that the Yankees are relying on Wells and Rice to both break out, and this upcoming season is a very risky one for the Yankees.
Relying on multiple, if not all of these players, to breakout in 2026 is a very shaky path for the Yankees. It’s possible, but not the most likely outcome. If it doesn’t happen, 2026 could be a disappointing season.
