The Yankees are heading into an offseason with a familiar problem and a fresh urgency: how do they get back to being the Bronx Bombers?
That question sits above everything else after their 2025 ALDS exit against the Toronto Blue Jays, a four-game loss that exposed a team that still can’t consistently do the little things that decide tight October games. The series was close, but the Yankees didn’t execute, and that gap showed up again and again.
The front office won’t have long to sit on it. With a looming lockout and a CBA that expires in December, the months after the World Series could turn into a fast-moving scramble. By then, the Yankees will have to decide how to break out of the rut they’re in.
There are plenty of issues on the board - fundamentals, the bullpen, the hitting approach, coaching, and more - but the central offseason task is bigger than any one fix. The organization has to figure out how to rebuild an offense that once looked like one of the sport’s best and finished this season looking merely average.
That’s what makes last winter’s decision to largely run it back such a complicated case. On paper, it made sense.
The Yankees had just led the majors in wRC+ at 118, home runs with 274, and walk rate at 10.2%, while ranking third in on-base percentage at .332. Even with some expected regression, the lineup still looked dangerous.
Instead, the season unraveled. Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Trent Grisham, two key hitters around Aaron Judge, fell from well above average to league average and rode hot-and-cold stretches that left the lineup exposed when Judge missed several months with injury.
Giancarlo Stanton was out for most of the year, Cody Bellinger missed a month, and Austin Wells went through a three-month stretch as one of the worst hitters in franchise history. By the end, the Yankees’ offense had dropped to around average overall, with a much lower OBP and a much higher strikeout rate.
The lesson isn’t that running it back was the wrong idea. It’s that baseball can make a sensible plan look broken. Now the Yankees have to respond to what actually happened, not just what looked bad in a short postseason sample.
Postseason performance doesn’t always carry over. Stanton can struggle in one October and Judge can dominate in another.
A five-game or four-game burst is too small a window to drive the whole evaluation. So the Yankees have to work from the larger picture, and the picture still starts with the lineup.
Catcher is one area where there is at least a real foundation. Wells looks like an above-average player if the headaches, or whatever issue is behind him, are behind him too.
He hit more like the player the Yankees expected in the second half, and his defense remains among the best in the league. Even so, the team could use help at backup catcher, where the hole is obvious.
First base and designated hitter are more complicated. Ben Rice and Luis García Jr. are two of the team’s best pure hitters, and they’ll keep splitting those spots. The question is whether that setup gives the Yankees enough flexibility.
The infield, though, is where the problems stack up. Chisholm was mediocre for much of the year and is likely gone.
George Lombard Jr. has promise, but nobody is expecting him to arrive as a big bat right away. Ryan McMahon was a disaster at the plate all season.
Amed Rosario, José Caballero, and Anthony Volpe can help in the right roles, but not many of them can carry a lineup spot.
The outfield is the strongest part of the roster, even if it still comes with questions. Grisham is expected to leave after a deeply disappointing season.
Spencer Jones could be part of the future, but can the Yankees really count on his volatility? And where does Heliot Ramos fit into all of this?
Then there’s Stanton, who remains the hardest call of all. He has one year left on a massive contract, and the Yankees are at the point where cutting bait is at least possible. But if the offense is already shaky, can they really afford to move on from a hitter who might still have something left?
There are some clear directions the Yankees could explore if they want to remake the lineup. Behind the plate, they don’t necessarily need a full-time starter, which opens the door to old friends like Kyle Higashioka or Gary Sanchez in a platoon role. They could also look at Carson Kelly of the Cubs or Jonah Heim of the A’s for some right-handed pop.
At second or elsewhere on the infield, a reunion with Gleyber Torres would make a lot of sense because of the high-OBP approach he brings. Other possible names include J.P.
Crawford, Luis Arraez, Alec Bohm, and Brandon Lowe. The Yankees could also check in with a couple of NL East clubs on CJ Abrams or Xavier Edwards.
In the outfield, there are bats who would fit the bill, including Randy Arozarena and Seiya Suzuki. If the Yankees want a more traditional center field solution, Luis Robert Jr. and Daulton Varsho are less flashy choices, but they could give the roster a different look.
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