It’s been a tough spring for the Yankees on the injury front. The club has faced a number of noteworthy injuries, with the latest blow being the loss of veteran ace Gerrit Cole to Tommy John surgery. He’ll miss the entire 2025 season, while rotation-mate Luis Gil is set to miss a couple of months after suffering a lat strain. The lineup has been impacted as well, with slugger Giancarlo Stanton poised to miss significant time due to elbow issues while likely starting third baseman DJ LeMahieu has been sidelined by a calf strain.
Each of those injuries have prompted varying levels of speculations that the club could look to bring in some help, but the Yankees are seemingly facing fairly strict budget limits. RosterResource projects them for a $285MM payroll. The Yanks have shown little interest in adding payroll, and their projected $305MM competitive balance tax number is already above the $301MM top tax threshold. It would be fairly difficult to make lineup and rotation additions with limited budget space and a limited supply available to them. General manager Brian Cashman downplayed the possibility of the Yankees making a notable addition, citing the current tax situation as an obstacle.
Perhaps the most obvious choice for an upgrade would be the starting rotation. The Yankees are already down at least one starter for the entire 2025 season, and while Marcus Stroman can step into the rotation as a #5 starter relatively seamlessly, the depth beyond him gets shakier. Non-roster invitee Carlos Carrasco has an ugly 6.18 ERA over his past two seasons, while prospect Will Warren struggled to a 10.32 ERA in his big league debut last year with an ERA near 6.00 at Triple-A. A steadier depth arm like Lance Lynn or Kyle Gibson would make plenty of sense for a rotation that has multiple pitchers with notable injury histories.
The Yankees do have plenty of high-end talent in the rotation that could help to make up for the lack of depth. Max Fried is a legitimate No. 1 starter in his own right. Carlos Rodon is just two seasons removed from earning Cy Young votes. Clarke Schmidt posted a sterling 2.85 ERA in 16 starts last year. With the reigning AL Rookie of the Year set to join the rotation at some point this year, perhaps the Yankees’ needs are more acute in the lineup.
The idea of filling Stanton’s spot in the lineup is made more intriguing by the presence of a comparable veteran lingering in free agenct. J.D. Martinez remains on the market, and the two sluggers have produced nearly identical offensive value over the past five years: Stanton has slashed .231/.313/.473 with a 117 wRC+, while Martinez has hit .263/.330/.477 with a wRC+ of 118. Even with Martinez coming off a relative down season and a particularly tough second half with the Mets last year, it’s easy to see why having Martinez fill in for Stanton could be very appealing. The Yankees have had at least “some contact” with Martinez since Stanton was sidelined.
Then again, it’s fair to argue that Stanton is the easiest of the injured Yankees to replace in-house. Ben Rice has impressed during Spring Training and was already in the conversation for the backup catcher job. He could be tabbed as a potential DH option against right-handed hitters. Another solution would be giving regulars more rest by playing them at DH on occasion. If the club places Trent Grisham in center field for a day rather than Cody Bellinger, Stanton’s injury could let them give Bellinger a partial rest day at DH or have him back up any of Jasson Dominguez, Aaron Judge, or even Paul Goldschmidt so they could get a rest day of their own.
Third base has also been a question throughout camp. LeMahieu seems like he’ll have a shorter absence than Stanton, but even coming off a down season, his injury thins out the infield options. A mix of LeMahieu, Oswald Peraza, and Oswaldo Cabrera always looked fairly uninspiring. An MLBTR poll late last month suggested that a plurality of respondents believed the club’s primary third baseman would be someone not yet in the organization.
The third base market — and second base market, if Jazz Chisholm Jr. plays third instead — has largely been picked over, however. The Yankees were connected to infield options like Jose Iglesias and Jorge Polanco at points throughout the offseason and into Spring Training, but both veterans have since landed elsewhere. Nolan Arenado is known to be willing to waive his no-trade clause to join the Yankees, but it’s unlikely New York would be willing to take on his contract. Veteran Whit Merrifield remains available in free agency but isn’t a clear upgrade coming off a downturn in production at the plate. Perhaps upcoming opt-out opportunities for non-roster veterans and players made available on waivers due to roster crunches when Opening Day draws near will present a more viable solution.
How do MLBTR readers think the Yankees should address their injury-created holes? Will the club sign/acquire a starter to deepen its oft-injured rotation mix? Or could the Yankees instead turn to the lineup and either replace Stanton at DH or look for an upgrade to the infield? Have your say in the poll below:
Play it out and re-assess in a two months.
People forget that the 2019 Yankees won 103 games (and the division) with injuries galore. Guys like Maybin, Ford and Tauchman really stepped up that year.
And didn’t they lose to the Astros in October?
believeitornot,
They did. And Houston went on to lose the World Series to a Wild Card team that won 93 games compared to Houston’s 107 wins.
I appreciate the reminder!
The main priority of the NEW NYYs is to make money. The mission is to turn a profit, first. Winning is secondary. They will coast by with .180 hitters all over the lineup and yes, maybe make the playoffs or go 82-80. They will not sign guys like Bregman, they will not go after guys like Alonso. They will not play Jones in LF and DH Dominguez who clearly can’t play the field. The orioles bring up their young talent and play them! Like Holliday. The NYY will keep jones in the basement as long as possible no matter how desperately they need an outfielder that can track flyballs and make defensive plays all day. They will give guys like Rice countless AB’s only to see a .171 average. Which is now the new standard for the NYY. Has no one noticed that more NYY in the lineup hit below .200 than above? Who wants to pay $300 per ticket to see a lineup full of guys who can’t hit? Or play defense ? As of now it’s not a team to watch.
Is there a decimal point missing in that 178IQ with these comments…..all being said, they have the best record of making the playoffs year after year in the AL if not all of baseball…..pay for that…..
It’s not what you’ve done in the past, but what you do right now. Please don’t tell me about the glory of the past 100 years of the NYY. Look at the current state of an organization and go from there. Don’t let my iq be the basis for your insults, but try to attack my opinions. If your retort is, the NYY have great stats if you look at 100 years of the organization then, ok. But it’s a silly comment.
Bad take! The team is younger in some spots, more athletic in others, much better defensively, better bullpen. They have a more versatile team with a mix of youth but they do have glaring holes. They eventually need a steady 3rd baseman, they could use a true leadoff hitter, another left handed bat won’t hurt, and now at least one reliable solid starter until Gil returns. There are a few glaring weaknesses and the Yankees are at the payroll cap again. If you don’t appreciate all the spending go root for the Royals! I think people like you come on to troll Yankee fans to get a reaction. Well it worked….
You have to get on base and THEN drive in runs to score. And as you likely know you have to score more runs than the other team and then get the final 3 outs. The current state of the NYY is NOT conducive to getting on base, advancing runners and driving them in. The NYY are set up to score runs with an average of 5.8 outs per inning. So, that being said their opponents will have to make lots of errors for the current sub .199 hitting NYY to take advantage of and wind some games. 6 outs an inning is a lot of mistakes. It’s actually lost to the 4.3 outs per game the current NYY defense is set up to offer their opponents.
Terrifically wrong. I’m a 3 tool player at a AAA level, do you want me playing 1B decently but not hitting? Or do you want me playing LF better than Dominguez but no ability to throw a seed to the catcher on a fly or 1 bounce? Young talent? The orioles have. The jays have it. The NYY only have young. The talent remains to be seen. Except Jones. Excellent defender. Raked all spring. & what did they do, pull him from camp. He clearly earned a roster spot in my view. He’s their everyday LF with a bat! And he’s back in the basement.
This is an honest question from a rays fan to Yankees fans and I’m not even trying to be rude. How can a roster that cost $300m be built so badly? How is there 0 depth and so many holes andddd have a bottom 5 farm system?
Brian Cashman isn’t very good at his job. Every mistake can just be covered up by money.
No rudeness taken. For starters, they’re paying this year Stanton, Cole, DJL, and Aaron Hicks (who has been gone for years) a combined $93M. They’ve traded a lot of their upper-level farm depth in the past two seasons to acquire Soto, Bellinger, and Devin Williams. They don’t have high draft picks due to their yearly record standings. Their top pitching prospect in Chase Hamptom is out now with TJS. Their farm development system isn’t all that great. And of course, injuries.
YBC I think we said a lot of the same things but I disagree with you about player development. The pitching has gotten much better since Matt Blake took over.
@Joe For sure, I’m Team Blake. But he’s not working in the minors.
And with that being said, all the negativity regarding Cash, the roster, the injuries, etc…..there isn’t an owner who would trade the success of making the playoffs ($$$money) year after year……just jealousy…..I guess….
The farm being low comes from a few things. They haven’t drafted top 15 in about 20 years or so. They get no competitive balance picks and usually sign a FA with a QO attached. They have also recently graduated some prospects and last year their top prospects that stayed in the minors were injured or had poor seasons. Their drafting, especially pitchers, has gotten better in recent years.
The roster construction is Cashman relying on a bad analytics dept. and not recognizing which prospects to build around and which to sell. This year I think he did right by selling high on Caleb Durbin.
bottom 5 farm: they never draft lower than 20th and every year is win-now mode
everything else: cashman sucks
Its the Yankees way. They have 5 or 6 guys in their mid 30s aging with injury history all making $30m to $40m per season. Then a couple more guys like lemieihu and goldschmidt and bellinger in their early to mid 30s making $20m to $29m … they’re all exiting out of their primes / on the back side of their careers and entering the injury old-age portions of their careers. That ties up the majority of their payroll, so they’re forced to fill the remainder with kids & non roster invitee FAs.
They’re always in the playoffs so they draft at the end of every draft so they never get the stud 1st round picks that the tanking/rebuilding teams stockpile every season then what prospects they do manage to hit on tend to be traded every deadline for reinforcements so they always have a bad farm system.
Then for good or ill depending on your POV, they haven’t actually stripped it all down for a rebuild since the late 1980s/early 1990s. While impressive there’s been seasons over the past four drcades where the obvious answer was rebuild but they stubbornly added another 37 year old $30m per season veteran and rolled the dice hoping to chase the wildcard yet again.
Money can’t buy a farm system. Only losing can do that.
The foreseeable albatross that is Giancarlo, while Harper was set to be a free agent and clearly wanted to be a Yankee this move was made instead. He’s being paid like Harper but not even close to the talent level. Bone-headed contracts like Hicks don’t help. Trading 6 players, all with max team control except king and higgy, for 1 year of Soto certainly doesn’t help with the depth problem. Another thing that the rays and other teams do is make a Soto type trade the other way. When do the Yankees dump a player with 1 or 2 years remaining for a solid package in return to rebuild depth? It could’ve been done with Nestor but we took a win now return instead. Part of the problem is the constant win-now mentality
well, that might change at this trade deadline (at least it SHOULD be) with the way things are looking.
Okay Hal
When you have a player injured for the whole year, the team should have a waiver against the luxury tax for a replacement.
No they shouldn’t. They made the deal, they should suffer. Teams who have less money don’t have the same luxury.
Actually, it’s a good idea that injured players should not count toward the cap but only to the extent of insurance recoupment. This way owners do not have an excuse to pocket the money rather than reinvesting it into the product put onto the field.
The Dodgers would have 15 starting pitchers if this was a thing haha
For me it’s the starting rotation. Getting an experienced arm for back end of the rotation would be in their best interest. Could they make do with Will Warren or Carlos Carasco? I guess, but I’d feel a heck of a lot better with Kyle Gibson. But honestly, if it’s not Gibby, I say just go with what we have because I’m not sure there’s much better after Gibby.
As for a bat, that’s a bit trickier, but there has to be a trade scenario where we can get a decent bat and not take on the full salary. (Same could happen for the rotation I suppose) Obviously that means giving up better prospects, but I’m fine with that. Not every prospect works out and sometimes they outlive their trade usefulness.
The thing about Cashman’s statements today is, sometimes he’s just trying not to sound desperate, but man, the perception just comes off worse.
Let’s see what happens.
I always say pitching first, then worry about the rest. It seems teams with the better starting pitching/bullpen combo go farthest, even with an okay lineup.
I tend to agree. I also feel like we have some intriguing hitting prospects that could get a look.
No team should have a dedicated DH. Beyond being an abomination on the game, it should be something rotated through.
Ohtani, David Ortiz, Edgar Martinez, Frank Thomas, Paul Molitor, Nelson Cruz, and many more would disagree.
I think it really depends… do you want a hitter that can rake or versatility among your fielders?
I would much rather watch Edgar Martinez get 3 hits than the pitcher whiff 3 times.
This is a pointless poll. Hal is not going to give them the money to make any more moves.
Could have IKF back from the Pirates
Without Gil and Cole, Rodon is the only other Yankees pitcher I can name off-hand. That’s a scary thought
F…r…i…e…d.
Oh yeah, forgot they signed him. Let’s see how he does in New York.
They are fried or cooked in hot oil.
Why not resign Lance Lynn for the fifth?
Warren is good , but have a lot of work to do.
Lynn would be ok, though I’m partial to Gibson.
Other option, they won’t make any big moves until closer to the deadline.
Why do the Yankees have so many pitching injuries? They have a Messey performance center don’t they?
Other
The Yankees don’t necessarily need to fix every hole immediately. In fact, their current situation could be a strategic opportunity to maximize the value of their existing roster depth while avoiding further luxury tax penalties.
Using players like Ben Rice as the DH and Oswaldo Cabrera at third base allows the team to focus on roster efficiency—getting the most out of the players they already have, rather than trading for high-priced talent.
Ultimately, the Yankees’ injury woes shouldn’t be seen as a crisis. Instead, they’re part of a strategy to leverage internal flexibility. This approach may not be flashy, but it’s grounded in solid team-building principles, payroll management, and the ability to construct a roster that can make a major move when the time is right.
I agree. I think the Yankees have enough internal pieces with prospects they typically block with high profile veteran free agents or trades, to *basically* replace virtually any and all of their IL players, at least functionally until they return,
They don’t need to trade for or sign anybody externally at this point, I don’t think….
yes, but Oswaldo isnt a every day major league player, he cant hit enough.
Maybe the Yankees pitchers need more internal rotation to get the more external rotation.
I think the Yankees have legit pieces internally to step up and replace everybody they’re losing temporarily or for the season- maybe at like 80% or 75% of them, but they can do it.
The team is just deep enough to fill most of the holes from the inside, I think… that said…
Obviously some free agent/trade / bounce back candidate pitchers putting it together for the Yankees is quite tantalizing and hopefully finding a DJLM circa 2019/2020 style player to fill in all the gaps as our Super Utility Player… Fingers crossed.
Every team should aim to produce slider pitchers such as Glasnow, Snell, Ginkel and Puk, There’s a specific method to teach it and it has a special name within the details. It’s clear that even the Dodgers and Yankees aren’t able to develop pitchers the way they should. Their numerous Injuries show they don’t have the right approach.
When the season begins it’s surprising to see pitchers throwing a heavy ball because their arms are already strong. If a pitcher has to use weights to throw harder than natural it could lead to an injury.
I would worry about the Rotation more. I don’t think any of the starting pitchers are guaranteed to go at least 5-6 innings every time. The BP will be taxed by August. DH, I’d go with Pereira and Rice platoon and 3B Peraza with Cabrera as the super Utility guy. The young players need to step up once and for all. It’s now or never so some of them. The younger players could be more athletic on the bases, too. More stolen bases and fewer home runs will be more exciting.
Every team is taxed for pitching right now….it was just yesterday and the day before that Red Sox fans were crowing about how the RS were probably going to win the East….and now 3 of there starting rotation isn’t going to go north with the team and are hurt….just an example of what most teams are going through….not throwing shade at the Sox…..
Also, as far as speed, they need to run the bases better, but expectations of players stealing more bases….leads to injuries and the basic fact that Boone doesn’t believe in running…..just saying….
Peraza should be DFA’d. hes not a major league hitter. If youre going to let kids play, let the good ones do it, no matter their age like Lombard.
Obviously they should just fold it in and start planning for ‘26, shop Goldschmidt & Williams at the deadline and possibly even Chisholm.
thats what the majority of teams would do, but the Yankees wont. They will will make a bonehead trade , send some kids for a band aid that will sneak them into the playoffs, thats all Hal needs.
A new PBO. $144,000,000…….
This poll needed to separate out 2nd base from 3rd. Second is good w Chaz .
Third is very weak, assuming 2 candidates don’t bat .250!!
Starting Pitching as is will wear our bullpen out by Allstar break. Gotta make a deal somewhere. #28 Ring looking far away for 2025.
And batting .250 is above league average…..oh my gosh…….agree that I would rather have a banger at 3rd who can play good defense, but there aren’t any obvious candidates that can be acquired….and Arenado would have been a tremendous mistake….that being said, the only criticism I can make about Cash is a farm system that either drafts pitchers or SS’s…..the Yankee way seems to be pitching…pitching…pitching….and that SS’s can be groomed to play anywhere on the infield…..don’t necessarily agree with that…..no 3rd basemen, or 1st basemen in the entire organization…..only converts…..
Yanks should call up AZ and take Jordan Montgomery. He could be had for a bag of used BP baseballs. You can also have Pavin Smith, but send Goldy back home.
Just read that the Yankees get 75% of the value back on the Cole deal in insurance. But the original salary goes toward the luxury tax. So real question is whether they’re willing to pay the luxury tax.
Say what you want about ranking farm systems but there are plenty of teams that have top rated prospects and they end up beings duds. I actually like the yankees farm system guys like arias, spencer jones , lombard, Henry lalane, carlos lagrange, brando mayea, enmanual tejada are good prospects just most are in the lower minors at the moment but in 2 years the farm will be highly ranked again