It’s a tradition for Yankees fans to say, “This is the year the Yankees will win it all!” But considering the team’s 14-year championship drought, the saying has become hyperbolic. Will this year be any different?
This year should have been the year the Bronx Bombers were all in like they were in 2009 when George Steinbrenner was in his final days. The 2024 team acquired San Diego Padres outfielder Juan Soto, but that was the only big move NYY made this offseason, and his acquisition has not changed the AL East landscape. The Orioles remain the odds-on favorite to win the division.
Had the Yankees signed Blake Snell this offseason, then Yankees fans could have made the case that their team is the club to win the division and possibly the World Series, too.
It’s hard to take the Yankees seriously when they have Gerrit Cole and hope for rain until he pitches again. The other starters–Nestor Cortes, Carlos Rodon, Marcus Stroman, and Clarke Schmidt–don’t inspire fear in other teams. Amazingly, the Yankees went cheap with their starting rotation by signing Stroman rather than Snell or Jordan Montgomery. Plus, relying on Schmidt isn’t much of a strategy. Instead, they should have gone after Snell if they were willing to give up a ransom to get Soto on a one-year rental. But they didn’t go after Snell because they didn’t want to pay the luxury tax on an uber-high payroll. That’s short-sighted thinking by Hal Steinbrenner.
Money should not be an object for a proud franchise like the Yankees. Other teams, notably Minnesota and Tampa Bay, have no choice but to run budget-sensitive operations. I know Steinbrenner has been vocal about not wanting his team to have a $300 million payroll to field a championship team, but the Yankees don’t have a strong farm system to build a budget-taut championship club budget like the Orioles or Braves.
So, Yankee fans, you pay for expensive tickets to attend Yankee Stadium games. But that also means you can demand that Steinbrenner invest in his product, like shelling out cash to acquire Snell or Montgomery. Instead, you’re getting marketing hype that this year’s rotation will do great things.
The past has a way of setting up the future. Cortes got exposed last year. Rodon pitched like Jack McDowell. Schmidt and Stroman are mediocre, and despite his great spring training, I wouldn’t get excited about Luis Gil yet.
A team with many question marks in the starting rotation would have been wise to sign Snell to erase doubt. That is where the Yankees blew it, and that’s why no one should take them seriously as a championship team. Maybe they will make the playoffs. But so what?
The mission statement is to win the championship, and this team is not even close. With the way this roster stands right now, the 2024 New York Yankees don’t look like a division champion, and I think they will be hard-pressed to make the playoffs.
