30 Teams In 30 Days: Can The Yankees Survive Without Gerrit Cole?

I feel like my video about this team should’ve been a little bit more positive. I do really appreciate the offseason they had. They were dealt a devastating blow last week when it was announced that Gerrit Cole would be out for two months. I know they added Marcus Strom into that rotation, but there’s not a surefire guy that you can rely on to be a stud every fifth day. Nestor Cortes and Carlos Rodon are coming back from injury-riddled seasons. You never really know what you’ll get out of Stroman, though he is usually good. They will have to weather the storm for a few months in a tough division. Offensively, they’re going to be very fun to watch. Any lineup with Aaron Judge has potential, and any lineup with Aaron Judge and Juan Soto can be great. They addressed the need for left-handed bats in the offseason, and Brian Cashman deserves much credit for that. 

There’s a lot to like here. The bullpen is pretty solid, and I think that Anthony Volpe will take that next step offensively and have a really good year as the Yankee shortstop of the future. But at the end of the day, this was an 82-win ball club a season ago. To win this division, you have to be around that 95 range, and I just don’t know if this team has enough to be able to get there. Do I expect them to cruise into the postseason? Absolutely, but outside of last year and maybe a few other anomalies, that’s been the case for the Yankees every year since I was alive.

The expectation for the New York Yankees is that it’s world championship or bust for them pretty much every season. I have a hard time believing that they’re going to be able to lock up Juan Soto in free agency, which means they’re likely only to have him for one season. I fully expect him to make the most out of it, but do I expect the Yankees to be the last team standing? No, I don’t, but they will improve significantly upon last year‘s win total.