5 bold predictions for the Yankees heading into an all-important 2024 season

The New York Yankees are going to have to get bold in order to return to the top of the American League in 2024. Like, bolder than trading for Juan Soto. That was clearly bold, but … sorry, can’t be done yet. Need a rotation. Tough world we live in.

Brian Cashman showed up to the GM Meetings in November and immediately made it quite clear that he’d heard the negative chatter surrounding his team, and he didn’t like it very much. Since that point, he’s added three left-handed outfield bats — Soto, Alex Vergudo, Trent Grisham — after being barren in that department and fighting for scraps last season. He’s earmarked $300 million for Yoshinobu Yamamoto, only to see Shohei Ohtani ruin that particular party. That means, while he doesn’t have to spend the whole $300 million this winter, he should probably reinvest a chunk of it in pushing Clarke Schmidt and Clayton Beeter further down the depth chart.

There’s a path to World Series relevance for the 2024 Yankees, which didn’t seem possible as they were playing out the string last season watching Carlos Rodón fail to record an out in Kansas City. That said, adding Soto doesn’t make them an instantaneous contender. Several variables currently floating in the wind are going to have to be harnessed in order for things to go right.

But we’re getting bold here, right? This is a safe space for getting bold? Here are five predictions with at least a moderate chance of coming true that don’t extend into the completely bizarre and irrational. No, Giancarlo Stanton won’t hit 50 bombs and threaten Ronald Acuña Jr.’s stolen base total. But we could see some big-time pivots and growth opportunities next season, lifting the Yankees’ ceiling significantly.

5 bold predictions for 2024 Yankees before Spring Training

Yankees trade Austin Wells at deadline, explore Gary Sánchez reunion … as long as they sign Blake Snell

Offensive catcher Austin Wells made a strong first impression defensively in Sept. 2023, but the bat caught up by the end of the season, as Wells wrapped his cameo with four homers and a 97 OPS+ after starting sluggishly. That sets him up as a perfect platoon option with Platinum Glover Jose Trevino next season, as well as a first base backup for Anthony Rizzo in a pinch (even though he’s never, uh, done it before).

It also makes him a potentially distinguished trade candidate midseason, considering Spencer Jones and Jasson Dominguez appear to be off the board, and Everson Pereira and Oswald Peraza have lost a bit of their shine.

In this multi-part prediction, the Yankees come to their senses and sign Snell before the season, which still leaves their rotation depth stretched pretty thin. That leaves them firmly in the midseason bidding for whichever aces are available, from Corbin Burnes to Jesus Luzardo. We foresee Wells, Chase Hampton, Ben Rice and Henry Lalane being dangled in such talks, with the Yankees sliding Snell’s personal catcher Gary Sánchez into Wells’ spot.

Gleyber Torres’ arbitration gets ugly, but he finishes 2024 with Yankees

Gleyber Torres and the Yankees will submit their arbitration filings on Friday, and the evaluators believe the Yankees’ second baseman is due for a $5.5 million raise. Though the Yankees beefed up their lineup with Soto and Co. in a “go for it” year instead of taking a step back, we still don’t think they’re going to take that figure from Torres lying down.

It’s in everyone’s best interest for the Yankees to act like a multi-billion dollar organization here and kindly pay Torres one last time before letting him walk in the offseason, but Dellin Betances and Aaron Judge will tell you they don’t often do that in this needlessly combative process.

The Yankees aren’t foolish enough to think they can cut bait on Torres now and replicate his production at second base, but they might just aggravate him one more time off the field before he goes — which, as we know, can affect his production significantly.

Jasson Dominguez returns in early June, plays center field before end of month

Dominguez officially “went bionic” in late September, and his Tommy John surgery typically carries a 9-to-10-month recovery window. The question from the moment he went under the knife has been, “Okay, just how freakish is this guy?”

Last fall, it was easy to envision a slow transition. After all, Dominguez’s big-league career — while wildly impressive — currently consists of about a week. If he was ready in late June or early July, would he “rehab” at the Triple-A level, get his swagger back, then return to the bigs sometime around when he debuted last year in September? It certainly felt possible.

But now that Aaron Boone has let the cat out of the bag with the headline-grabbing expectation that he thinks Dominguez might look like a “regular player” by spring training, even though he isn’t throwing quite yet. The Yankees built up enough outfield depth that they have no need to race him to the finish line this year, but … he’d certainly help. If Boone’s estimations are accurate, we could see Dominguez in May. We’re going to call them slightly inaccurate, but still hold out hope his explosive bat is just around the corner to lengthen the lineup.

Spencer Jones becomes consensus top-10 prospect in MLB by end of season

And oh, yeah, there’s that other guy! The Yankees would be wise not to thin out their minor-league depth further in a blockbuster trade following the Juan Soto deal. More specifically, they cannot afford to sacrifice either Dominguez or Spencer Jones, their two high-ceiling offensive contributors in the upper minors. Roderick Arias might qualify, too, and many believe he’s poised for a toolsy breakout in 2024, but even so, it’ll be quite a while before he cracks the big-league level.

Jones? He should be candidate to start in Alex Verdugo’s spot on Opening Day 2025, and all signs point to a helium-fueled rise up the rankings in 2024. If Roman Anthony of the Red Sox can do it mostly based on advanced metrics, then so can Jones, who profiles as a top-one-percent athlete.

According to Chris Kirschner’s recent Athletic profile, Jones counteracted his slightly average numbers in 2023 (ho hum, 16 bombs and a .780 OPS while reaching Double-A) with a swing tweak, and has also been encouraged to watch Kevin Kiermaier footage before he takes his top-tier speed to center field next season. A Dominguez-Jones-Judge-Soto outfield/DH core hardly seems impossible, presuming the Yankees pay Giancarlo Stanton to exit stage right before 2026 (and put the cash together for Soto).

Yankees clinch AL East by beating Dylan Cease in final Orioles series

Though the Yankees seem serious about obtaining Cease at this moment in time, all signs point to the White Sox waiting for the Orioles to top their current offer. If Baltimore comes to the negotiating table, no MLB team can beat them. Why would the White Sox new GM Chris Getz settle for anything less?

Whether Baltimore nabs Cease now or midsummer, it seems inevitable he’ll be their much-needed splash. He’s also coming off a season where he wowed the internet denizens with a large number of “swords,” but struggled to execute, pairing his typically high walk rate (79 in 177 innings following a league-leading 78 in 2022) with surprisingly hittable pitching (46 more hits allowed year-over-year in seven fewer innings).

We predict the Orioles nab a version of Cease that’s somewhere in between, with high highs and low lows as he makes the switch to the still-intimidating AL East. And the Yankees will see him on a bad day during the penultimate series of the season, when the Orioles come to Yankee Stadium. New York tees off and clinches the division, finishing with 96 wins.

As for October? You’ll have to wait for things to play out before we get too crazy.

This article was originally published on yanksgoyard.com as 5 bold predictions for the Yankees heading into an all-important 2024 season.