Grading the Yankees’ offseason so far, including the signing of Max Fried and trades for Cody Bellinger and Devin Williams.
Obviously, the baseball offseason is far from over and, while the Yankees have been quite aggressive since losing Juan Soto to the Mets, there is much more work to be done in the Bronx.
In an effort to keep you up-to-the-minute on the goings-on in Yankeeland, Dear Reader, we are providing a move-by-move report card. Stop by every day, especially when GM Brian Cashman has orchestrated another transaction. You won’t even have to hit “refresh.”
So far, the Yankees have made two big trades, a whopper of a free agent signing and kept a nifty bullpen arm. What else might be brewing?
Here’s what we think of what they’ve done, with updated grades coming in after every subsequent move…
1B PAUL GOLDSCHMIDT
(Signed to a one-year, $12.5-million contract, according to multiple reports)
Pete Alonso would have been a sexier move, full of narrative potential, albeit pricier. Christian Walker probably would have been better, too. But the Yankees solved first base for 2025 with a short-term play for a former MVP that will push another former MVP, Cody Bellinger, to the outfield, where he belongs.
That leaves the position wide open in the future for a potential pursuit of Vlad Guerrero Jr. when he hits free agency after 2025 or even if Aaron Judge must move there in a few years.
Goldschmidt’s resume sparkles: The seven-time All-Star was the 2022 NL MVP and has five other top-six finishes in his career, including runner-up in 2013 and 2015. The run-prevention Yanks can use his defense – he’s won four Gold Gloves – and he figures to be able to pop a few homers while not being asked to carry too much of the offensive load.
But there are risks here. Goldschmidt is already 37. He’s coming off his worst MLB season, including a .716 OPS, the lowest of his career, and his fewest RBI (65) over a full season. The pessimists will point to two down years in a row following his MVP and note that his 2024 strikeout rate (26.5 percent) was a career worst.
The optimists will tout his .839 OPS against lefties and his strong bounce-back over the final 60 games of the season – 29 extra-base hits, .498 slugging. He’ll catch the ball, key when pitchers such as Fried are generating big grounder rates.
Did we mention it’s a one-year deal? You know the old front office adage: “There’s no such thing as a bad one-year deal.” True here, too.
GRADE: B+
RHP FERNANDO CRUZ, C ALEX JACKSON
(Acquired from the Reds for C José Trevino)
Austin Wells’ emergence last year made Trevino, a fine receiver, particularly when it comes to pitch framing, expendable. So the Yankees turned him into an intriguing bullpen project and catching depth. Cruz, a 34-year-old righty who didn’t reach the majors until age 32 because he was a converted position player, has big strikeout numbers, including a 14.72 K/9 last year that led MLB. Since 2023, he has the fifth-most strikeouts among MLB relievers.
He’s got a wipeout splitter – hitters were just 14-for-121 (.116) against the pitch while striking out 88 (!) times.
That’s the good. Here’s the bad: He walks too many hitters. He’s got a 4.88 ERA in his first two full seasons.
Still, there’s raw material there and the Yankees have done well lately getting the most out of relief arms that may not be finished products when they arrive. If they can help Cruz get more out of his secondary stuff – a mid-90s four-seamer and a high-80s cutters – or even convince him to trim his repertoire, maybe there’s a leverage arm waiting to emerge.
Jackson, who turns 29 on Christmas Day, was the sixth overall pick in the 2014 MLB Draft, but he’s struggled to establish himself in the majors. In 124 lifetime games with four teams, he has a .132 career average. Maybe he competes to be Wells’ backup in spring camp.
GRADE: B
LHP MAX FRIED
(Signed to an eight-year, $218-million free agent contract)
After Soto split, the Yanks cranked up their run prevention, giving Fried the biggest guarantee ever bestowed on a left-handed pitcher. Fried has the resume for that kind of deal – since his big league career began in 2017, he’s got the fifth-lowest ERA (3.07) among pitchers who have thrown at least 800 innings, which is better than Gerrit Cole, Chris Sale, Blake Snell and Corbin Burnes, among others. Only Jacob deGrom, Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander are better. Nice company.
Fried’s repertoire generates ground balls (his ground ball rate in 2024 was 58.2 percent, well above the MLB average of 41.9 percent) and he gets strikeouts at an above-average rate, too. He could be the high-ceiling No. 2 the Yankees need behind Cole in what should be a formidable playoff rotation next October.
The length of the deal could be a concern, at least toward the back end. Fried will be 31 in January. Some teams would be commitment-phobes over a contract of this length for a pitcher, even one as good as Fried. But the Yanks likely didn’t make the deal while fretting over what he’ll be in his late 30s. If he delivers Fried-level pitching for 180 innings or so per year over the front end of the contract, it could be a smash.
GRADE: B+
RHP DEVIN WILLIAMS
(Acquired in a trade with the Brewers for LHP Nestor Cortes and INF prospect Caleb Durbin)
Another move, more run prevention. With Clay Holmes exiting the Yankees bullpen for the Mets rotation, the Yanks added an elite relief arm in Williams, the owner of the “Airbender” changeup who likely will take over the closer’s role.
Since 2019, Williams has a 1.83 ERA. Among pitchers who have thrown more than 200 innings over that span, only Emmanuel Clase (1.67) has a better mark. The Airbender piles up strikeouts, too. Putting him atop a bullpen that has thrived in recent years as the Yanks have developed unknown relief arms into valuable pieces seems like a sound strategy. It’s a short commitment, too – free agency beckons after 2025, unless the sides fall for each other and they work out an extension.
GRADE: A
1B/OF CODY BELLINGER
(Acquired in a trade with the Cubs for RHP Cody Poteet)
A lefty slugger in Yankee Stadium is always a plus and Bellinger is an adept defender at all three outfield positions and first base. With front offices swooning over versatility these days, Bellinger is a neat fit and maybe he gets to the mid-20s or low-30s in homers with help from his new home’s configuration.
While Bellinger is not the same player he was when he was the NL MVP in 2019 with the Dodgers, that’s not the standard he should be held to nowadays. And no one should suggest the Yanks view him as a one-for-one replacement for the incomparable Soto.
If he mirrors what he’s done over the past two seasons in Chicago – an .815 OPS and an average of 22 home runs per year – Bellinger will help the Yanks. And especially so if he plays center field and the club moves Aaron Judge back to right field.
GRADE: B
RHP JONATHAN LOÁISIGA
(Re-signed to a one-year deal with a club option, terms unknown)
Loáisiga pitched in only three games last season and has appeared in just 20 combined over the past two years. And he’ll probably start the season on the IL. But it’ll be fascinating to see what the Yanks might have when he’s ready by the end of April or early May. In 2021, his best big league season, Loáisiga had a 2.17 ERA and held opposing hitters to a .548 OPS in 57 games.
It’s the kind of low-risk bullpen move that should be applauded. If he gets back to near-peak form, he’s another shutdown reliever. If he doesn’t, it’s not like the Yanks stopped adding to their bullpen because they got him – they traded for Williams two days after re-signing Loáisiga.
GRADE: B
OF JUAN SOTO
(Left the Yankees for the Mets and $765 million over 15 years)
There’s no getting around it – it’s a blow that the Yanks couldn’t retain Soto, a free agency unicorn who helped them break their 15-year drought of not reaching the World Series. But they didn’t sit idly by, either – they reportedly made the second-highest offer at $760 million over 16 years. That is the second-highest offer made in baseball history, too. For that, and the way they’ve responded since, the Yanks get a decent-enough grade for Soto, though the upcoming few seasons will let us know how both the Yankees and Mets did in the wake of Soto’s free agency.
GRADE: C+
