MLB’s hot stove season is supposed to bring joy to fans across the league, as the offseason can be cold and long. There’s a reason it’s called the ‘hot stove’, but fans in the Bronx have been left disappointed and frustrated with the moves their beloved New York Yankees have made thus far.
Despite being linked to every single high-profile free agent, the Yankees have been unable to reach any lucrative contracts. This all should be taken with a slight grain of salt, because the Yankees already have a solid roster, and certainly a good enough team to be considered in the race for a Fall Classic appearance in 2026. However, all the moves Brian Cashman has made have been internal re-signings, and one minor league contract handed out to Paul DeJong.
While there is still over a month and a half before the calendar strikes March, all the opportunities the Yankees have had to sign players has led to the optimism fading among the Bronx faithful.
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Yankees ‘Window Shopping’ At an All-Time High
The New York Yankees have been the biggest ‘window shoppers’ this offseason, by a long margin.
New York has lost Devin Williams and Luke Weaver to free agency, which is a large bulk of their bullpen production. Most recently, the Yankees were linked to Tatsuya Imai and Edward Cabrera before he was traded to the Cubs. Reports indicated that after the Cubs made the trade that the Yankees were ‘never close’ Â to a trade with Cabrera and never made a formal offer to Imai.
The life of a Yankees fan is often already under a magnifying glass, but this offseason has to be an all-time test. After eliminating their rival, the Boston Red Sox, in the Wild Card round in 2025, New York was thrashed by the Toronto Blue Jays, and is now having to watch their foe up north ink out deals left and right, putting Brian Cashman and the rest of the Yankees’ front office behind the eight-ball.
The American League East has been a total arms race this offseason, and despite still having one of the best rosters in MLB, the Yankees are falling behind, and it’s not close.
Here is the list of players the Yankees have retained this offseason: Trent Grisham, Paul Blackburn, Amen Rosario, and Ryan Yarborough.
That’s it, that’s the list. It’s been almost three months since the 2025 season ended, and almost exactly a month since the MLB winter meetings concluded, and it’s been nothing but seemingly overblown reports and a whole bunch of window shopping for MLB’s beloved franchise.
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What Can the Yankees Do to Save the Offseason?
This is how you know it’s been a disappointing winter: when MLB insiders and analysts are trying to propose plans for the Yankees to save their offseason.
Again, the Yankees do not have a bad roster; in fact, they have a really good roster. However, ‘good’ or even ‘really good’ might not cut it in 2026.
Aside from Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the infield, how comfortable are Yankees fans with running out Ryan McMahon, Ben Rice (presumably), and a combination of Anthony Volpe, Jose Caballero, and Rosario as everyday infielders?
And as for the pitching side of things? Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon are expected to miss the start of the 2026 season, which puts a lot of pressure on Max Fried, who can certainly handle being the ace, and youngster Cam Schlittler, who is now thrust in a very important rotation role.
New York avoided arbitration with David Bednar and Camilo Doval, who were both brought to the Yankees at the trade deadline last season. One of them, after the departure of Weaver and Williams, will have to step up to be the closer.
As for what the Yankees can do to save the offseason? The obvious starts with re-signing Cody Bellinger. If they are unable to land Cody Bellinger, the sky might officially fall in the Bronx.
After continuous reports of being linked to a blockbuster trade, it’s time for the reports to be real one time, and for the Yankees to go out and acquire an all-star arm from a bottom-feeder team (there are PLENTY)
The Yankees still await the decisions of free agents Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt, but now that the arbitration deadline has passed, it’s time for the Yankees to do something big.
And the last point I’ll make, and maybe the front office is doing this purposefully, but if manager Aaron Boone really might be on a short leash to open up the 2026 campaign, he should hold a lifetime vendetta against this front office group for doing a whole lot of nothing for him.
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