This is shaping up to be the most important season for the New York Yankees in decades -- and that's not just the usual hyperbole that surrounds the franchise.
They missed the playoffs in 2023, sitting out October for the first time since 2016, and came dangerously close to ending a now 31-year streak without a losing season. Manager Aaron Boone and general manager Brian Cashman could both find their seats hotter by season's end, as fans used to cheering for World Series contenders might instead be clamoring for their heads on talk radio if the team flails to another mediocre season.
The Yankees enter 2024 with a roster many consider among baseball's best. And yet -- stop us if you've heard this before -- there is already a state of uncertainty surrounding the pitching staff. Gerrit Cole's ailing elbow won't require Tommy John surgery, but he's going to miss the start of the 2024 campaign. His status, combined with Carlos Rodon and Nestor Cortes returning from injuries, has turned the starting rotation into a question mark.
That means the offense is absolutely crucial to the Yankees' championship hopes.
They traded five players to acquire Juan Soto to help boost the offense -- but he's under contract for just one season with no guarantee he'll return as a free agent. Aaron Judge, as great as he is, turns 32 in April and played just 106 games last year. Giancarlo Stanton is coming off a season in which he hit rock bottom, slashing just .191/.275/.420.
While the 25-year-old star slugger provides a much-needed boost to the lineup, and getting the best versions of those three in the middle of the order is vital, more has to go right for an offense that has been mediocre in recent years.
In 2021, Judge and Stanton were both healthy and combined for 74 home runs, but there wasn't much else around them and the Yankees scored 711 runs, 10th in the American League. In 2022, the Yankees scored an AL-best 807 runs, thanks in part to Judge's historic 62-homer campaign. In 2023, they hit .227, with only Judge and Gleyber Torres producing an above-average OPS, and scored 673 runs, good for 11th in the AL.
Can this lineup return to the top? Let's have some fun looking at six crucial areas of the Yankees' offense, identifying how they can improve if all goes well -- as well as what it could mean if things go wrong.