Ranking Yankees' top five priorities for 2023-24 offseason, including bolstering the outfield

It was a disappointing season for the 2023 Yankees. General manager Brian Cashman went as far as to call it a "disaster." And he’s not wrong.

After winning 99 games and making the ALCS in 2022, the Yankees finished barely over .500 and avoided their first last-place finish in 30 years. Injuries played a big role in the team’s struggles this year, but there’s definitely a lot more wrong with the organization.

This offseason, it’ll be up to managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner and the front office to figure out what needs to be done to avoid another disastrous season, and he’ll need to get a start on it as soon as possible if the Yankees have any shot of winning their first World Series since 2009.

Here are five offseason priorities the Yankees need to address...

5. Get a thorough 'audit' of operations

This is ranked No. 5, but only because it has to be done first.

Steinbrenner is on record saying that he’s going to possibly bring in outside consultants to take a look at every aspect of the organization. From the much-maligned analytics team to baseball operations.

"We're going to take a very deep dive into everything we're doing," Steinbrenner told the Associated Press in August. "We're looking to bring in possibly an outside company to really take a look at the analytics side of what we do. Baseball operations in general. We're going to have some very frank conversions with each other. This year was obviously unacceptable."

While at first it seemed an outside firm will come in to take a look at what's being done, SNY's Andy Martino reports that the Yankees will be paying to view how an outside firm runs analytics and then compare it to how they operate. Essentially a self-evaluation.

This will likely be the first order of business for the Yankees, and while I don’t expect Cashman or Aaron Boone to be let go as a result, perhaps the organization will find something wrong with how they do things and finally fix it.

4. Figure out how to get the best of Giancarlo Stanton

Stanton had a tough 2023. Despite his solid power numbers -- 24 homers -- Stanton’s season was riddled by injuries and poor performance, especially down the stretch.

His poor at-bats, where he often seems lost, and inability to run the bases has become a huge problem. But with at least four more years in pinstripes before a club option in 2028, the Yankees have to figure out what to do with their slugger.

Stanton was pictured as the team’s designated hitter who can play right field every so often. But with his limited mobility that’s seemingly diminishing every season, that is becoming less and less of an option. If they want Stanton to be an everyday DH, then he needs to stay healthy to be in the lineup and perform.

Stanton finished the 2034 season batting under .200 for the first time in his 12-year career. Batting average is not looked upon as fondly these days, but Stanton will finish with career lows in slugging (.420) and OPS (.695).

Can the Yankees find a suitor to take Stanton and his contract off their hands? Not likely, so they’ll need to find ways to get his confidence at the plate back while also revamping their conditioning and sports science teams, because there are way too many soft-tissue injuries this season.

3. Add another starting pitcher

The 2024 rotation is likely to look drastically different from this year’s.

Aside from Gerrit Cole, there are a lot of question marks. Hopefully Carlos Rodon bounces back from a short and mostly ineffective season to become the team’s No. 2 behind Cole. Nestor Cortes should slide in as the team’s No. 3 starter, but his injuries this season make his breakout 2022 feel like a lifetime ago.

The team won’t know what they’ll get from Cortes in 2024, so more depth can take the pressure off of him.

And then we have Clarke Schmidt and the emergence of Michael King. Both pitchers are young and have the stuff to compete for spots, but in the case of King, how many starts will he be able to give the Yankees? He’ll likely be on an innings count and the grind of a long season could make him ineffective as the season goes along.

The solution? Bring in another starter.

Now, Domingo German is under contract, but after his alcohol-fueled incident this season the team may not be ready to rely on him. Luis Severino is a free agent and his injury history -- including an oblique strain that ended his 2023 -- could make the Yankees balk at bringing him back.

The free agent market includes some familiar names like Jordan Montgomery and Sonny Gray and the potential NL Cy Young winner in Blake Snell. Bringing in a veteran starter would allow the Yankees to go with a six-man rotation if they want to limit the number of innings on Schmidt and King, as well as give them depth in case an arm or two inevitably goes down due to injury.

2. Figuring out the infield

The Yankees do not have depth in the outfield, but the opposite is the case for the infield. In fact, you can argue the Yankees have too many infielders on the roster.

Anthony Volpe is here to stay. Whether the team keeps him at shortstop is an argument for another day, but Anthony Rizzo is their first baseman, which leaves second, third and catcher in need of everyday hitters.

Gleyber Torres had one of the best seasons of his career in 2023. He has one more arbitration-eligible season before becoming a free agent, and since the team didn’t trade him at the deadline, it’s likely they’ll bring him back. That leaves third base and catcher to figure out.

Oswald Peraza has the glove to play third, but after losing the starting shortstop job to Volpe, the Yankees took their time to call him up. Perhaps they have questions about his bat, but he can definitely play the field, run the bases well and get on base.

As for catcher, Austin Wells has now had a cup of coffee in the majors, and it looks like his bat plays well. His defense exceeded expectations, but is he their answer at the position?

The Yankees were carrying three catchers at the end of the season, with Jose Trevino out with an injury, but they won’t do that next season. Ben Rortvedt and Kyle Higashioka don’t seem like the answers, but it may come down to spring training.

Before the spring comes around, the Yanks need to have an idea of where they stand -- whether it’s by addressing the holes with stars or letting the kids fight for it.

1. Filling out the outfield around Aaron Judge

The Bombers went into 2023 without an everyday left fielder -- a mistake that Cashman hasn’t answered for -- and now they’ll head into the offseason without a center fielder, either, after Harrison Bader was claimed off waivers in August.

New York will want Judge to play exclusively right field to protect their best offensive player from the wear-and-tear of playing center -- although he can still play the position if needed -- so how will the Yanks address a need that is a year old?

This offseason’s crop of outfielders is deeper than last year’s, so Cashman should be able to fill in some holes without the need of a trade, but picking the right fits is a whole other story.

Jasson Dominguez is set to return from Tommy John surgery some time in July, so he can be the center fielder when he returns. But a defense-first outfielder who hits for contact like Kevin Kiermaier or Bader -- for the right price -- could be the stopgap the Yanks need while also giving them depth.

The left fielder and center fielder for 2024 aren't currently on the roster, so Cashman has some shopping to do.