The New York Yankees have spent much of the offseason pushing back against the idea that they’re simply “running it back,” saying that their approach is a smart one rather than trying to continue doing what hasn’t worked. Internally, the messages have been about the belief in the roster, getting a lot healthier, and more.
However, not everyone is buying thecomments from New York.
Longtime Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay pushed back against that idea this week, arguing that the organization’s message doesn’t align with what’s truly going on.
Kay’s frustration wasn’t due to the roster, but to how the team has described its strategy. After falling short of a World Series appearance last season, the Yankees kept their core, which isn’t the worst idea.
“You are running it back,” Kay said, per NJ.com. “So rather than fight the words, you are running it back. The answer should be we’re bringing back the same team because we think that team is great. We think that that team under the right circumstances would be able to beat anybody and get to the World Series. That’s the answer.”
Kay’s point wasn’t that the Yankees failed to improve, but that their confidence should be slowed down a bit, as Kay thinks it’ll be the same roster they finished last season with. If the Yankees truly believe last year’s team was good enough, saying so publicly would show where they stand with things.
“When Aaron Boone writes out his lineup on the 25th of March in San Francisco, other than (Oswaldo) Cabrera who’s filling in for an injured (Anthony) Volpe, that’s the lineup that you finish the season with. And there’s no shame in that. I don’t think there’s a shame in that,” Kay added.
The lineup and rotation will look familiar, and so will the bullpen in a sense, though it lost Devin Williams and Luke Weaver. Getting Gerrit Cole back will be another big piece for this roster.
There’s no telling whether it’ll be right or wrong moving forward, as we’ll have to see what happens. The Yankees are good and can win it all, but they’ll likely need things to go their way.