As Cody Bellinger sat at the podium for a press conference after reporting to Yankees camp, he tried to focus on what he and Paul Goldschmidt can provide.
Not what their new team lost after the Dodgers defeated the Yankees in last year’s World Series.
“For me and Paul, it’s not necessarily replacing anybody, but coming in and performing to our best capability,” Bellinger said. “We know what our best capability is. If we reach those levels, then I think that it could be fun.”
That comment came with obvious context: Juan Soto is no longer a Yankee.
Fair or not, Bellinger and Goldschmidt are seen as the men mainly responsible for filling the Soto-sized hole in the pinstripers’ lineup. Even Hal Steinbrenner quipped that the former MVPs — the biggest bats the Bombers added in the wake of Soto’s $765 million defection to the Mets — could make up for a “good deal” of the superstar’s output.
That will be easier said than done, especially with Giancarlo Stanton’s elbows creating another void in the lineup.
Bellinger, acquired from the Cubs, has been inconsistent and missed lots of time since winning his MVP in 2019, though he’s coming off two solid seasons with the Cubs. The 37-year-old Goldschmidt, who won his MVP in 2022, signed a one-year deal following the worst year of his career.
Can the two turn the clock back enough during their first seasons in pinstripes?
Both players have enjoyed productive springs, though Goldschmidt has been dealing with a sore back. He doesn’t expect it to jeopardize his status for Opening Day, and Aaron Boone previously said the first baseman is in “impeccable shape” as he tries to stave off Father Time.
Bellinger, meanwhile, has a left-handed swing suited for Yankee Stadium. He’ll also be tasked with playing center field.
“I’m confident that he’s going to elevate our club,” Boone said.
The Yankees’ contingency plans weren’t built around just those two hitters. One could even argue they were secondary pieces to a run-prevention strategy that saw the club double down on pitching with the additions of Max Fried and Devin Williams.
Fried agreed to an eight-year, $218 million deal with the Yankees two days after Soto spurned them. That contract, the largest guarantee ever for a lefty, already made Fried the face of the Yanks’ post-Soto pivot. That was before Gerrit Cole had his 2025 season robbed by Tommy John surgery.
Now Fried is the team’s de facto ace, though Carlos Rodón will start on Opening Day to keep schedules intact.
“He’s been a sponge,” Boone said of Fried, who spent the first eight years of his career in Atlanta. “He’s been really open to everything our pitching guys have thrown at him. Getting down here, you can tell he’s made a real investment in getting to know his teammates and the people in the building and coaches and staff and people that are going to be helpful to him. To me, his transition seems very seamless so far.”
Williams, on the other hand, didn’t have the most seamless transition after being acquired from the Brewers. His dissatisfaction with the Yankees’ longstanding grooming policy played a part in Steinbrenner’s shocking decision to permit well-groomed beards, an amendment Williams has taken advantage of.
More importantly, Williams gives the Yankees one of baseball’s best closers after Luke Weaver had to replace Clay Holmes in the role last season. With Weaver back in a multi-inning fireman role and Williams throwing his air-bending changeup in the ninth, the Yankees’ bullpen — which also added Fernando Cruz — should be able to shorten games on a regular basis.
“He’s a Mercedes,” Boone said of Williams. The manager used the same word to describe Fried.
With two Benzes and a few classics now parked in their garage, the Yankees are hoping they won’t miss Soto too much, though a few of their other cars have been totaled or need work. They’re also hoping they can return to the World Series — and win it all — with a very different roster than the one that fell short in sloppy fashion last year.
“What he provided was very special,” Boone said of Soto, but the skipper added, “There’s a lot of ways to build an outstanding team.”