New York Yankees legend Derek Jeter recently defended team owner Hal Steinbrenner and Yankees senior vice president/general manager Brian Cashman amid criticisms from fans and other outsiders who have said the club is simply “running it back” with the same roster from last season.
While speaking with reporters on Wednesday, Cashman insisted the 2026 version of the Yankees can be better than the side that lost to the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Division Series this past fall.
Brian Cashman insists Yankees don’t have “the same roster”
“First, it’s a collection of really talented players,” Cashman explained, per Randy Miller of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. “It’s not the same roster. I would differ there. We have some players at some point returning from the IL that are important players, Gerrit Cole being obviously one of them. But we’ve had some additions from the second half that got their feet wet with the Yankees, some with success, some with failures.”
Cole, a vital part of a rotation that also features ace Max Fried, missed the entire 2025 season after he underwent Tommy John surgery last March. According to the RotoBaller website, Cole is on track to rejoin the Yankees in late May or early June.
That said, Miller pointed out that the Yankees’ five major moves of the offseason involved re-signing outfielder Cody Bellinger, outfielder Trent Grisham, utility man Amed Rosario and relief pitchers Ryan Yarbrough and Paul Blackburn. To compare, the two-time defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers have added star closer Edwin Diaz and outfielder Kyle Tucker to their squad via big-money deals.
Aaron Boone is confident that current Yankees can do more than make the playoffs
Back in December 2022, the Yankees signed Cashman to a four-year contract that runs through the upcoming season. In February 2025, the club signed manager Aaron Boone to a two-year contract extension set to run through the 2027 campaign.
On Wednesday, Boone suggested the current Yankees roster has the goods to end the franchise’s championship drought that began following the 2009 Fall Classic.
“We think we have the pieces,” Boone said. “We’re going in with a lot of the guys that we brought in as kind of support pieces at the trade deadline last year. We’re going into the season with a lot of those guys in place, so I feel like our roster flexibility is better night in and night out. I’m really excited to go to battle with this group. I think we have a chance to be really good. There are no guarantees ever, but our plan is to get back to the postseason and try and go win a world championship.”
Calls from Yankees fans for Steinbrenner to part ways with both Boone and Cashman will likely grow louder this summer if the skipper is wrong and the Bronx Bombers again look like a team incapable of hanging with the Dodgers in a seven-game series.