About the Off-Season: Keeping Up With the Joneses

About the Off-Season: Keeping Up With the Joneses

By Tim Kabel

December 5, 2025

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The Winter Meetings will open on Monday. There has already been a fair amount of activity in the Major Leagues. There hasn't been much activity involving the Yankees to this point.

Clearly, there is still a great deal of time before next season. The Yankees are reportedly in negotiations for both free agent signings and trades. However, Yankees fans and the media seem to be getting very antsy. It is almost as if Chicken Little was running around screaming about the sky falling. 

The Yankees finished second to the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East in 2025. Technically, they had the same record but because the Blue Jays won the season series against the Yankees, they won the division. The difference between the two teams was razor thin. However, in the ALDS, the distance between them was huge. The Blue Jays dominated the Yankees. The Blue Jays went to the World Series and made it to the 7th game before losing to the Dodgers.

As the 2025 season ended, it appeared that the Yankees and Blue Jays were poised to become bitter rivals for the AL East crown over the next several years.

The Blue Jays did not sit by idly, ruminating about their success in 2025. They signed Dylan Cease to a seven-year contract.  Then they signed Cody Ponce. Ponce was a former second-round pick of the Milwaukee Brewers who then went to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Ponce struggled with the Pirates and then in Japan. In 2025, he went to South Korea’s KBO, where he added two mph to his fastball and reshaped his breaking balls. He also began throwing a tremendous splitter. Ponce's record in Korea was 17-1 with a 1.89 ERA and he had 252 strikeouts in 180 2/3 innings. He was named the league MVP. The Blue Jays are banking on acquiring the version of Ponce who pitched in Korea and not the earlier version. When you add Cease and Ponce to the Blue Jays rotation of Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber, Trey Yesavage, and Jose Berrios, along with Eric Lauer, the Blue Jays look very formidable.

As if that weren't bad enough, the Blue Jays reportedly had a meeting with Kyle Tucker the other day. What if the Blue Jays signed Tucker? I read some articles basically saying that if that happened, the Yankee should simply concede the division to the Blue Jays. The person who wrote the article was not joking. The writer was completely serious. The thought is that the moves the Blue Jays have already made and are reportedly about to make will push them so far ahead of the Yankees that it won't even be a contest. The Yankees reportedly should shift their focus entirely to the Wild Card race. According to those predictions, the sky has not only fallen, but it has also shattered into a million pieces and will never be repaired. Let's calm down for a minute.

Yes, the Blue Jays made a big signing with Dylan Cease. He is a great pitcher. It is tremendous for their organization and their fans that the Blue Jays brought him in. Although Ponce is a wild card, it was still a good move. Basically, all the Yankees have done is re-sign Ryan Yarbrough. The Yankees also received criticism this week when the Red Sox traded for Sonny Gray and the Mets signed Devin Williams after his one season with the Yankees. It seems as if everyone else is paddling down the river while the Yankees are stuck in quicksand.

If we take a minute though, it doesn't really look that bad. The Yankees will be getting Carlos Rodon and Gerrit Cole back near the beginning of the season. Clarke Schmidt is expected back at some point as well. While the Yankees are waiting for those pitchers to return, the starting rotation will consist of Max Fried, Luis Gil, Will Warren, and Cam Schlittler. That is a very solid group. If the Yankees went with those four and Ryan Yarbrough or one of their youngsters until either Cole or Rodon returned, that would not be a starting rotation to be ashamed of. I don't think they will do that. I suspect that they will sign someone or trade for someone. There are very strong rumors that they may sign Tatsuya Imai from Japan.

Dylan Cease would have been very nice on the Yankees, but he also would have been very expensive. Remember, the Yankees basically made the same move that the Blue Jays did last year when they signed Max Fried. Signing Dylan Cease never really seemed to be something the Yankees were interested in because they can better use their financial resources on other players. As far as Ponce goes, if the Yankees sign Imai, he has been a very solid pitcher longer than Ponce has. Now this is all predicated on the Yankees actually signing Imai or signing or acquiring someone similar. If they don't bring anyone in, then it would be realistic to say that the Yankees are falling behind the Blue Jays, at least as far as the starting rotation goes.

If the Blue Jays sign Kyle Tucker, that does not mean the Yankees should forfeit the 2026 season. As was the case with Dylan Cease, I don't believe the Yankees are extremely interested in Tucker. Kyle Tucker will cost a lot of money. It's not that the Yankees don't have a lot of money. They do. It's not that the Yankee shouldn't spend the money. They should. However, Cody Bellinger is a much better fit. He's only about eighteen months older than Tucker. He was a league MVP. He had a great season for the Yankees last year. He also has positional flexibility as he can play all three outfield spots as well as first base. He is an extremely good fielder in all those positions.  

The Yankees are also reportedly interested in Bo Bichette. Signing him would not only strengthen the Yankees, but it would also weaken the Blue Jays. Thus far, the Yankees have not done a lot. Opening Day is not next week. There is plenty of time. As long as the Yankees actually make moves and those moves are solid ones, the Yankees will be in a great position to compete for the division title and beyond in 2026.