Yankees chasing 'unfinished business' in '23

The press conference was held deep within the bowels of Yankee Stadium on a December morning, part celebration and part coronation, as Aaron Judge gripped the familiar jersey with No. 99 stitched on the back -- his forever pinstripes. With Derek Jeter and more than 100 media members in attendance, manager Aaron Boone laid clear the expectations for the next nine years.

“I can’t think of a better guy to be the face and leader of our team moving forward for the rest of his career,” Boone said. “I’m so humbled and blessed to be part of it. I can’t wait to do more with you and hoist that championship one day, which we know we’re going to do. It’s just hard getting there.”

Coming off a memorable calendar year in which he belted 62 home runs to break Roger Maris’ single-season American League record, earned his first AL Most Valuable Player Award and was anointed as the 16th captain in franchise history, Judge says that there is “unfinished business.” He must now lead the Yankees to a championship.

“That’s why we play this game; we play to win, we play to be on top,” Judge said. “When you play in New York, that’s the one and only goal. It’s what drives me, day in and day out. It drives me to come here early, to do the little things that people don’t see, to give us that small, little extra edge to put us over the top.”

What needs to go right?
Yes, this is almost exactly the same team that was swept in the AL Championship Series last October, with one significant change -- the addition of left-hander Carlos Rodón, who won’t make his Yankees debut until at least mid-April.

Managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner said that his hopes hinge upon a repeat of the first half of 2022, when the Bombers won games around a 70 percent clip and held a 15 1/2-game lead in the AL East on the morning of July 8. Steinbrenner believes the sky is the limit if they can stay healthy over a full campaign.

“The first part of the year last year, we had one of the most dominant -- if not the most dominant -- teams in baseball,” Steinbrenner said. “Then the injuries hit us. That team, for the most part, is intact. The question we asked ourselves a couple of months ago was, is our starting rotation good enough to beat certain teams in the American League?

“I think we all came to the consensus that we needed more, and that’s why we went and got Carlos. Do we think we’re good enough to win a championship now? Yes. But we’ve got to stay healthy.”

Great unknown
Anthony Volpe’s excellent spring accelerated his timetable, and the 21-year-old top prospect clinched a spot on the Opening Day roster during the final week of Spring Training. Several voices within the front-office hierarchy campaigned loudly for Volpe to head north with the club, as he outperformed Oswald Peraza and Isiah Kiner-Falefa over the exhibition slate.

Cool and confident, Volpe seems to have all the right attributes to succeed in the Big Apple spotlight, and Boone has said that he is targeted for a lengthy career at the top or middle of the batting order while remaining in the middle of the diamond defensively. How will he handle the opportunity? We can’t wait to find out.

Team MVP will be …
It would be difficult to pick anyone other than Judge, coming off a season in which he led the Majors in runs (133), homers (62), RBIs (131), on-base percentage (.425), slugging percentage (.686), OPS+ (211) and total bases (391), while pacing the AL in walks (111). Judge is the club's heartbeat, and they will look to him to lead. As he goes, so will they.

While another 62-homer performance seems like a lot to ask, Judge is not satisfied with his performance from last season. He keeps a digital notebook of goals for the upcoming season on his phone and has identified his contact rate in two-strike counts as one area where he hopes to improve. Judge recently worked out with the Cardinals’ Paul Goldschmidt to learn some of the reigning National League MVP’s secrets, particularly his no-stride stance.

Team Cy Young will be ...
Gerrit Cole. The right-hander continues to feature overpowering swing-and-miss stuff, having just eclipsed Ron Guidry’s franchise record for strikeouts in a single season with 257. Cole was 13-8 with a 3.50 ERA, leading the Majors with 33 starts while becoming the first Yankee to throw at least 200 innings in a season since CC Sabathia and Hiroki Kuroda in 2013.

Cole would love to cut down on his home runs allowed -- he paced the AL with 33 last year -- and that is the one tweak necessary to boost his chances of bringing home an AL Cy Young Award. As Cole said: “It’s not like I’m going to give up zero home runs this year. I’m always going to give up a certain amount of home runs. I think it’s just being a bit more vigilant in whatever it is on that specific day that needs to be improved.”

Bold prediction
The Yankees will have a trio of Top 3 finishers for the AL MVP (Judge), Cy Young (Cole) and Rookie of the Year (Volpe).