New York Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner raised some eyebrows when he confidently declared in late January that he thought that the Yankees “have a better team right now than we did a year ago” despite All-Star outfielder Juan Soto leaving the club to sign with the New York Mets. 

Manager Aaron Boone didn’t go quite that far while speaking about the Yankees’ post-Soto era on Tuesday. 

“Look, there’s no running from the fact of losing a player like Juan Soto,” Boone said during a spring training news conference, as shared by Alex Smith of SNY. “We all saw how important he was to our club last year and we did a lot to try to keep him here. I think everyone understands how much we wanted him back. That being said, there’s a lot of ways to build a great team, and I think the moves that we’ve made this offseason give us that chance.”

Part of the Yankees’ so-called pivot following Soto’s defection to Queens involved acquiring big names such as outfielder Cody Bellinger, first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, ace Max Fried and closer Devin Williams. While no one player can match all that Soto gave the reigning American League champions in 2024, the hope is that the Bronx Bombers have given two-time Most Valuable Player Aaron Judge enough help for the club to get to where it wants to go.

“We’ve got a long road ahead of us to get back [to the World Series], but with what we have and the moves we’ve made this winter to go along with what we already had, I feel like we have that chance there, we have that template. Now it’s on us again to go out and deliver on that,” Boone added. 

As of Wednesday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the Yankees as the betting favorites at +310 odds to represent the AL in this year’s Fall Classic. Boone’s contract expires after this season, but it appears he won’t be a lame-duck skipper with a World-Series-or-bust mandate hovering over him throughout the upcoming summer. 

“An agreement to extend his employment for an additional year or more during spring training seems likely, given the mutual affection between Boone and the organization,” MLB insider Andy Martino of SNY said on Tuesday. “It would be out of character for the team to agree to an extension during the regular season, so expect resolution sooner than later.”