With spring training starting up for the New York Yankees, the offseason is quickly coming to a close.

Coming into the winter, it felt like it was either going to be a great offseason with the return of Juan Soto, or a bad one if he left.

For the Yankees, they did indeed lose Soto, but it was far from a bad offseason. New York pivoted quickly and made numerous trades and signings to bolster the roster.

The Yankees might have been a bit of an unbalanced team in 2024, but they appear to have addressed that both on their pitching staff and in their lineup.

This winter, some of the notable moves for New York were to sign starting pitcher Max Fried and first baseman Paul Goldschmidt. Also, on the trade market, they acquired closer Devin Williams and outfielder Cody Bellinger.

Even though losing Soto was a tough blow, it’s hard to imagine the offseason going much better for the Yankees.

Recently, The Athletic (paid subscription required) gave the Yankees an excellent grade of an ‘A’ for their offseason moves.

It certainly was a great offseason for New York, but it wasn’t perfect. While keeping Soto would have been ideal, it’s hard to imagine that they would have added some of the pieces they did with how much it would have cost.

In the lineup, while Goldschmidt and Bellinger are good players, but they alone can’t replace the production from losing a star. However, the Yankees have some young players like outfielder Jasson Dominguez and catcher Austin Wells, who they hope will improve and help on offense as well.

For the pitching staff, the team looks to be in excellent shape. The starting rotation is loaded and the bullpen has depth with a star closer to finish off games.

However, what has likely kept this from being a perfect offseason is the situation at third base.

Currently, the Yankees will be testing out a couple of options at the hot corner this spring, with DJ LeMahieu and Oswaldo Cabrera being the two front-runners to start.

Neither of these options instills a lot of confidence due to sub-par production and injuries in recent years.

For a team that has so much talent and the ability to win a World Series in 2025, fixing third base will likely be something that they have to address sooner rather than later.

Overall, it was a great winter for the Yankees. Pivoting to a backup plan after losing Soto in free agency was no easy task. However, New York pulled off a nice job despite that.