It’s almost January, and the New York Yankees are the only team in the American League East not to have made a notable external addition to their roster this offseason.

What’s adding to the growing angst in the fan base is that each of the teams in the Yankees’ division has been active. The Toronto Blue Jays have added Dylan Cease, Cody Ponce and Tyler Rogers to their pitching staff. They’re also in the mix to sign at least one of the top available offensive players on the market, whether it’s Kyle Tucker, Bo Bichette or Alex Bregman.

The Boston Red Sox have yet to add any free agents, but they’ve added a dependable middle-of-the-order bat in Willson Contreras and starting pitchers Sonny Gray and Johan Oviedo through trades. They also remain in the picture for at least one more top-of-the-market bat in Bregman or Bichette.

The Baltimore Orioles are the early winners of the offseason after adding Pete Alonso and Taylor Ward to their lineup, Ryan Helsley and Andrew Kittredge to their bullpen and Shane Baz to their rotation. If they get a front-line starter — whether it’s Framber Valdez or Ranger Suárez — the Orioles will be a threat to win the division.

The Tampa Bay Rays have been one of the most active teams on the trade market and could be positioning themselves to trade for Ketel Marte or Brendan Donovan. They’ve already added Cedric Mullins and Steven Matz in free agency.

Meanwhile, the Yankees have forecasted that they are comfortable running back a similar roster to 2025. They brought back Trent Grisham, who accepted the qualifying offer, exercised Tim Hill’s club option and re-signed Ryan Yarbrough, Amed Rosario and Paul Blackburn in free agency. Their No. 1 target in free agency is Cody Bellinger.

Cody Bellinger hit 29 home runs and registered 4.9 fWAR in 2025. (Michael Reaves / Getty Images)

“I know we have a really good team right now,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said earlier this month. “We have a lot of really good players on our roster. It’s probably not finished. There’ll be tweaks, I’m sure, up until spring training. So whatever happens, our expectation is that we’re going to be really good, and that’ll be our focus.”

Reading between the lines of general manager Brian Cashman’s comments this offseason, the Yankees will only bring Bellinger back on the organization’s terms. There are two contracts this offseason that Bellinger’s agent, Scott Boras, is likely pointing to when discussing his client. Alonso received a five-year, $155 million contract from the Orioles, while Kyle Schwarber signed a five-year, $150 million deal with the Philadelphia Phillies. Neither Alonso nor Schwarber offers their teams the baserunning or defensive acumen that Bellinger provides. But the Yankees may be correct that they shouldn’t just acquiesce to Boras because Bellinger has concerns of his own.

But if Bellinger doesn’t return, that will leave a hole in the Yankees’ lineup, and it’s unclear how they would fill that production. They have not been linked to Tucker, Bichette or Bregman in free agency, and Marte has the Yankees on his no-trade list. They could bolster their starting rotation, but it’s growing more likely that would have to be through a trade. Judging from the Baz trade, prices are exorbitant and would further deplete the Yankees’ system. Freddy Peralta, MacKenzie Gore and Sandy Alcantara are possible targets on the trade market, but each pitcher will likely cost the Yankees big time in prospect capital.

The Yankees may be correct in their assessment to run it back with their offense from this past season; they had the best offense by wRC+ in the sport. With Ben Rice having a bigger role and Ryan McMahon projecting to be better than the collection of DJ LeMahieu, Oswald Peraza and Oswaldo Cabrera, there’s no reason to believe the Yankees won’t have another superior offense. But it’s the pitching staff that needs work, and their seemingly laissez-faire approach to upgrading this part of the roster makes little sense.

Sure, the Yankees will get Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón and Clarke Schmidt back from injury at some point in the regular season, but they could still use another starter as Yarbrough is projected to be their fifth starter to open the season. It was just last season that the Yankees opened the year with Cole, Schmidt and Luis Gil unavailable when spring training concluded. The Yankees are currently one injury away from Blackburn likely being stretched out as a starter.

It’s also unclear how Cole will look when he returns from Tommy John surgery. He was already showing signs of decline before his elbow surgery. From 2022 to 2024, he lost 2 mph on his average fastball velocity, and his K-BB rate dropped from 26.1 percent in 2022 to 17.9 percent in 2024. Cole has one of the most brilliant minds in baseball, so it would be foolish to think he won’t figure out how to be successful in a post-surgery baseball life, but the Yankees should not be banking on him returning to a Cy Young Award level. The bullpen has concerns of its own, and the Yankees have already sat out the top and middle of the reliever market.

The Yankees need to act with urgency this offseason. Their rivals are getting better, and the window of Aaron Judge’s prime is only getting smaller. They must be aggressive in improving the roster.