Gerrit Cole explains how Yankees can use 'disastrous' 2023 season as motivation

The New York Yankees are desperate to put the 2023 season behind them.

On Wednesday, the first day of spring training, manager Aaron Boone said that last season's playoff miss was "not anything anyone in this organization wants or demands or expects." He thinks this year's team can be special, but he knows his squad has to prove itself game-by-game.

The very next day, starting pitcher Gerrit Cole poured even more gasoline on New York's 82-80 2023 team that finished second-to-last in the AL East. In fact, he called 2023 a "disaster," but he's hoping 2024's team can use that as fuel.

"Still fresh in our minds, so hopefully we use it as motivation," Cole said on Thursday, per ESPN.

The Yankees have a lot of work to do, but to Boone's point, they do have the pieces to be special. Cole boasted a 15-4 record as a starter with a 2.63 ERA. That was good enough to win him his first Cy Young Award.

Aaron Judge knocked in 37 homers, which wasn't quite the 62 he mashed in 2022, but it still was top 10 in MLB. New York also traded for left fielder Juan Soto this offseason, who knocked in 35 home runs and 109 RBI last season for the San Diego Padres.

Yes, the Yankees have "the goods" to be good, but just like with any team, it comes down to health — especially on the mound. Only Cole and Clarke Schmidt notched 20-plus starts last season with multiple other pitchers out due to injury.

"Certainly there were injuries that were outside the normal realm of injuries that impacted us," Cole explained. "With that said, we get injured too much as a group. We need to improve."

Speaking of the rotation, New York signed Marcus Stroman (10-9 record, 3.95 ERA last season for the Chicago Cubs) in the hopes of rounding out a starting pitching group that will feature him, Carlos Rodon, Nestor Cortes, Schmidt and, of course, Cole.

That's a rotation Cole thinks can do some damage, and that's hard to argue.

"The top four guys are former All-Stars. Clarke Schmidt had a career year last year and is looking to go on a really solid innings buildup and a solid body of work," Cole said. "Certainly excited to see what the rest of the rotation and the top five guys can do."