Watch: Yankees' Gerrit Cole heaps praise on new teammate Juan Soto
The New York Yankees enter spring training with the taste of the franchise's worst season since 1995 still lingering. Devastating injuries combined with an anemic offense culminated in New York's fewest win total since before their dynasty of the late 1990s.
Yankees ace Gerrit Cole spoke to the media on Thursday and talked about how adding outfielder Juan Soto this winter addressed one of those problems.
"He's just a magnificent hitter. He's got the best feel for the strike zone that I've ever come across. Man is he going to be tough to deal with," said the 2023 American League Cy Young winner.
"Having faced him and not had a ton of success, I'm very thankful I don't have to pitch against him and that he's on our side."
Soto's combination of consistent availability and success at the plate in 2023 would have made him the most productive hitter on a Yankees roster featuring Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo.
Soto played 162 regular season games in 2023 with 35 home runs, 109 runs-batted-in and a MLB-leading 132 walks.
Despite his strong numbers, the star-studded Padres missed the postseason last year. For Soto to avoid a similar fate, he'll need his new teammates to do something Yankees players have struggled with for years: staying healthy.
"Certainly there were injuries that were outside of the normal realm of injuries that impacted us, but we get injured too much as a group. We need to improve," Cole said.
"You need to prepare in the offseason. There's always little areas you can improve in and that has been an area of attention for a lot of our players."
Health will be the biggest indicator of how successful the Yankees are in 2024.
Despite adding Soto and starting pitcher Marcus Stroman they lack depth, with the package to bring Soto to The Bronx majorly depleting the Yankees stock of young pitchers.
New York has been linked to acquiring an additional starter like Blake Snell or Dylan Cease, but if their starting rotation is set for the season fans should be nervous.
Outside of Cole, the rest of the starting pitchers enter this year with large question marks about their abilities.
Carlos Rodon is looking to bounce back from a disappointing first season in pinstripes, and Nestor Cortes Jr. comes into this season apparently healthy but with questions about whether he'll ever get back to putting up the numbers that made him an All-Star in 2022.
The Yankees have plenty of star power to carry them to another season with a winning record, but finishing simply finishing above .500 isn't a successful season for the Bronx Bombers.
If this veteran-laden squad misses the postseason for a second consecutive season, expect major changes from top to bottom in the organization.
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