Projecting New York Yankees’ Opening Day roster for 2022

If the New York Yankees are given the green light to play the 2022 MLB season by Rob Manfred and the owners (pretty please!), they’ll open the shortened offseason with a decent infrastructure in place, but plenty of work to do before things are settled.

Don’t let anyone tell you the Yankees have no chance of contending during the evil Boone regime, but they’re certainly staring down the barrel of fourth place, as currently constructed.

There’s a hole at first base and up the middle at every position, and the projected rotation isn’t exactly accident-proof.

For the purposes of this exercise, we’ve chosen to be modestly optimistic while also exercising caution. No, the Yankees will not be entering 2022 having forgotten entirely to address these gaping holes. We’re also not filling every gap with an All-Star and calling it a day.

It also must be noted that this is an Opening Day roster projection. Not a best-case scenario projection. Not a playoff projection. Not a deadline projection. This is the crew we expect the Yankees to open the campaign and compete with before taking any leaps for in-season tweaks.

It also takes into account players we don’t believe will be healthy enough to open the season on the active roster.

Now, if the season starts in May? That might be a different story, though we expect the Bombers to give Jameson Taillon a few rehab trips at the minor-league level no matter when the campaign begins. He’ll help the Yankees plenty this season, but he shouldn’t be on anyone’s Opening Day projection.

With the rumor mill theoretically at rest and the two sides of any free agent negotiation barely talking right now, here’s how we see the Yankees beginning the season. Theoretically, this should be a championship-centric campaign, and though things may feel bleak right now, the Opening Day squad could get there with the right in-season tweaks. Think like the Atlanta Braves. Be the Atlanta Braves.

Projecting the 2022 New York Yankees Opening Day roster.

Yankees Starting Rotation (5)

• Gerrit Cole
• Luis Severino
• Chris Bassitt
• Jordan Montgomery
• Nestor Cortes Jr.

Yes, certainly a logic leap has been taken here! Projecting Luis Severino to take starters’ reps throughout the year after a largely-absent 2019, 2020 and 2021 is certainly a risk, but remember, this is an Opening Day thought. We can’t count on Severino to hold firm for the entire season, but we do know the Yankees should intend to open the season with him in the rotation.

If the Bombers begin 2022 with Severino in a bullpen role, they’ve either made a monumental, Luis Castillo-esque move to replace him, or they’ve waved the white flag.

As for the rest of the bunch, we’ll predict Luis Gil begins at Triple-A once more, and will make our first all-caps MOVE of the winter by bringing Chris Bassitt of the Oakland A’s in as our bulldog No. 3 starter.

As you’ll see later, we think the Yankees and A’s will hook up for a moderately large deal this offseason, but probably not the one you’re hoping for.

Long Live Nasty Nestor, who will ideally be relegated to swingman duty by midseason, but clocks in as our No. 5 starter on Opening Day. A meteoric rise indeed. Whatever it takes to make sure he’s lined up along the foul lines, doffing his cap to the crowd and showing off that sweet, sweet mustache.

Yankees Bullpen (9)

• Aroldis Chapman
• Jonathan Loaisiga
• Clay Holmes
• Lucas Luetge
• Chad Green
• Wandy Peralta
• Joely Rodriguez
• Michael King
• Albert Abreu

I am not just trying to wear rose-colored glasses here. I really, truly, earnestly, in all honesty do not see the point of bending over backwards to include Domingo German in this bullpen projection when the Yankees have two electric young talents in King and Abreu who proved time and again they were better-suited to the role in 2021. Don’t you remember King’s stretch run, when he’d arguably leapt over Green to become one of the most trusted Yankees in a bullpen that suddenly felt deeper than ever entering October?

They even managed to cobble together an impressive complete game in Gerrit Cole’s wake in the Wild Card Game that went all for naught. At the moment, King and Abreu both offer higher upside that German, who was shoved into the ‘pen to end 2021 simply because the team couldn’t find use for him. Hopefully he’s flipped for a projectable piece this spring rather than retained as depth while Jameson Taillon rehabs (though we all know what the Yankees will choose).

The other names here are fairly standard. The Yankees didn’t pay for Rodriguez not to use Rodriguez. The Yankees will not be flipping Chad Green before the season, even though they should probably consider it. And even though Stephen Ridings, Ron Marinaccio and JP Sears all merit mention as the “next men up” — and you should see all three this year — none of them crack the Opening Day roster.

Yankees Infield (7)

• Gary Sánchez
• Kyle Higashioka
• DJ LeMahieu
• Gleyber Torres
• Anthony Rizzo
• Matt Chapman
• Gio Urshela

Yeah, I think the Yankees really are going to do the Matt Chapman thing. It’s the first of the stopgap shortstop rumors I earnestly trust.

They can’t do Andrelton Simmons. They just can’t. Isiah Kiner-Falefa is my mental runner-up, but the fact that it’s extremely clear they were talking to Oakland before the freezeout indicates that this is their master plan. IKF certainly fits the bill of a defense-first, Gold Glove stopgap, but based on the incoming 40-man roster crunch (an annual tradition at this point), you’d assume the Yanks would want to do bigger business with the A’s than flip a faraway prospect for Kiner-Falefa in a separate deal with Texas.

In the Yankees’ defense, it would create theoretical versatility to hold onto both Gio Urshela and Chapman and deploy both men on the left side of the infield a few times a week to lock it down; in the other games, LeMahieu would play third, and either Chapman or Urshela would be at short.

I so badly wanted to insert Oswaldo Cabrera here in the Tyler Wade role, but not just yet. Not on Opening Day. If Urshela’s traded, he’s the odds-on favorite to slide in, though.

Since this is the A’s trade we’re pitching, that means our projections say goodbye to Matt Olson and reengage with Anthony Rizzo on what ultimately becomes an incentive-based three-year, $40 million deal. Lots of people will be furious if this comes to pass. We will not, though we’ll be mourning the mistreatment of Luke Voit for quite a while.

BONUS PROJECTION: Voit to the Brewers for one top-20 prospect and a lottery ticket