5 reunions the Yankees absolutely cannot pursue during 2024-25 offseason

Jonathan Loaisiga

When looking back on 2024, fans slowly realized Jonathan Loaisiga very well could have been the missing piece for the bullpen. Though his electric stuff had him projected as Michael King's elite multi-inning relief replacement, Loaisiga suffered yet another injury that limited him to just three games.

The Yankees might be tempted to bring the right-hander back for 2025, but that would be a waste of time. Loaisiga's tenure with the Yankees has largely been defined by injuries, and the team held out hope for the overwhelmingly concerning narrative to magically conduct a 180. It didn't. And then Cashman didn't upgrade the bullpen properly at the trade deadline. And the rest is history.

Loaisiga has pitched in just 70 games over the past three seasons, including 20 over the last two. He reached his peak powers in 2021, which was a wasted season that ended with a loss in the AL Wild Card Game to the Boston Red Sox. Loaisiga made an appearance in that one and promptly allowed two earned runs.

For three years, Loaisiga was projected to be an integral back-end member of the Yankees bullpen. For three years, Loaisiga failed to live up to the billing during the Yankees' premier championship window. Why would they even entertain trying this again?

Anthony Rizzo

The Yankees already rejected Anthony Rizzo's team option for 2025 and will pay him a $6 million buyout instead of a $17 million salary. Though there's a chance he returns at a cheaper price, it's becoming clear that will not happen.

Though Rizzo assuredly provides clubhouse value and is a good friend of Captain Aaron Judge, his time in New York has also largely been a bust — and some of it was out of his control. If we are being honest, his only impressive stretch of play was first half of 2022 and the first two months of 2023. Outside of that? A combination of injuries and outright bad performance. He briefly saved the team after he was acquired at the 2021 trade deadline, but he actually performed worse than he did with the Cubs in the first half.

Rizzo was never the same after suffering cognitive impairment following a collision with Fernando Tatis Jr. at first base in late May back in 2023. We're unsure where the miscommunications stemmed from, but Rizzo continued to play for months despite having symptoms from that incident. The result? He hit one home run and nine RBI while striking out 44 times over his next 46 games before the Yankees ruled him out for the rest of the year. He logged 29 hits and only seven went for extra bases.

During that same time period, his defense started to drastically fall off a cliff. Once a sure glove, Rizzo became a tight-wire act at first base and fans rarely even felt confident when a ball was hit his way. It was upsetting to see, and it ended with the all-time World Series Game 5 gaffe when he decided not to charge a slow grounder and Gerrit Cole decided not to cover first base.

Rizzo wasn't a bad Yankee by any means, but there's just no sense in a reunion after all that's happened since the second half of 2022.

Clay Holmes

Clay Holmes is a very good relief pitcher. Clay Holmes has been wildly misused by the Yankees and it's time for him to find another team. Both things can be true, and we wish the Yankees just would have been smarter with him after compiling evidence over the last three years.

Holmes, since 2022, has proven to completely melt down during the second half of the season. The Yankees learned that the hard way in 2022, 2023 and 2024, never once opting to sit back and think "hey, doesn't this look like a trend?". Instead, in 2024, they let him blow the most saves in MLB before removing him from the closer role and acting like it was some momentous move beyond comprehension. After that, they didn't dial back his high-leverage performances, and he continued to struggle.

Finally, he settled in nicely as an option in the fifth and sixth inning. Any time he was brought in the seventh or later it was usually a disaster, but manager Aaron Boone was addicted to watching fans rip their hair out when Holmes couldn't locate his stuff or handle an especially stressful situation.

Holmes might've ended 2024 with respectable numbers (3.14 ERA, 3.02 FIP and 1.30 WHIP), but it wsa a tale of two seasons. He was spotless during the first two months of the year and then completely unraveled. He is not consistent and he isn't reliable as a late-inning bullpen arm.

If the Yankees want to use him in that fifth-/sixth-inning role, we 'd be on board for his return. But that won't happen. Everybody knows if they re-sign Holmes at a favorable price, they will try to convince everybody he's an elite closer and keep him in a spot where he doesn't succeed. So, sadly, he must go to avoid the team shooting itself in the foot.

Alex Verdugo

Alex Verdugo wants to return to the Yankees. But unless he wants to come back as a cost-effective fourth outfielder, there's just no way to justify this re-signing.

Verdugo was acquired in an offseason trade last year with the Boston Red Sox and the early returns were beyond promising. He provided sterling defense in left field and managed to come through in the clutch while the rest of the lineup was sleepwalking. It was a breath of fresh air for about six weeks.

And then the "Alex Verdugo Experience" Red Sox fans tried to sell us on after the trade reared its ugly head. Verdugo quickly became one of the worst qualified hitters in MLB. He couldn't hit for power. He stopped driving in runs. He stopped making consistent contact. He was a black hole. And then the defense in left field started to slip.

When it was all said and done, Verdugo had his worst career season in New York, finishing with an awful 83 OPS+. He had 11 doubles, nine homers and 29 RBI through April and May. When 2024 was over, he finished with 28 doubles, 13 home runs and 61 RBI. His .233/.291/.356 line was that of a fringe major leaguer. He frequently did not hustle. As quickly has he helped foster the Yankees' "dawg" mentality, he just as quickly faded into obscurity.

Not only did this not work out, but we don't even know what a contract would look like. Verdugo made $8.7 million in his final year of arbitration in 2024, but he can't be paid close to that amount for 2025, nor can he be viewed as a starter with Jasson Dominguez back in the fold. He also cannot return if Juan Soto departs. The only way we'd see this working is if Verdugo returned to a fully re-stocked Yankees squad looking to make another World Series run with him has a bench piece. But why would he do that? It doesn't help his career whatsoever.

The grass will be greener elsewhere, and Yankees fans are just glad the suffering for this particular player only lasted once season, while everybody else on this list dragged on for three or more.