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.