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3 biggest Yankees question marks entering 2023 season

By Stephen Nixon |
New York Yankees Spring Training
New York Yankees Spring Training / New York Yankees/GettyImages
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Although this should be a successful regular season for the NY Yankees, there are still plenty of question marks surrounding the franchise.

However, there's a lot to be excited about right now, too, with Anthony Volpe being the main focus.

In somewhat surprising fashion, the 21-year-old made the Yankees opening day roster and will be the team's starting shortstop. Volpe is one of the best prospects in all of baseball, and if he can play anywhere close to how he did in spring training, he's going to be a fan favorite immediately.

Volpe's arrival does throw other carefully-balanced things into flux, though, so it's still worth examining the three biggest question marks heading into the 2023 season.

3 biggest Yankees question marks entering 2023

Will the Yankees pitching stay healthy?

When the Yankees signed Carlos Rodón to an $162M contract this winter, they expected him to be the team's No. 2 starter. Instead, he'll be starting the season on the injured list. Although the team doesn't think it's too serious, you never want to see another arm injury from a player who previously had Tommy John surgery.

Not only will Rodón start the season on the IL, but so will one of their other starting pitchers, Luis Severino. Over the past three seasons, Severino has only appeared in 23 regular season games, so this isn't a new situation for Yankees fans. It's so incredibly frustrating, though, because when he's healthy, he's looked really good. For whatever reason, he's been injury-prone throughout the past few years, so if he can somehow find a way to not miss too much action, he should be a bright spot in the team's rotation.

As for the relief pitchers, Lou Trivino and Tommy Kahnle have also been hit with the injury bug, which is a bad sign to start the season. So, is this team just going through a string of bad luck (again), or are these injuries going to continue to happen all year?

Obviously injuries are unpredictable, but the Yankees can't afford to see their pitchers continue to get hurt. You could say the same thing about almost any team, but New York needs their big acquisition in Rodón back and healthy, and they'll need Gerrit Cole to be the ace of the team. Otherwise, it could be a long, patchwork year.

How will the infield logjam shake out?

One of the team's biggest question marks was answered early this week when the Yankees decided to name Anthony Volpe the team's starting shortstop. Seemingly, they've given him their long-term stamp of approval ... and if they have to backtrack on that decision, things could get awkward.

Regardless of how long Volpe is entrenched at short, all that means is one more spot has been taken up, with many additional names still floating in uncertainty. The entire diamond from first to third base could be unsettled on a nightly basis.

Anthony Rizzo will more than likely start the majority of games at first base, but it's possible that DJ
LeMahieu finds time there as well, depending on what happens with him at third base. Although it would be expected that Josh Donaldson starts at third, who's to say that LeMahieu doesn't find time there as well? Will the team pull the plug on Donaldson if he's struggling?

Then, the battle begins at shortstop and second base with Gleyber Torres, Oswaldo Cabrera, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, LeMahieu, Volpe, and the demoted Oswald Peraza lurking at Triple-A. Torres and Volpe are currently the starting shortstop and second baseman, but Torres' name has continued to be linked in trade rumors. With his name swirling around in those rumors and Cabrera and Kiner-Falefa in the wings, there's no reason to believe that the Opening Day depth chart is the same one we see in October.

Can Josh Donaldson or Aaron Hicks bounce back?

Josh Donaldson had a dismal 2022 campaign and needs a big bounce back season if he expects to continue in MLB beyond his current albatross contract (2023 is his walk year). WIth so many up-and coming prospects, and LeMahieu/Torres seemingly more appealing infield options, Donaldson needs to play well early to keep his job.

Despite his age, Donaldson's defense has continued to be his strong point, which has kept him in the lineup, but if his bat can't be an asset again, he'll probably have a difficult time playing every day. A few days ago, Donaldson hit a 436 foot bomb, which got all of Yankees Twitter excited, claiming that he's back, but he's going to have to do that on a consistent basis in the regular season before I claim that.

As for Hicks, it's still hard to believe that the team hasn't found a better option in left field. It's been four seasons since he had a really nice stat line of 27 HR/79 RBI/.833 OPS/.366 OBP/.467 SLG, and since that campaign, he really hasn't done much. The switch-hitter should be having success hitting home runs in Yankee Stadium, but he only has 20 combined dingers in three seasons.

Although some of that is due to the shortened 2020 season and an injury-plagued 2021 campaign, his stats have not been good enough in a long time, and it's starting to feel like this is his last chance to prove that he deserves to be a starter.

The Yankees are going to be a very interesting team to follow this year, and these three question marks will be the biggest focus points all season.

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