3 New York Yankees players who'll be better in 2023 and 2 who won't

Despite the New York Yankees signing Carlos Rodón to be Gerrit Cole's running mate and bringing Aaron Judge back and naming him captain, too many fans remain obsessed with the idea that the Bombers are "running it back" in 2023.

Are there some holes remaining in this lineup? Absolutely, and they should've been addressed this offseason instead of waiting until the trade deadline. But even a cursory look at the roster shows clear differences between the Opening Day roster and the group that ended 2022 with a whimper against Houston.

Talented players will receive more reps, and will start in the majors instead of Triple-A. Major acquisitions will be available right away instead of in early September. And, most importantly, those talented players will be added to a core that was on pace to break the MLB wins record for most of the first half. Team doesn't suck.

It's fair to expect more out of a few budding star Yankees -- and, yes, there are a few aging targets of scorn who probably won't get any better next year. All things considered, though, there are plenty of reasons to believe 2023's team will survive the grind better than last year's Yanks.

3 New York Yankees Players Who Will Be Better in 2023

Oswaldo Cabrera, UTIL

A full season of Oswaldo Cabrera could do wonders for the superstar utility man, who may find himself on the bench by design to start the year, but should work his way into very regular playing time quickly.

Cabrera was a fan favorite before his bat found its footing, covering multiple positions spectacularly after his spark plug midsummer promotion despite going just 3-for-22 to start his career.

Still, thanks to the defensive mastery and rock-steady bat, he ended an extremely partial season (just 44 games) with 1.9 WAR. A 6-WAR pace in under 140 games? Absolutely feed it to us.

In that way, he's unlikely to get better on a technicality, considering that would be a best-case scenario if it plays out in Year 2. That said, what Cabrera needs to work on is consistency; his postseason, though it featured a flair for the dramatic, was a bit unsettled (.071 in 28 at-bats, a few funky routes and crashes in left field).

The game didn't look too big for Cabrera very often in the bigs until October arrived. A full season of reps should cement him as more of a factor in September and beyond.

Jonathan Loaisiga, RHP

Relievers are fungible and can vacillate between "spectacular" and "useless" from year to year. We know that. That said ... it was only one year ago when Jonathan Loaisiga was thought of as the heir apparent to Mariano Rivera, parlaying moderate strikeout numbers into dominance thanks to low-quality contact and a buzzsaw cutter.

Somehow, in 2022, he stayed mostly healthy, but was ... largely not good! Every reliever is prone to bouts of ineffectiveness, but this was more surprising than most dips.

Loaisiga only managed 48 innings in 2022, most of them fairly hittable (4.13 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, just 37 Ks). Things got better as the year dragged on, though; at the end of July, his ERA was 6.75!

6.75!!!

Loaisiga's August? 1.86 ERA in 9.2 innings pitched. Loaisiga's September? 1.93 ERA in 14 innings. Eventually, the right-hander found his footing, which bled into the postseason. In October, Loaisiga was one of only four reliable back-end options for the Yankees, and he appeared in six of the team's nine postseason games, thriving with an 0.96 ERA. He looked most like his old self in Game 5 of the ALDS, erasing two full middle innings against the Guardians (three hits, two Ks).

Some of Loaisiga's struggles in 2022 were to be expected due to random variance, but nobody saw him being that brutal in the first half, which began to correct itself as his shoulder warmed up and the year dragged on. 2023 could feature some rough times, too, but odds are he'll have a much better season overall.

2 New York Yankees Who Will Not Be Better in 2023

Aaron Hicks, OF

All we can do now is cross our fingers and hope that the shift ban changes everything, because no matter what Brian Cashman's currently selling you, there's no reason to believe Hicks will suddenly revert back to being the old reliable player the Yankees have been missing after earning the left field job.

The main reason why? He's never really been reliable!

Hicks' 2018 season was everything the Yankees believed in when they acquired him from Minnesota and tried to breathe life into the former top prospect. He always had a cannon for an arm, but added the power-speed package that year, hitting 27 bombs, walking 90 times, and OPSing .833. The next year, with the juiced ball, things were going well again for Hicks before he hurt his elbow, returned to drill a postseason home run off Justin Verlander, then had UCL surgery, which sapped his arm strength (among other things).

Add in a busted wrist sheath from early in the 2021 season, and Hicks may have experienced one malady too many. He didn't do much of anything right in 2022. He didn't hit the ball hard (31st percentile in average exit velocity, 14th in hard hit percentage). He didn't limit strikeouts (31st percentile in K%, 41st in whiff rate). He didn't slug (10th percentile). He didn't get good jumps on the ball (48th percentile). He did dominate Staring at Rolling Fair Balls Down the Left Field Line, though (100th percentile, only guy who did it).

Add in a cursory few bloop hits through holes created by the Shift Ban, and that's all well and good. It doesn't seem like Hicks has the foundation to return to his 2018 levels any more, though, after numerous surgeries. Hoping for the best, but expecting the 31st percentile.

Josh Donaldson, 3B

Eyesight doesn't get better with age. Despite high-quality hard contact numbers in 2021 that portended good things for a move to Yankee Stadium, Donaldson's offensive profile got markedly worse, even as he maintained solid exit velocity.

The main issue? He didn't hit the ball very often.

He swung and missed harder than ever, falling in the eighth percentile for whiff percentage, 15th for strikeout percentage, and seventh for expected batting average. That is brutal, and unlike a fine wine, it probably won't get better with age.

That's what Donaldson is, after all. He's fine. And he whines. His defense remains exceptional, and occasionally he'll tattoo a walk-off grand slam into the short porch and make everyone think he's en route back to consistently bringing rain.

Unfortunately, Donaldson's age-37 season is likely to include some defensive regression, too. His ability to make consistent contact disappeared almost overnight, so why wouldn't his range and agility decline, too?

When the Yankees traded for Donaldson, they were prepared to absorb a hefty salary alongside the benefit of vicious slugging with baked-in injury concerns. The slugging rarely materialized in 2022, and there's very little reason to believe everything will turn on a dime next season, when he will likely be wearing this uniform once again.