Dream Yankees starting lineup for the 2024 season

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It might take a few dreams to get the 2024 Yankees anywhere close to the promised land they seek, but hey, that's what we're here for.

There's at least a small percentage chance that things come together for the Yanks next season, with only a few additions. After all, 2022 looked like a dream personified until morale dipped in July, Jordan Montgomery was traded, and then the wheels tore off and rolled into a ravine in August. 2023 wasn't supposed to be as bleak as it was, and the looming dark clouds were emboldened by Aaron Judge's absence. A few shrewd trades later, a couple of breaks (for once), and the Yankees could be next fall's darlings. It always happens when you least expect it, right?

Here's the dream 2024 Yankees lineup

In crafting a Dream Lineup, we simply refused to go insane, as tempting as it might be. This means the only players we were allowed to insert into the lineup were realistic acquisitions or free agent signings -- and, yes, if we'd projected a Giancarlo Stanton trade, that would've been more fanciful than asking Derek Jeter to come out of retirement. Even in a dream, your bubble can burst. You ever been turned down for a date in a dream? Yikes, but it can happen. Let's get into it.

Batting first, Brendan Donovan, LF

The Yankees need to flex their trade muscles this offseason if their offense is going to come together. That could mean the arrival of one of the league's most prominent superstars. Most logically, though, it means the Yanks and St. Louis Cardinals will find their way to one another.

Midseason, it seemed the Cards were most focused on trading Dylan Carlson from their stable of versatile outfielders. Carlson might be the most busted prospect of all the B-grade players St. Louis is shopping, though. He's been powerless at the big league level and succumbed to season-ending ankle surgery in 2023 after the pain nagged him all year. Does that sound like the solution to the Yankees' young talent gap?

Now that we've reached the cliff's edge between 2023 and 2024, the Cardinals seem more willing to move names like Alec Burleson and Brendan Donovan, and the Yankees can't hope for much better than Donovan, as far as versatility is concerned. The .284 hitter with a .365 OBP is our Opening Day left fielder, but when the Yankees heal up, he can move to third, second, or anywhere else he's needed.

Batting second, Aaron Judge - CF

In this dream, the Yankees also sign Kevin Kiermaier, but he ... uh, he doesn't get the Opening Day start. You need a bench, though. "Bench," in recent years for the Yankees, has simply translated to "Bad Players Who Can't Start, LOL, Are You Kidding Me?" That needs to change, and Kiermaier would be a step in the right direction.

Aaron Judge, the Yankees' Captain, hopefully shook off the toe-related cobwebs in the second half of 2023, posting a 1.066 OPS in September and October, registering 37 homers in 367 at-bats (mind blown). He'll play center and right to start the season, but we'll give him the Mickey Mantle legacy spot on Opening Day because ...

Batting third, Billy McKinn -- JK, it's Juan Soto - RF

It's the only way.

The Yankees, according to Jeff Passan's latest offseason rumblings, have the pitching at their upper tiers of the minors to satisfy the Padres' demands, which is what we've been waiting to hear all along. The Cubs and Mariners do, too, but Passan claims they won't be willing to part with it.

San Diego might not want to trade Soto yet, but it seems like they're eventually going to have to reckon with the fact that cutting payroll as much as they want to and keeping Soto are two incompatible ideas. Scott Boras will send his prize pupil to free agency regardless, but taking advantage of the desperate Padres by dangling two or three prospects from an area of strength is what good teams do. Don't overthink it.

Batting fourth, Anthony Rizzo - 1B

It's a dream, right? So, in this dream, Rizzo is fully recovered from the concussion that rocked his 2023 season, learned some life lessons during his offseason work as a DJ, and returns looking more like the lefty masher who hit .327 with a .917 OPS in May before his vision blurred and reactions slurred.

Even if Rizzo is no longer elite, he's still a rock solid first baseman and left-handed bat who provides rare variance for the currently busted Yankees offense. He might just be keeping the seat warm for Munetaka Murakami's free agency, but you could certainly do worse in a caretaker role.

Batting fifth, Giancarlo Stanton - DH

Even in the dream lineup, we can't hit Giancarlo Stanton fourth, nor can we expect him to be magically healed. Brian Cashman said it himself -- extremely rudely. Injuries are baked into Stanton's game, and when they inevitably occur, Soto can shift to DH, Judge to right, and Kiermaier to center during Jasson Dominguez's rehab.

Sounds like Cashman himself is dreaming of a scenario where Stanton's shipped out, huh? Well, keep dozing, bud.

Stanton probably will not perform very well in 2024, but the hope is that he runs into five or 10 or 15 before his time is up. Theoretically, it would be nice to dream bigger here, but it would take so many wild leaps to remove Stanton from the Opening Day lineup. The only plausible reason he wouldn't be here is, of course, a soft-tissue injury, something we'd never wish upon him in a dream. While you're here, you're mashing, G.

Batting sixth, DJ LeMahieu - 3B

If DJ LeMahieu can be fully healthy for the duration of the 2024 season, while also carrying over the stride he hit when Sean Casey took over as hitting coach, that would be fantastic. LeMahieu, now 35, had an .898 OPS in August! It wouldn't be fair to expect that to manifest routinely, nor would it be fair to anticipate MVP-level contributions like it's 2019 again. But LeMahieu is a professional hitter, the kind of player Yankee fans complain about the loudest when he disappears.

And, if it doesn't work out by June or July, they'll have a ready-made backup option waiting in the wings.

No, I don't expect Oswald Peraza to be traded. Clarke Schmidt, Will Warren, Clayton Beeter? Uh ... gotta go, bye!

Batting seventh, Anthony Volpe - SS

Big year for the kid. Huge.

Volpe's Year 2 doesn't have to look exactly like Bobby Witt Jr.'s leap, but the patience has to improve, the stolen bases can't slow to a crawl after April, the situational hitting must improve, and the power stroke can't be the default stroke. In other words, it's time for James Rowson to get to work.

20-20 and a Gold Glove is nothing to sneeze at, but if it ever were fair to sneeze at a season with those numbers, that season would look a lot like Volpe's 2023 rookie campaign. This is the final year of leeway before we start having concerns and retrospectives about his arrival.

Batting eighth, Jorge Polanco - 2B

You thought we were just going to round this out with players who are already Yankees, didn't you, Squidward?

No, here's where the value of versatility returns (after far too long) to the New York Yankees. Sometimes, Donovan can occupy second. Sometimes LeMahieu can man the position. Peraza will get his cracks. And, often, it'll be Jorge Polanco, who the Twins have made extremely available.

When it doesn't have to be Gleyber Torres every single day, it gets a little easier to keep everyone fresh (stay tuned for the Dream Rotation).

The switch-hitting Polanco is reportedly available, along with Max Kepler, as the Twins attempt to slice payroll, too (because what else are you supposed to do after winning a playoff series for the first time in 20+ years?). The longtime Yankees tormentor hit 14 bombs with a 115 OPS+ last season, roughly equivalent to Torres' contributions (118). He's got an option year for 2025, and turned 30 last July. It could be a very fun two years with Polanco before he cashes in one more time, a far easier decision than Torres' dangling arbitration headaches.

Batting ninth, Austin Wells - C

Jose Trevino will get a fair degree of opportunities (preferably in the clutch), Ben Rortvedt can reset at Triple-A, and we thank Kyle Higashioka heartily for his endeavors.

But this is Wells' job, especially after the lefty slugger found a late power surge in September, just after Yankee fans stopped being en-masse bummed about the loss of The Martian. Wells shook off a slower than slow start to post a small-sample-size 97 OPS+ with four bombs, 13 RBI and only 14 strikeouts in 75 plate appearances.

The Yankees have an All-Star, Platinum Glove caddy behind him, but Wells did nothing to lose first-team reps in his September cameo.

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