Yankees News: Max Fried surgery, Luis Rojas update, weird hitting coach limbo

We've been waiting to hear from Brian Cashman in greater detail for weeks now, and he finally delivered — in non-Zoom fashion — at the GM Meetings on Tuesday in Fabulous Las Vegas.

While the Yankees shuffled Aaron Gershenfeld in for Tanner Swanson this week as the latter departed for a bench coach job in Seattle (in his native Pacific Northwest), that still left plenty of unanswered coaching questions. There are only three weeks before what amounts to a "no contact" order is put in place between coaching staffs and players. If the Yankees are going to implement any changes to their hitting philosophy — or the personnel that communicates it — they'll need to do so quickly.

Cashman addressed this quandary on Tuesday, but he didn't exactly clarify anything. He called current hitting coach James Rowson a "free agent," and didn't commit to his return.

Gary Phillips of the Daily News, though, classified Cashman's comments as "no decision made" on that department.

James Rowson departing Yankees and bizarre situation unfolds?

It seems likely that the Yankees will now part ways with Rowson, but they will then have to scramble to backfill his role. Going internal would make the most sense there, but it wouldn't thrill anyone who had to watch the 2026 offense.

With that in mind, the rest of the coaching staff — outside of Swanson and potentially Rowson — will probably stay intact.

Controversial third base coach Luis Rojas, full remainder of coaching staff will return to Yankees

The base coaches are back. Pitching specialist Desi Druschel, who was poached by the Mets in late 2024 and eventually returned, will re-up as well. Preston Claiborne, former Yankees reliever turned bullpen coach, will be back as well. Matt Blake's entire crew is here for a return engagement, but Rojas — with a less-than-stellar reputation for aggression — will steal the spotlight in the forthcoming news cycle.

While the Yankees didn't hit us with any of their trademark surgical bombshells in the immediate aftermath of their playoff exit, Cashman did add a procedure to the table on Tuesday, mentioning that Max Fried had the bone spur that continued to agitate his elbow throughout the summer removed.

Max Fried's bone spur removal could clean up his biggest Yankees issue from 2026

He'll purportedly be ready for a regular spring training, but there is highly unlikely to be a regular spring training. Carlos Rodón's absence after a similar procedure last winter leaked into the regular season, but no matter when Fried returns, this procedure was necessary, given last year's spooky recurrence.

As for Cashman? He's not saying how long his new contract will last, but you can read between the lines on that one that he's no lame duck. Unlike Rowson, there'll be no free agency on the horizon for him anytime soon.

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