Yankees don't appear to have too many holes heading into spring training

TAMPA, Fla. — About a week after the Astros eliminated the Yankees in six games in the 2019 ALCS, Brian Cashman made a comment that enraged many of the team's fans.

“It’s hard to improve on a 103-win team,” the longtime general manager said in his end-of-season news conference.

It was taken by some as a signal that he — and, by extension, managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner — wouldn’t be trying all that hard to make improvements.

That interpretation could not have been more wrong.

Steinbrenner, channeling his far more outspoken father, made a very Boss-like move  a little more than a month later — green-lighting Cashman to bestow a record nine-year, $324 million contract upon one of the best pitchers in the sport, Gerrit Cole.

Just like that, the 2019 team that went 103-59 and won the franchise’s first AL East crown since 2012 going away, had been improved upon.

“I believe we had a championship-caliber team last year, and the year before [in 2018], I think we absolutely did,” Steinbrenner said last week in Orlando at the quarterly meetings for major-league owners. “We're even better this year.”

Even with the surprising news that came out a few hours after Steinbrenner spoke — that James Paxton would miss three to four months after undergoing a surgical procedure on his back — that unquestionably is true.

It starts, of course, with a rotation that is led by a true ace. Cole, 29, who as an Astro beat the Yankees in Game 3 of last year’s ALCS at Yankee Stadium, went 20-5 with a 2.50 ERA and finished second to teammate Justin Verlander in the AL Cy Young Award voting.

“You know, this kind of investment is not something I take lightly,” Steinbrenner said. “It needs to be the right person. And this guy checks all the boxes. He really does, and he's going to be a game-changer for us. Not every big free agent I see as a game-changer, but he's, I believe, going to be one of them for a number of years. And I'm excited. I know the fan base is very excited, the city's buzzing and it's continued since the day we signed him. It's going to be exciting.”

Behind Cole, in some order, will be J.A. Happ, Masahiro Tanaka, Luis Severino and whoever emerges from a spring training battle for the spot vacated by Paxton. Jordan Montgomery enters camp as the favorite, but the spot could go to one of the others in the competition, a group that includes Luis Cessa, Jonathan Loaisiga and prospects Deivi Garcia and Mike King.

Domingo German, who went 18-4 last season, could become an option when he returns from an 81-game suspension for a domestic violence incident that occurred toward the end of last season. He will be eligible to return after 63 games because of time served.

As for questions to be answered in camp, there are only a few, and the roster is so loaded, they are more questions than concerns.

A roster spot needs to be found for Miguel Andujar and his potent bat after an injury-plagued 2019 in which he appeared in only 12 games, making possible the emergence of Gio Urshela. The third-base job is Urshela’s to lose, but Andujar, 24, will see time at third base, first base and leftfield during spring training.

There are a couple of bullpen spots to be determined and a backup catcher race to be run after Austin Romine signed with the Tigers (the Yankees weren’t interested in retaining him). An adjustment will have to be made to 34-year-old Matt Blake, who replaced Larry Rothschild after nine seasons and will be a first-time major-league pitching coach.

Still, those are minor issues. The only major issue, from Steinbrenner’s standpoint, is the unknown. That means injuries, something the Yankees are more than familiar with after putting an MLB-record 30 players on the injured list last season (and responding to that by overhauling their medical department in the offseason). And that 2019 bug hit early, with Aaron Hicks, Severino and Dellin Betances all getting hurt in spring training.

“My main concern, just having gone through what we went through last year,” Steinbrenner said, “is just getting through spring healthy.”

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.