NEW YORK — Amid the collective sigh of relief in the Bronx after losing out on Juan Soto to the Mets there is now a wave of excitement about the team Brian Cashman has assembled in his wake. It was one thing for Cashman to turn the money saved on Soto into Max Fried, Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt, but what should be equally inspiring now to the Bomber fan base is how much of this 2025 Yankee team is homegrown.

Credit where credit is due: This is such a far cry from the unlikable, fundamentally challenged, unathletic 82-80 Yankees of just two years ago when fans and media alike were calling for Cashman’s head. True, they rebounded to the World Series for the first time since 2009 last year, but that was largely due to the woefully weak American League, and after their five-game pratfall to the Dodgers last fall and Soto’s return status in doubt, who among us envisioned Cashman being able to craft together what is potentially one of the most efficiently sound, on both sides of the ball, Yankee teams in recent times bolstered by the one of the best pitching staffs in baseball (even without Gerrit Cole!)? In the case of Goldschmidt, who has rebounded to his former MVP form and will very likely be the starting first baseman for the American League in the All-Star Game, I’m sure Cashman would gladly defer credit to Yankee manager Aaron Boone, who knows Goldschmidt well and insisted he had plenty more in him.

Even though we're only entering June, the Yankees are already running away with the American League East and there doesn’t appear to be any team in the division capable of catching them. With Aaron Judge having a season for the ages, the Yankee hitters led the majors in homers, on-base percentage and OPS going into their weekend “World Series Redux” series with the Dodgers, and were third in runs and fifth in batting. Their pitchers, meanwhile, had the sixth lowest ERA and were first in WHIP (1.148) and 9.8 strikeouts per nine innings. In short, they’re doing it all and what has to be most heartening for Cashman is that so much of this Yankee team is homegrown.

On any given day, five of the nine Yankees in the batting order — Judge, Austin Wells, Anthony Volpe, Ben Rice, Jasson Dominguez and at third either Oswaldo Cabrera and Oswald Peraza — all came up through the system. Over the years there has been no bigger critic of the Yankee player development department than me, citing so many misses on their No. 1 draft picks as I did before Judge in 2013, and in particular their inability to draft and develop a quality frontline starting pitcher since Andy Pettitte. That all appears to be changing too. Clarke Schmidt, whom they made the 16th overall pick out of South Carolina in 2017, battled injuries his first three seasons in the big leagues but now appears to be settling in nicely as their No. 3 behind Fried and Carlos Rodon, and Wil Warren, an eighth rounder in 2021, has pitched creditably while gradually learning to be more economic with his pitches at the back end of the rotation. And come July the rotation is expected to be joined by last year’s Rookie of the Year Luis Gil, who though signed originally by the Twins, was developed in the Yankee system after Cashman acquired him in a July 2018 for minor league outfielder Jake Cave. In his stead at the moment is Ryan Yarbrough, the veteran finesse lefty who Cashman snapped up off the scrap heap after his release from the Blue Jays in March and has pitched well in all four of his starts and one long relief appearance.

Dare we say there may also be more really good starting pitching coming in the pipeline? In righties Cam Schlitter, Carlos Lagrange, Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz, Ben Hess and Bryce Cunningham, all of whom are having standout seasons in the minors, the Yankees boast one of the best stables of starting pitching prospects in the industry.

And while Cashman no doubt is privately disappointed in Devin Williams, the much-heralded closer acquired last winter in the trade with the Brewers, he can again take credit for the entire other highly effective Yankee bullpen — Luke Weaver, Fernando Cruz, Mark Leiter Jr., (trades), Tim Hill and Ian Hamilton (free agents). In the case of Weaver, who was cast off by five different teams before Cashman signed him as a free agent in January 2024, Yankee pitching coach Matt Blake and his staff were the visionaries in converting him from a failed starter to one of the top closers in the game. Another unsung hero in the pitching, backup catcher J.C. Escarra, whom Cashman signed as a free agent, also in January ’24, after he was released by the Orioles, has developed into one of the top pitch framers in the game. So all in all, in contrast especially to 2023, you’d have to say Cashman has done a masterful job of roster construction with this team.

As for Soto, who has so far been an utter $765 million disappointment with the Mets, one can only imagine if the Yankees had been able to re-sign him. For one thing, in the outfield, where Trent Grisham, the throw-in in the Yankees’ deal for Soto from San Diego, would probably not be their regular center fielder despite the fact he’s shown himself so far this year to be a superior all around power (.255-12 HR to .228-8 HR) and defensive player than Soto. But the stat that really kind of blows your mind given his struggles with the bat through April and much of May, is Volpe leading all American League shortstops with 32 RBIs — seven more than Soto entering the weekend.

I always thought last year’s Yankees team was a bit of a mirage given how easy it was for them to get to the World Series. The ’25 Yankees are different and better in many ways. They’re young, athletic and playing with a verve we haven’t seen since the Joe Torre Yankees of 1996-2001. The fun summer everyone was predicting for Queens looks to be moving to the Bronx.

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