These Yankees are 'different' compared with last year's 'embarrassment' (2024)

The word “hungry” received a workout during spring training in describing the 2024 Yankees.

Aaron Boone used it plenty. And more than a few of his players did, too.

But one word got far more use in private, at least with the players:

“Embarrassing.”

It described last year’s 82-80 season that resulted in the Yankees missing the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

“No, that’s not too strong a word,” one veteran said early in camp. “Honestly, not strong enough.”

While various factors can motivate a professional athlete, the feeling of being embarrassed generally ranks high on that list.

So you can start there when looking for one of the significant ingredients in the Yankees’ start to this season — 42-19 after winning seven of nine games on a three-city West Coast trip, including a weekend sweep of the Giants that gave them 22 wins in the last 28 games.

Obligatory, and obvious, interjection: No matter how embarrassed returning players from last year may have been, without imports such as Juan Soto (most of all) and Alex Verdugo, the Yankees would not be in the position they’re in.

Embarrassment wasn’t Luis Gil’s motivation during spring training. And the kind of start he’s off to — 7-1 with a 1.99 ERA, which has him in contention for a start in the All-Star Game — has nothing to do with the 2023 train wreck (aka “disaster,” as general manager Brian Cashman repeatedly has called it).

That goes for Soto and Verdugo, too. But the embarrassment of 2023 helped form the culture of the clubhouse they stepped into, one intent on not experiencing anything remotely close to that again.

“I can go back over the years to many games . . . we probably lose that game,” Aaron Judge said after the Yankees’ 7-5 win over the Giants on Sunday, a game in which they trailed 5-3 entering the ninth before rallying for four runs against hard-throwing closer Camilo Doval. “Team brings in their closer, up two runs, and [we] would kind of go 1-2-3. But this team is different.”

Catcher Jose Trevino, who quickly became a beloved part of the Yankees’ clubhouse after arriving via trade in 2022 and now is among the leaders in that room, used the same word.

“It’s different. It’s different,” said Trevino, whose hustle on a possible double-play grounder in the ninth was cited by Boone and his teammates as the key to extending the inning and giving Soto a chance to hit a go-ahead two-run homer. “We’re playing for each other. Not to say we haven’t in the past, but this year, we’re playing for the guy next to us . . . We’re playing for everybody on this roster. We just want it.”

As Trevino indicated, it wasn’t that something was amiss in last year’s clubhouse. Players pulled for each other, prepared professionally, wanted to win.

But this year’s clubhouse is just . . . different.

Throughout spring training, there was a noticeable resoluteness, as well as a clear confidence among the group, that 2024 should be and would be something special. Retired Yankees players who stopped by camp felt it. And Soto and Verdugo, confident and driven players in their own right, fit in seamlessly.

But the forming of that culture began well before spring training officially began.

The bitter taste, the embarrassment from last year spurred more players than ever to report to the club’s minor-league complex early. Some, especially those living in the Tampa area, showed up regularly for workouts in November. It became a steady stream, and by late January, it seemed as if half, if not more, of the roster had been at the complex in some capacity.

Dating to the early part of Derek Jeter’s career, plenty of players have reported early to the minor-league complex. But this offseason was . . . different.

Boone has said from the start of spring training that he detected an “edge” in his team. Make no mistake: For all of his happy talk publicly in front of the media, there’s been an edge to the manager as well.

Cashman for years has said of every baseball season that “the storm is coming” in terms of adversity. Usually, though not always, that refers to the inevitability of injuries. But this year’s team seems better equipped to navigate that storm compared with some past ones. They Yankees already have proved that to a degree, thriving without ace Gerrit Cole.

To date, two-plus months into the season, it has been nothing short of an embarrassment of riches.