rewrite this title Aaron Boone: Yankees are ‘grinding away’ despite slow offseason

Another day, another AL East team making a big splash, and the only white smoke around Yankee Stadium is coming out of fans’ ears given their frustration over a quiet offseason to date. 

Though the Yankees’ top offseason priority, Cody Bellinger, remains unsigned and available for them to ultimately land, that seems to be of little solace to an impatient fan base wanting deals done now with the rest of the AL East only getting better. 

“The one thing is, I know we have a really good team right now — we have a lot of really good players on our roster,” manager Aaron Boone said Friday before handing out food and toys to local families at NYPD’s 44th Precinct in The Bronx. 

“It’s probably not finished, there’ll be tweaks I’m sure up until spring training. So whatever happens, our expectation is that we’re going to be really good and that’ll be our focus, on getting ready. … That’s the front office doing their thing and working through. 

“It always takes more than just us to tango. It takes sometimes other clubs, obviously free agents and the opportunities they have in front of them. However it lands, my expectation is that we’re going to be really good and that’s how we’ll prepare.” 

Boone was talking shortly after the Orioles finalized a trade to land Rays right-hander Shane Baz, who joined Pete Alonso, Taylor Ward and Ryan Helsley as Baltimore’s big offseason acquisitions. 

It remains to be seen whether the Yankees will make such a splash this offseason, though retaining Bellinger would go a long way in shoring up the lineup, despite him being a lefty bat and Brian Cashman acknowledging last week that they are too left-handed already.

But Bellinger and his agent, Scott Boras, appear to be in no rush to sign, allowing the market to develop while potentially waiting for fellow outfielder Kyle Tucker to sign first. 

“I don’t know exactly how it’s all playing out [behind the scenes],” said Boone, who added he would reach out to Bellinger around the holidays. 

As for pitching — the Yankees could still use reinforcements in the rotation and bullpen — the starter they have been linked to the most is Japanese right-hander Tatsuya Imai, whose signing window closes on Jan. 2.

Boras, who is also Imai’s agent, suggested the pitcher might visit cities before choosing a team, though Boone said the Yankees have not yet met with him and did not know if they would, declining to tip the club’s hand in either direction (which is the same way Cashman approached it when asked about Imai last week). 

For now, the Yankees have brought back Trent Grisham on the qualifying offer, picked up Tim Hill’s club option and re-signed utilityman Amed Rosario (who will start getting reps at first base, Boone said, to potentially be a right-handed option to complement Ben Rice) and swingman Ryan Yarbrough, while seeing relievers Devin Williams and Luke Weaver head to the Mets.

That is coming off a season in which they won 94 games — losing the tiebreaker to the Blue Jays for the division title — and then crashed out to those Blue Jays in the ALDS. 

“I know the front office is grinding away,” Boone said. 

That also means listening to calls about players already on the roster, which includes Jazz Chisholm Jr., though Boone said he still expects the second baseman to be on the team next year (his final one before hitting free agency). 

“You never know what’s going to happen in the winter, as teams are maneuvering their rosters and whatever,” Boone said. “But yeah, I do expect him. But you never know what’s going to happen, where teams match up on certain things. But I’m planning on him being right in the middle of the lineup.”