Yankees Opening Day lineup has a Juan Soto-sized hole Paul Goldschmidt sure won't fix

They say that hope springs eternal on Opening Day; every team's record is wiped clean, every fan base can tell themselves that this year will be the year. For the New York Yankees and their fans, however, optimism is hard to come by right about now. Losing Juan Soto to the crosstown rival New York Mets was bad enough, and then a scarcely believable run of injuries during spring training has everyone in the Bronx wondering whether the reigning AL champs will even make the playoffs in 2025.

Of course, it wasn't all bad news this offseason. Brian Cashman didn't exactly sit on his hands, adding names like Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger to the lineup, Max Fried to the rotation and Devin Williams to the bullpen. And there was positive news from some young talent, as homegrown players like Anthony Volpe, Austin Wells and Ben Rice hit the cover off the ball in camp.

Still, if the above paragraph reads a bit like cope ... well, that's because it is. Cashman and the Yankees only did so much to make up for losing arguably the best pure hitter in the sport. And one look at the team's lineup for Opening Day against the Milwaukee Brewers shows that there's still a Juan Soto-sized hole in the Bronx.

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Yankees Opening Day lineup drives home just how badly New York will miss Juan Soto

Aaron Boone's first lineup of the season isn't bad necessarily. Any lineup featuring Aaron Judge has a reasonably high floor, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. is an awfully exciting player. But still, you can count the known quantities here on one hand with fingers left over.

You can talk yourself into breakout years from guys like Wells, Bellinger, Dominguez, Volpe and Rice, all of whom come with varying degrees of upside and performed well this spring. Heck, even Goldschmidt might have one more decent year in him thanks to that short porch in right field.

But that's a ton of "ifs" for a team to be staring down before the season even begins, and the law of averages suggest that at least a few of them won't pan out the way Yankees fans are dreaming about. Which is where the team is really missing Soto: He was the best possible Judge insurance, one more tentpole star to anchor everything and raise the floor in the inevitable event that some of Cashman's swings strike out.

Now, those swings will be the biggest thing determining whether the Yankees win the AL East again or find themselves scratching and clawing for a Wild Card spot down the stretch. Maybe they'll work out for the best, but it sure would be nice not to leave yourself so vulnerable ahead of a long season.