Carlos Correa, Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Trevor Story, Javier Báez: all those shortstops were available via free agency during the 2021-22 offseason. The Yankees opted to commit their future at the position to two of their top prospects rather than to bring in external help.
One would think they would have focused on other positions instead if they weren’t going to bring in a star shortstop, but the only major free-agent move they made was re-signing first baseman Anthony Rizzo. The Yanks did not to bring in any reinforcements to the pitching staff even though there are several injury and workload question marks.