It was the right expression. The new slugger Giancarlo Stanton is not here yet, but his locker is ready and waiting for him, in a corner next to Brett Gardner, the de facto team captain. At the end of Gardner’s row is the space for Aaron Judge, who shares a corner with Gary Sanchez.

Stanton, Judge, Sanchez, Greg Bird and Didi Gregorius are in their 20s. So are most of the better pitchers. Gleyber Torres is 21 and might start at second base. Miguel Andujar, who turns 23 next month, might start at third. This team could be good for a long time.

“We were so close last year,” said reliever Dellin Betances, who has dropped to 264 pounds, from 280, after emphasizing nutrition — and better mechanics — this winter. “We were one game away from the World Series. We know what it feels like. We kind of have that sour taste in our mouth. We want to win, so if we don’t win, I think it’s not a great year for us. That’s probably the first season I’ve come in with those expectations.”

After four years without a playoff victory, the Yankees raced all the way to Game 7 of the American League Championship Series in Houston last October. They succumbed, at last, to a flurry of curveballs from the Astros’ Lance McCullers Jr., whose father pitched for the Yankees in 1989 and 1990 — a time when chaos reigned. The Yankees used three managers in those two seasons, but Boone is just the third manager in the last 23.

Brian Cashman has been the general manager for 20 years now, leveraging that stability into a disciplined franchise turnaround. The Hall of Famer Goose Gossage may not like him — the opinionated Gossage, who was not invited to be a guest instructor this spring, belittled Cashman in a series of interviews this week — but Cashman has adapted to the modern game, turning a roster once larded with dead money into something much more nimble.