As things stand right now, the National League is a gauntlet for any contender trying to reach the World Series, and while the Yankees have been affected by this exodus of stars in the American League, they’re not in a bad spot. If the 2025 season were simulated 100 times, the most frequent AL pennant winner would probably be the Yankees, and that’s while having clear holes on their roster. Sure, they could sign Jorge Polanco to fill out their need at third base, but would that dramatically alter this team’s ceiling?
He could bounce back and be an impact bat for the Yankees, but this market has yet to dwindle to the point of going for an infielder coming off an injury-riddled season. Multiple impact players can make the Yankees better, and in a weak American League, why should fans have to settle for anything less than an impact player in a market that could collapse?
Yankees Owe The Fanbase a Proper Response to a Weak American League
After losing Juan Soto, the message was that the Yankees would go all-in on building a contender, and while spending like drunken sailors could set the franchise back for a decade, it doesn’t mean you can’t improve. The Yankees have done a good job addressing their needs to this point; the pitching staff is chock-full of high-upside options with excellent pitch shapes and movement profiles and the offense added two bats who fit the ballpark pretty well. I would expect this team to make the postseason and have decent odds of winning the World Series, but that only makes me crave more.
The fact that the Yankees could lose a top-five player in the sport and remain a top-five team in the league is pretty impressive, but why settle for being the fourth or fifth-best team in the sport? There are plausible routes the Yankees could take that would cement them as a true title contender, some of them require a serious financial investment while others seemingly wouldn’t require much capital to pull off. If we want to talk about dreaming big, signing Alex Bregman on a short-term deal would certainly satisfy that need.
Two up-and-coming AL teams have been heavily linked to Alex Bregman, with the Tigers and Red Sox hoping to hard-launch into a contention window by adding an impact bat. Neither team has seemed willing to make that serious offer that nets them the player, with Jared Carrabis of Section 10 reporting that Boston hasn’t even made an offer. If the Red Sox signed Bregman, it would serve as a game-changer in the landscape of the American League East. Suddenly, Boston would be right there with the Yankees, but what if Bregman ends up going into the short-term market?
Just as we saw for Matt Chapman and Blake Snell a year prior, Alex Bregman may not have any other choice at the moment despite any personal preferences for a six-year deal. If he falls into that three-year range with opt-outs, it would behoove the Yankees to bring him in to be that final addition, giving them an offseason that makes them head and shoulders better than everyone else in the American League. We could see them open with ~70% odds to win the division, and the front office would be able to claim they are better than last year’s squad.
Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman cannot control whether Bregman is willing to enter the short-term market, and while his camp has suggested they aren’t interested, so did Snell’s and Chapman’s in January. Jack Curry himself mentioned that he didn’t believe they would sign short-term deals in late-January last season, but players have to take what the market gives them, and if things don’t change Bregman may have to bite the bullet on a bridge deal. The Yankees would not only find their third baseman, they’d find their leadoff hitter, but what else could the Yankees do?
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Another infielder struggling to generate serious interest, Ha-Seong Kim doesn’t even have a peep of interest from teams that we’re aware of. HSK will miss the first month of the season with a shoulder injury he sustained last August that required a season-ending procedure. There are real concerns about how he’d rebound, but the Yankees could take a high-upside gamble with HSK that would give them the ability to see what they have internally in DJ LeMahieu and Oswaldo Cabrera.
Over the last three seasons, Ha-Seong Kim has averaged 3.8 fWAR per 600 PAs, as he’s an elite defensive infielder capable of providing a decent bat thanks to his high launch angles and good walk rates. Last season, Kim improved his average exit velocity and made more contact than in previous seasons, as while his wRC+ dipped from 110 to 101, the underlying data suggests he was better than last season. His .313 xwOBA was in the 45th Percentile, the highest percentile score he’s recorded on his xwOBA ever, and the Yankees could get a defensive wizard with good wheels and on-base skills.
Brian Cashman has made defense a focal point of the offseason, and the team was historically bad on the basepaths last season, so wouldn’t HSK directly address those issues? The offense should rebound in 2025, as Ha-Seong Kim recorded a .261 BABIP compared to his career average of .281, and projections back that up. Steamer believes he’ll record a 105 wRC+ and .336 OBP in 2025, and if the Yankees can add that to their roster, they’ll get meaningfully better. He’s a better player than Gleyber Torres is, doesn’t have the QO attached to him like Alex Bregman, and improves the defense a lot.
Furthermore, if HSK isn’t very good, he hits LHP well and can platoon with Oswaldo Cabrera. Your floor is a solid platoon, your ceiling is that Ha-Seong Kim repeats his 2023 season where he stole 38 bases and had a .351 OBP; not a bad outcome.
There are trade options available if the Yankees decide to take a cheaper approach, with two names sticking out in particular as players who I could see shaking free on the market. Willi Castro of the Minnesota Twins is a hot commodity on the trade market due to his versatility and switch-hitting bat, and the Yankees could utilize him as an infielder where he’s been a far better defender than he has in the outfield. His swing is built for Yankee Stadium, and he would have hit seven more home runs had he played all of his games here in the Bronx.
Ramon Urias of the Baltimore Orioles also intrigues me as an infield option, as the Orioles have young right-handed infielders who could do his job for cheap. The Yankees haven’t traded with the Orioles much with Mike Elias at the helm, but this doesn’t feel like a deal that Baltimore would close the door on even entertaining. Urias is owed $3.2 million in arbitration and is under contract for two more seasons, and his bat plays a lot better in Yankee Stadium than it does at Camden Yards.
Neither player is as good as Ha-Seong Kim, and they’re obviously not as good as Alex Bregman, but they would be creative improvements to the infield and could be had for a bullpen arm. Mark Leiter Jr. could make about $2 million this season, and he would lessen the increase in payroll that either infielder would bring as a result of their arbitration money. The Yankees promised their fanbase an offseason that made them better than last year, and they have to live up to that promise by landing an infielder and improving the roster meaningfully.