As the Yankees await the infield market finally that has yet to truly settle, as Alex Bregman has yet to sign and teams are starting to wrap up their offseasons. Pitchers and catchers are expected to report in about a month, and one of the many talented players remaining on the market is defensive wizard Ha-Seong Kim. The Yankees need an infielder, I refuse to let this team enter Opening Day without a reinforcement in the infield, but HSK presents an option that won’t be ready to start the season.
What if that works best for the Yankees, while the team needs an infielder, they also seem to have some sort of interest in figuring out what they have internally. DJ LeMahieu spent an entire year burned by injury, Oswald Peraza is out of MiLB options, and Oswaldo Cabrera took on a bigger role in the lineup last year; but what if the Yankees could have both?
The Yankees could both add an infielder with upside, give their in-house options a chance to carve out their roles, and finally put together a roster that’s more than capable of being a real contender.
Why Ha-Seong Kim Might Be the Best Bet For the Yankees
Ha-Seong Kim isn’t a superstar, but he’s the kind of player who will accumulate WAR and provide positive value for the team. Over the last three seasons, he’s averaged 3.7 fWAR and 4.7 bWAR per 150 games, which is a pretty sizable improvement compared to Gleyber Torres. They aren’t getting a middle-of-the-lineup masher, but don’t be fooled by his low SLG% or smaller frame.
A patient hitter with a good set of skills to get on base with, Ha-Seong Kim provides a distinct skill that the team lacks, as his projected .336 OBP would immediately be the second-best mark on the team. He may not be a .300 hitter or a 25-30 HR slugger, but Kim is capable of generating offense by getting on base by any means necessary, and his speed allows him to take advantage of situations where he’s on first base.
When comparing Ha-Seong Kim to other second basemen who are considered above-average offensive players, you can see that what he brings to the table is often woefully underrated.
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Brendan Donovan is a better all-around offensive player, but Ha-Seong Kim is as close to the Cardinals’ blossoming infielder as he is to Gleyber Torres, who is in the rear-view mirror. Baserunning is offense, something fans haven’t been used to seeing because the Yankees have been abnormally bad at running the bases over the past two seasons. It’s not a trend they can continue if they hope to win games without Juan Soto hitting in front of Aaron Judge, and Ha-Seong Kim would further boost their newfound baserunning prowess.
While it doesn’t seem like Ha-Seong Kim would help the offense much, 8.3 Offensive Runs would have ranked fourth on the Yankees last season, slotting between Jazz Chisholm (10.2) and Giancarlo Stanton (4.0). When looking at the four starting position players who the Yankees have lost this winter to the players replacing them and their projected production, the gap in overall production isn’t as massive as you would think.
Using Steamer for the projected numbers of Cody Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt, Jasson Dominguez, and Ha-Seong Kim, the Yankees would have a four-man group that’s projected to perform around as well as the four players who left. It’s not as much that Juan Soto isn’t as valuable as his contract suggests (he is), it’s more about how last year’s team had two complete zeroes on offense who didn’t play premium defensive positions.
Part of me is optimistic seeing this data; it’s an indication that this team can run out a group of position players that’s capable of winning a World Series, but another part of me is upset at how last year could have been more. The past is in the past, but the Yankees cannot make those same mistakes in 2025, and while Ha-Seong Kim won’t be ready for Opening Day, he does improve the floor and ceiling of this team.
If he doesn’t properly recover from the shoulder and is a clearly worse player as a result, the Yankees could run out a platoon with Oswaldo Cabrera against RHP and Ha-Seong Kim against LHP, which might actually work. Last year, Cabrera had a 107 wRC+ against RHP while Kim had a 110 wRC+, and in his four-year MLB career, he’s had a 122 wRC+ against southpaws.
The closer we get to Opening Day, the harder I imagine it would be for HSK to land a multi-year deal, and if the Yankees offered a deal similar to what the Tigers gave Gleyber Torres, I think they might be able to get a real game-changer in the infield.