Yankees Shouldn’t Panic Searching For Another Infielder
By Derek McAdam
January 8, 2025
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It has been an eventful off-season for the New York Yankees, to say the least. Juan Soto decided to sign with the New York Mets, in what is now the largest contract in MLB history, but Brian Cashman has made up for Soto’s departure by bringing in several big names, including Max Fried, Cody Bellinger, and Paul Goldschmidt, among others. But, the Yankees still have one big question mark: how will they fill the one infield void still remaining?
What does come as a benefit for the Yankees is that there are options to fill the remaining infield hole. For starters, they can leave Jazz Chisholm at third base or shift him over to second base, where he does have more experience. If Cashman feels as if it will be easier to trade for a second baseman, Chisholm can stay at third and vice versa.
There are still some big names floating around regarding who the Yankees may acquire to fill their infield void. Alex Bregman has been a free agent acquisition that has been linked to the Yankees the entire off-season, while Nolan Arenado and Luis Arraez are both trade candidates, although the New York Post’s Jon Heyman says that Arraez is not expected to become a Yankee.
While there are plenty of potential options for the Yankees, they shouldn’t be so desperate to look outside of the team to fill an infield spot. After all, look at the options that they currently have.
Many Yankee fans have been wanting Aaron Boone to insert Oswaldo Cabrera into the lineup more often, and I don’t necessarily disagree with this. Cabrera is not great at hitting or fielding, but I do think he deserves a chance to play everyday. He never found consistency in getting into the lineup, and this is a perfect opportunity for him.
If Cashman does not think that Cabrera is the right guy, he could always see what Oswald Peraza has to offer. Peraza is another player that did not have many opportunities when he was at the Major League level, and could see extended playing time now that Gleyber Torres has left for Detroit.
The one downside with Peraza is that he has nowhere near as many Major League at-bats as Cabrera, who has also experience a little more success at the plate. Peraza also only hit .246 last season in Triple-A, which should definitely be concerning for the Yankees. However, he is still only 24-years old and can still develop into a good hitter.
And if the Yankees absolutely needed someone to play second or third base, they could always turn to DJ LeMahieu, who has battled injuries and turned into a completely different player than what the Yankees first got out of him in his first two seasons in the Bronx. It seems pretty clear that Cashman will not cut LeMahieu this off-season, who is still owed $30 million over the next two seasons.
I have always liked LeMahieu, even going back to his days in Colorado. But it has been tough to watch him over the past few seasons, whenever he is on the field. But if the Yankees were to play him several days a week, he does not need to play third base. While Chisholm does struggle to charge soft ground balls, he can get around much easier than LeMahieu. However, LeMahieu would be my last resort option.
The Yankees have plenty of other talent throughout the team that they don’t have to have an All Star-caliber player to fill the infield position. Plus, if the Yankees are going to stick with their options in-house, I say give the opportunity to either Cabrera or Peraza. To me, there is nothing more boring than watching older veterans struggle day-in, day-out to get on base, and when they do, offer no speed and no excitement.
Cashman should not get too caught up in trying to acquire another player for the infield. I’ve wanted someone like Colorado’s Brendan Rodgers to fill the second base void, since he would be a cheaper option compared to Bregman. But if the Yankees do not acquire anyone else, it is not the biggest loss. Cashman has done a good job of trying to improve this team in other areas, and I’m actually very optimistic going into the 2025 season.
If Cashman is able to acquire someone like Bregman or Arenado, great. If not, that is perfectly okay too. It isn’t as if the Yankees do not already have several options that they can experiment with. Worst case scenario, they can always try and fill the void at the trade deadline if their current players are not cutting it. But there is still a lot of time to go until the off-season ends, so let’s see what ends up happening.
Also, not to sound all OCD and everything, but what's up with the top-page photo for this post? The base should be entirely in fair territory, not half and half.
patience is definitely the correct approach here. our internal options are not great, BUT they can achieve the approach of playing solid defense and 2 of the 3 can run. I believe if we went into opening day with the current roster we are still arguably the best team in the AL
at that point, we can let things play out. I believe Toronto will be out of contention quickly. we have Goldy now so unless we would dare play Vlad Jr at 3b for 2 months we are probably waiting until next offseason to go after him. but what about picking up Bichette for the playoff run
can StL contend? it seems VERY unlikely! I think brendan donovan mig…
The more I look at options the more I wonder what it would cost to get Correa. Not ideal but certainly better than what we have. Not gonna happen I know. But just thinking out loud I guess.
Do not turn your nose down at Peraza's .246 BA in AAA last year. If my memory is correct, there weren't even a handful (5) players on any of their 4 full season teams that hit even .255, which includes Ben Cowles (who did), who was injured right before the ASB, and didn't play again before he was traded away in the Leiter Jr. deal. But something obviously happened between the beginning of Spring Training 2022 and the trade deadline that year, that Cashman & his guys had Peraza go from Prospect to organizational depth, that they even decided not to trade him when he was still viewed as a Top Prospect, so as much as I'd like to se…
Derek's point is a good one.
while all Yankee fans are anxiously awaiting the importation of an additional infielder, it's quite important that Cashman is perceived as being anything other than anxious.
it's now the winter and it's wise to wait for the arrival of some player(s) who will make us more perfectly contented.