Luke Voit was a great mid-season acquisition for the New York Yankees, but should he be the club’s everyday first baseman in 2019?
Luke Voit has always been a good hitter, but the stocky righty has never been able to put it all together at the Major League level. When the New York Yankees traded for Voit, they thought that they were acquiring a “Quad-A” type of bat that had the ability to help the team down the stretch of the season. No one expected Luke Voit to turn into one of the Bomber’s biggest bats.
In 39 games with the Yankees, Voit hit 14 home runs, drove in 33 RBIs and slashed .333/.405/.689. The slugger posted an ungodly OPS+ of 188 and wRc+ of 187. These are Mookie Betts (AKA MVP) levels of production!
After coming back down to earth during the playoffs, we are left to wonder, should Luke Voit be the everyday first baseman for the New York Yankees in 2019?
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Voit certainly deserves a chance, but it is reasonable to assume that the mighty righty is set to regress in a full season’s worth of playing time. These are the New York Yankees, they play to win, not to take a chance on a player after a few hot few weeks.
On the other hand, the Yankees are in dire need of starting pitching. Investing time into Luke Voit could allow for the team to fully chase starting pitchers like Patrick Corbin or Dallas Keuchel. Maybe even Manny Machado, as the club will be looking for a replacement for their injured star, Didi Gregorius. As of now, Machado to New York is beginning to seem less and less likely as the club has seemed to sour on the star after his recent playoff antics.
Could the Yankees go into 2019 with Luke Voit as their starting first baseman? I would say yes, unless the club can sign Mike Moustakas, Daniel Murphy or Marwin Gonzalez to a cheap contract. The team has bigger holes to fill, I can easily see Brain Cashman and Co. throwing significant money towards Patrick Corbin. Past Luis Severino and Masahiro Tanaka, the Bronx Bombers do not have much reliable pitching.
The Yankees can then revisit their first base situation at the trade deadline in July, relying on Luke Voit and Greg Bird to provide ample production during the first half of 2019.