Editor's Note: Prior to publish, the Yankees completed a trade for reliever Devin Williams, sending Caleb Durbin and Nestor Cortes to Milwaukee. Likewise, Kyle Tucker was acquired by the Chicago Cubs.
The Bronx is burning. Fresh off the best season of his career, Juan Soto abandoned ship and chose to play the rest of his career in Flushing.
General manager Brian Cashman has his work cut out for him while trying to replace Soto, but he's acing it so far.
On December 10th, the Yankees agreed to an eight-year contract with Max Fried. When the Braves won the World Series in 2021, Fried gave them six scoreless in the clincher. He's a left-handed, ground ball-inducing pitcher with an old-school feel for pitching. It's a contract that figures to age well, so long as he stays healthy. Fried gives the Yankees a second ace to pair with Gerrit Cole, and they should pair well given their contrasting pitching styles.
With Fried in tow, the Yankees have a surplus of starting pitching, and no bats are available on the free-agent market that can approximate Juan Soto.
However, teams often try to trade players before they hit free agency if they don't think they can sign them to an extension, and next year's free-agent crop has one remaining hitter of that caliber: Vlad Guerrero Jr.
Tucker was available, and the Yankees were in on the bidding, but the Cubs came out on top. Notably, the Yankees weren't willing to include reigning AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil in an offer.
As Jack Curry tweeted the Yankees weren't willing to include Gil in the offer for Tucker. I've heard otherwise. Maybe I'm wrong and if I am I certainly do apologize for that. However I am led to believe the Yankees made a really strong push for Kyle Tucker.
— Max Greenfield (@GreenfieldMax18) December 13, 2024
There are no rumors of Vlad Jr.'s availability, but the Blue Jays haven't signed him to an extension yet. At best, it is a long shot that they will trade him to the intradivision rival Yankees.
The Yankees have two open spots in the infield: first base, and second or third base, depending on where they deploy Jazz Chisholm. A reunion with Gleyber Torres seems unlikely, and they are kicking themselves for not giving him a qualifying offer since he's the best 2B on the market.
At the hot corner, Alex Bregman is the only marquee free agent, but reports say Nolan Arenado, Alec Bohm, Yandy Diaz, and others are on the trading block.
First base is where they can improve the most because it was the least consistent position (production-wise) last year, with playing time split between Anthony Rizzo, Ben Rice, and others. They are interested in Christian Walker, and at one point, a deal seemed imminent but never materialized. Pete Alonso is the biggest name on the market, and Yankees ownership may enjoy the pettiness of stealing a loved player back from the Mets. Whoever the Yankees get, it should be an improvement over 2024.
Based on the way @JackCurryYES is talking, the #Yankees are focused on two bats right now: Kyle Tucker and Cody Bellinger.
— Bronx Bombers News (@NewsBronx) December 12, 2024
They like Christian Walker, but they don’t want to lose draft picks.
There's one open spot in the outfield. Aaron Judge will stick in center or shift back to right field, and Jasson Dominguez will be either in center field or left field. Rumor is that Cody Bellinger, Luis Robert, and possibly others are available for trade, while Teoscar Hernandez and Anthony Santander are free agents. If they spend big in the infield and want to save money, Jurickson Profar is also available.
The Yankees were linked to Hernandez earlier this offseason. Cashman has liked Cody Bellinger for years. Santander would fit in as a switch-hitting power bat, and Luis Robert is a wildcard; he has the highest upside but is also the riskiest.
Last season, the Yankees filled these three openings with Juan Soto, Gleyber Torres, and the aforementioned first base platoon. The ideal trio to replace them is Bregman, Alonso, and Hernandez, which would be a measured improvement over the previous contingent, even without Soto.
However, if they fail to sign Bregman, even if they trade for Nolan Arenado, the second-best third baseman available, it turns the equation into a wash at best, which makes Bregman the lynchpin of "Plan B", unless they pull off a miracle trade.
Bregman's profile has a couple of red flags. First, he has a career .663 OPS in 92 at-bats at Yankee Stadium. Second, his walk rate declined from 13% to 7% last season. However, every free agent has a couple of warts; 92 at-bats is a small sample size, and last year's walk rate might be an outlier, not a trend, given his career norm of walking at a 12% clip.
The Yankees don't play good defense, but they like to think they do and would probably pay premium value since Bregman is one of the few free agents who can play both sides of the ball with aplomb.
After securing Bregman, the Yankees have options: they can go with Alonso, Walker, or even Bellinger for first base. Even an outside-the-box idea like a Joc Pederson-Carlos Santana platoon could work. They don't have to spend too much or give up too much in a trade to execute their plan at the cold corner. Then, in the outfield, any of Hernandez, Bellinger, and Santander would complete the picture. The lineup is less top-heavy but more balanced throughout, with no easy outs.
Yankees Potential 2025 Lineup (Position) | Player |
|---|---|
2B | Jazz Chisholm |
RF | Aaron Judge |
3B | Alex Bregman |
1B | Pete Alonso |
LF | Teoscar Hernandez |
CF | Jasson Dominguez |
DH | Giancarlo Stanton |
C | Austin Wells |
SS | Anthony Volpe |
It would also behoove them to rehaul their bench. Jose Trevino is so easy to steal bases against that they couldn't start him in the playoffs, even with Wells mired in an awful slump. DJ LeMaheiu should be on a team where he can play every day (though who knows if a team would be willing to eat his contract), and Caleb Durbin could take his spot as a young, athletic, speedy infielder. LaMonte Wade Jr. only has some of the positional flexibility of Oswaldo Cabrera, but he's a much better hitter and can cover the corner outfield spots and first base.
The Yankees' starting pitching is already better than last season, but the bullpen is missing three key arms. Clay Holmes is a Met, and Tim Hill and Tommy Kahnle are free agents. The organization has had a talent for developing relievers ever since Matt Blake took over the pitching department. They do not need to spend big in the bullpen following the Devin Williams trade, but they do need to replace at least 100 more medium/high-leverage innings.
Juan Soto is gone, and it's time for Brian Cashman to cook. Plan B is signing Bregman and rebuilding the lineup with quality signings and trades, making it deeper and less top-heavy than last season.
By fully committing to the blueprint, Cashman can assemble a team capable of beating the Dodgers, if they are fortunate enough to have a chance at a rematch.