Do the New York Yankees Need One More Bat?

The New York Yankees entered the 2024-25 MLB offseason on the heels of losing in the toughest way possible, after they were bested by the Dodgers in the World Series in five games.

To make matters worse for Brian Cashman and Co., one of their MVP-caliber hitters in Juan Soto hit free agency once the season came to a close.

And now that Soto, along his .989 OPS and 180 wRC+, has moved across town to Queens to join the Mets, the Yankees lineup suddenly looks considerably less threatening than it did just a few months ago.

That’s not to say that offense in the Bronx has been ignored this winter, as the Yankees’ front office has made a few moves to help fill the seemingly unfillable hole Soto left.

Cody Bellinger was acquired to help directly fill the open gap in the outfield left by both Soto and Alex Verdugo leaving. And Paul Goldschmidt was signed to be a definitive upgrade at first compared to the carousel of uninspiring performances they got from the position in 2024.

But as productive as those moves might be, there is still seemingly questions marks, if not outright holes, in this lineup ahead of the 2025 season.

So the ultimate question is, do the Yankees still need one more bat in their lineup in order to effectively make another run to the World Series in 2025?

And the answer is undoubtedly yes.

The Yankees’ 2025 Core is Just Average Overall

In 2024 the Yankees offense was one of MLB’s best, ranking second in wRC+, third in OPS, first in HR and third in RBI.

What placed New York amongst the elite offenses in baseball last season was the fact that they had two other-worldly bats leading the way in Aaron Judge (58 HR, 144 RBI, 1.159 OPS and 218 wRC+) and Juan Soto (41 HR, 109 RBI, .989 OPS and 180 wRC+).

Now Soto is only one guy, so on the surface level, the Yankees lost one major piece of the puzzle to their top five offense, as their next biggest subrtraction was Gleyber Torres and his very average looking 104 wRC+.

But the term “major piece” when discussing Soto can be understated, as he had one of the best seasons we’ve seen in recent memory, so losing him is more than just losing any old good bat.

And while they replaced Anthony Rizzo with Goldschmidt at first base and added Bellinger to the outfield fold, both are coming off down years and don’t really solve the root problem of the Yankees’ offense.

The loss of Soto only magnifies the fact that the Yankees have a lot capable bats, but not a lot of consistent ones.

Apart from their two AL MVP finalists, there wasn’t a single hitter to sport a wRC+ total above 116 in the Bronx in 2024.

The lack of consistency and overall mediocrity beyond Judge will be a lot harder to hide now that he’s the only dominant bat in this starting lineup

Giancarlo Stanton had a fantastic postseason, taking home ALCS MVP honors. But in the regular season, while he started with a respectable 123 wRC+, he struggled to maintain that strong form after the All-Star break and only managed to muster a 104 wRC+ in the second half of the season.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. played a huge role in his 49 regular season games in the Bronx, posting a 132 wRC+ after being acquired at the deadline. With that said, looking at his entire season, Chisolm’s league-average 100 wRC+ in 101 games as a Marlin resulted in a 110 wRC+ for the season.

He was also largely disappointing in the postseason posting just a .559 OPS and 60 wRC+. Chisolm will be a welcome addition to the Yankees lineup for a full season in 2025, but he is not suited to fill the shoes of Soto by any stretch.

Austin Wells might have been an AL Rookie of the Year finalist in 2024, but that was largely due to a lack of top candidates compared to what we had in the National League race.

Overall, Wells posted a .718 OPS across his 115 games played for the Yankees in 2024. The encouraging thing about his season though is the fact that Wells got stronger as the year wore on.

In the first half, Wells posted a .687 OPS and a 97 wRC+, before closing the year with a .754 OPS and a 113 wRC+ post-All-Star break. Wells has a chance to be one of the better offensive catchers in baseball, but he still has a lot to prove entering the second full season of his big league career.

Anthony Volpe has yet to live up to the prospect pedigree he held when he entered the league in 2023. Despite his strong defense at short, Volpe still only posted a .657 OPS and 86 wRC+ in 2024. He’s still yet to put up an OPS in the .700s or a wRC+ within the close realm of league average in his first two MLB seasons.

Jasson Dominguez has all the potential in the world as Just Baseball’s No. 7 overall prospect, but it’s still just potential as we really only have his minor league numbers to go off due to his lack of major league experience to this point.

In terms of the new guys, Bellinger is coming off a good season where he hit 18 HR and 78 RBI, with a .751 OPS and a 109 wRC+, but it pales in comparison to the season he had just a year prior where belted 26 HR and drive in 97 while posting an .881 OPS and a 136 wRC+.

And while Goldschmidt ended the season on a high note with a post-All-Star break wRC+ of 120, we can’t discount the fact it was preceded by a very uninspiring first-half wRC+ of 87.

Overall, Judge’s supporting cast is filled with former MVPs, All-Stars, Silver Sluggers, and former top-tier prospects. Yet, it is anyone’s guess who the second-best hitter on the Yankees will be in 2025, as there are question marks up and down the lineup with a wide range of outcomes being possible for most of their hitters.

This makes the Yankees offense appear just average overall, which is not ideal for a team with World Series aspirations in 2025.

The Yankees’ Bench Options are Lackluster at Best

Looking beyond the group that figures to be featured every day, there’s also not a lot to be excited about.

Oswaldo Cabrera as it stands right now would likely be the starting third baseman for the Yankees in 2025 if they don’t make any other additions. But as I will touch on momentarily, he’ll likely shift to the bench if the Yankees bring in a bat at second or third base.

He’s the best of the bunch on the Yankees bench, which isn’t saying much considering he slashed just .247/.296/.365 with an 88 wRC+ in 326 plate appearances last year.

While positionally versatile, DJ LeMahieu has struggled to stay healthy, and when he is healthy he’s made minimal impact on the field.

Another year of a downward slide in his career in 2024, where he hit just .204/.269/.259 with a .527 OPS and 52 wRC+ in 228 plate appearances, made his ineffectiveness evident.

Trent Grisham is a glove-first fourth outfielder who in 209 plate appearances last season hit below the Mendoza Line at .190 with a sub-.700 OPS and a 91 wRC+.

In terms of the backup catching role, the trade of Jose Trevino to Cincinnati means that Alex Jackson or Ben Rice are the only two options with prior catching experience that were featured in the majors in 2024. Both hit below .200 with OPS totals under .620.

Finally, Oswald Peraza still might have the potential to carve out a solid big league career, but like I mentioned with Dominguez earlier, he hasn’t had the opportunity to really establish himself in the big leagues with only 259 MLB plate appearances in the past three seasons.

Injuries are inevitable for any major league organization in any given year. But as it stands right now ahead of the 2025 campaign, the Yankees don’t have the quality of depth to support an injury to one of their core pieces in the lineup.

What Type of Bat Should the Yankees Look For?

So we’ve established that there is a need for another bat in New York but the question is where should the Yankees look for it?

The loss of Gleyber Torres to the Detroit Tigers in free agency, as well as trading away Caleb Durbin to the Milwaukee Brewers in the Devin Williams trade, immediately left a glaring hole at second base.

Now considering that Chisholm has a decent amount of past major league experience occupying second base, he could be an internal option to fill that role, but then that would leave yet another hole at third base.

So in all likelihood, with all other starting roles seemingly covered in the Bronx, their offensive needs lie at either second or third base in 2025.

There’s a few options on the free agent or trade market that New York could look at to fill either one of the required infield spots in 2025.

The first and most productive options would be to flex their financial muscles and go out and spend the most for Alex Bregman in free agency and have him occupy third base.

If the Yankees have learned anything from losing out on Soto in free agency it’s that they don’t have a clear Robin to Judge’s Batman. They lack that second great bat.

Bregman can certainly be that guy for New York, as in nine major league seasons he’s posted a wRC+ above 120 and an OPS above .800 in six of them, including two in the past three seasons.

If they don’t land Bregman, and it doesn’t seem like they are in pursuit of him either, there’s not really another great hitter in free agency that can fill one of these vacant spots.

Instead of looking to improve the offense, the Yankees might find more value in doubling down on improving their defense, which they already have done with the additions of Bellinger and Goldschmidt.

They’d be relying on their pitching a lot more if they take this route, but with a rotation headlined by Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, Carlos Rodón, and Luis Gil, as well as a bullpen anchored by Devin Williams and Luke Weaver, this could be the best way to play to their strengths.

Ha-Seong Kim could be one of those defense-first players to target, as he would form an unbelievable double-play combination with Volpe up the middle at second base. Kim’s posted a wRC+ above 100 in his last three seasons, so he won’t hurt you offensively either.

If they want to look toward third base, they could also swing a deal with the St. Louis Cardinals for their available former superstar Nolan Arenado. He may not be the hitter he was with the Rockies or the 149 wRC+ hitter he was in 2022, but the Yankees could do worse than the back-to-back years of above-average (100 wRC+) production from the 33-year-old.

Luis Arráez could also be a trade option for them. With Torres not only leaving a hole a second but also in the leadoff spot in the lineup, Arráez and his great bat-to-ball abilities offer the Yankees a way to fill both of those needs left by Torres’ departure in one player.

The caveat, however, is that Arráez is one of the few players in MLB who might be worse at second base than what we saw from Torres last season (-11 DRS). Is the trade-off worth it to add a three-time batting champion to the lineup? We will see.

Regardless of who the Yankees decide to go with to fill their offensive needs, the fact remains they don’t currently possess the lineup to adequately ease the pain of losing Soto.

So if they want a shot at being a top-five offense once again in 2025, now is the time to use that $700+ million they would’ve given him to bolster their lineup and ensure that the superstar they do still have under contract, in Judge, has the proper support he needs.