00:00It's a drive by Derry Dawson, Charles Chisholm goes deep.
00:09We're up to part five of our series, breaking down the Yankees position by position, where
00:14they are right now, what some of the stuff they could do in the offseason as they look
00:18towards 2027.
00:21The first four parts catch our first base, second base shortstop.
00:25We've done videos, and they're also at nypost.com, or buy a hard copy of the paper.
00:31You'll see these versions.
00:33We're up to third base here in part five.
00:37Third base was as big a problem as the Yankees had last season.
00:40Their slash line last year was 215, 271, 358.
00:45It was bad.
00:46But here's the deal.
00:47If Ryan McMahon fielded in 2026 the way he did in the two months in 2025 after the Yankees
00:57acquired him, it's a more tolerable situation.
01:01Think about what the Rays do at shortstop with Taylor Walls, who's a feeble offensive player,
01:08but is an elite, elite defender.
01:10And so at that position, they live with it.
01:13Joey Ortiz, same thing third base with the Brewers, who just won the National League
01:17Championship with a bad, bad offensive third baseman, but a brilliant defender.
01:22You could live with it a little, but McMahon's defense went down.
01:28The really bad moment of all of it was the error to open the first inning of Game 2, which
01:34to me kind of set a tone for the bad defense that would come, especially the rest of that
01:40inning.
01:40If he makes the play, who knows how it goes.
01:42It was routine play.
01:43He didn't make it.
01:44You know, the flip side of him was the Yankees re-signed Ahmad Rosario, who historically had
01:50hit lefty pitching, and they were going to live with a little less defense with Rosario,
01:55who's not a very good defender at third base.
01:57But for the first time in his career, he didn't hit lefty pitching.
02:02So those two guys together with a little Jose Caballero, say, mixed in, it just wasn't
02:08good enough in 2026.
02:11I think that means the Yankees are going to try to find a way to move on from Ryan McMahon.
02:15He's owed $16 million for next season.
02:20They've eaten that amount of money over the last three years, whether it's Aaron Hicks or
02:25DJ LeMayu, both of whom are off the books now.
02:29Now, I think before they get to the point where they eat this contract, with one year at 16
02:34left, can they park Ryan McMahon someplace by taking back a contract that is not wanted
02:40by another team, by lowering McMahon to $5-6 million, seeing if a team needs a third baseman
02:47and thinks McMahon still has the defensive chops and enough offense to do it for $5-6 million,
02:53or do they include him with another player or two who are more attractive to perhaps go
02:58after something?
03:00You know, one of the ones I kind of, and I always am hesitant to do this because I know
03:05my aggregator friends go crazy.
03:07I have not heard this.
03:08I just used it as an example of if I were the Yankees, I would make a call to the
03:14Giants,
03:14for example.
03:15Harrison Bader is due $10 million next year.
03:18I'd have to find out his foot's healthy.
03:20He hurt it on a scooter accident in late July.
03:23The Giants stopped payment to him, feeling that violated his contract.
03:27Would the Giants want to say, get out of the legal fight with Bader, just trade him to the
03:34Yankees, take on McMahon.
03:35Matt Chapman just had core surgery.
03:37I think he's going to be okay for next year, but it gives them a backup plan there.
03:42You know, just those kind of things to think about how you might be able to move McMahon's
03:46money, I don't think it will be Caballero.
03:50I think the Yankees really prefer Caballero as a chess piece.
03:53They move around the board as they use as a pinch runner late in the game, and I think
03:58that that's kind of going to be it.
04:00You know, Anthony Volpe mixed in a little third base.
04:03I don't think it's going to be him.
04:05I think he's much more likely to stick at second base.
04:07I think they've got to go find the third baseman.
04:09And look, the big name out there this offseason is going to be Teruaki Sato.
04:15He's a left-hand hitter.
04:17He just won the Central League Triple Crown this year.
04:22And so, you know, to me, he's going to be the big name out there.
04:27Lefty hitter, Triple Crown, free agent.
04:30Let's deal with the Japanese market first, because I think it's an interesting moment.
04:35Will Japanese players come over this offseason?
04:38Remember, you're looking at almost a certain lockout on November 30th, midnight, December
04:441st, and then probably when the sport comes back, when there's a new collective bargaining
04:50agreement.
04:51Last time, there was like a three-week spring training.
04:54Acclimating yourself is a big deal to everyone.
04:56I would think it would be a really big deal to a Japanese player.
05:00And also, do we miss paychecks next year where players don't get paid?
05:05Say the sport doesn't come back to June 1st.
05:07You don't get paid for two months.
05:09Does a Japanese player want to risk not getting paid on his contract?
05:13I talked to a lot of executives and a lot of agents who deal with this market a lot.
05:20They expect the big players like Sato who want to come here will come here for two reasons.
05:26Number one, they're going to sign multi-year contracts, so it's not just about 2027 pay-wise.
05:33And even a shortened MLB season, the pay will probably be greater.
05:39Players are not paid as much in Nippon professional baseball, the Japanese league, as they're paid
05:44here.
05:45So even a shortened season would probably mean more pay here if indeed we miss games next
05:51year.
05:51So a player like Sato is supposed to come.
05:54What do the scouts think about Sato?
05:56You know, he started playing a little more right field apparently late in the season with
06:02his team in Japan.
06:03They went for a younger player.
06:06He's really compared a lot to Munitaka Murakami, who was the last player in the Central League
06:11to win the Triple Crown.
06:12He did it in 2022.
06:14A left-hand power hitter who everyone thought the power would translate here, but there
06:19was real concerns about swing and miss and can he stay at third base.
06:23And indeed, Murakami didn't stay at third base here.
06:26The White Sox put him at first base.
06:28He struck out the second highest percentage in the major leagues among qualifiers, hitting
06:33the low 200.
06:34But he hit 35 homers.
06:36And I think a lot of teams, if they think that this is the profile, are going to go after
06:41Sato because they're going to feel like, oh, we, no pun intended, we swung and missed
06:46on Murakami.
06:47So we're going to try to make it right on Sato.
06:49So I think he'll get a multi-year deal.
06:51I think he'll get it for more than Murakami.
06:54But most people I talk to do not think he's going to stick at third base.
07:00The Mets are in on him.
07:02The Phillies, who are going to lose Alec Boehm, let's talk about him in a second, they really
07:08want to get bad.
07:08I keep hearing they want to badly get back in the Japanese market.
07:12Mike, they live with Sato at third base in a way where other teams won't.
07:16I think the fact that he is not a definite third baseman in the major leagues makes him
07:22a tougher sign for the Yankees.
07:23I kind of feel the same way about Alec Boehm, who can hit and definitely hit lefty pitching
07:30this year.
07:32But he's not a good defender.
07:35You want to talk about pipe dreams?
07:37Does Boe Bichette opt out?
07:39I still think he opts in.
07:41Do the Mets try to trade him if he opts in?
07:43It's a lot of money.
07:44The Yankees talked an awful lot.
07:46Not an awful lot.
07:47That's an overstatement.
07:48The Yankees checked in on Corey Seager last offseason, at the beginning of the offseason.
07:56The Rangers want to get out of money.
07:58It ended up being Marcus Simeon.
07:59They were more comfortable getting out of that, trading him to the Mets for Nimmo.
08:05Could they revisit that and talk about Seager playing third base?
08:09It's five years at $155 million.
08:11He's injured a lot.
08:13He just had another elbow surgery.
08:15I think between not knowing what the financial rules are going to be and the injury history,
08:20the Yankees are not going to add $30 million a year.
08:24Just, again, a gut feeling there.
08:28You know, if they don't want to go full defense at this position, the one player I would say
08:33they should look a lot at is Isak Paredes of the Astros.
08:38Paredes is owed about $13.3 million for next year.
08:42There's an option.
08:42And the Astros are going to pick up that option.
08:44The Astros are in a mismatched place.
08:47Their two most expensive players for next year, Altuve and Correa, between injury and
08:54age, are in a decline phase.
08:56Right?
08:57The Astros just missed the playoffs this year, which they're not used to.
09:00They have Paredes and Pena are free agents after 27.
09:07Alvarez and Hunter Brown are free agents after 2028.
09:14They don't have a strong farm system.
09:16They don't have a good group of young players.
09:18They're dying for lots and lots of pitching that they don't have.
09:22And they have this mismatched situation where it's, you know, they have Christian Walker
09:27at first.
09:28They have Jordan Alvarez DH-ing.
09:30They have Correa at third base.
09:33Paredes is too good not to play.
09:36But everyone is dying for right-hand hitting in this market.
09:40He has just the one year left.
09:43The Astros did talk to teams about him last offseason and didn't get their market.
09:48Could they get their market this offseason?
09:52Paredes is not a great third baseman.
09:54He's better than Boehm.
09:56He's better than the reputation of Sato.
09:59And he's a right-hand hitter who can really hit, doesn't strike out a lot.
10:03I know some people will point out he's a big pull hitter and he's helped by the Crawford
10:07boxes in Houston.
10:08I just think he's a good hitter.
10:10I think there'll be a marketplace for him.
10:13And I think the, you know, it's a player the Yankees should be checking in on to try
10:18to sell third base this offseason.
