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