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New York Yankees' Third Base Answer Could Be a Hated Rival
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- New York Yankees' Third Base Answer Could Be a Hated Rival
(Bob Kupbens-Imagn Images)
The New York Yankees definitely need to solve their third base problem this offseason. They simply cannot head into 2027 with Ryan McMahon as the starter.
But what will they actually do?
The free-agent market is very thin, and while Teruaki Sato will be tempting, you have to wonder if the Yankees will foot the bill for such an unproven commodity.
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You know who is proven, though? Rafael Devers.
The San Francisco Giants are surely going to be itching to move Devers this winter. He has $199.5 million remaining on a contract that runs through 2033, and the Giants are one of the worst teams in baseball.
Surely, San Francisco would like to rebuild, and jettisoning Devers would be a great start.
Enter the Yankees, who know Devers very well from his days with the Boston Red Sox ... when he terrorized New York.
Devers has homered 31 times against the Yanks, by far his largest amount against any team. Eighteen of those long balls have come at Yankee Stadium, which isn't surprising given his lefty stroke with that short right-field porch.
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The 30-year-old slashed .258/.340/.525 with 37 home runs and 98 RBI over 633 plate appearances for the Giants in 2026 before a core muscle injury — one that required surgery — ended his season.
After a brutal start to the campaign in March and April, Devers caught fire in May and was one of baseball's best hitters from that point moving forward, posting an OPS of over .900 in four of his last five months. That included a 1.457 OPS through 10 games in September.
Yes, he's terrible defensively, and he just turned 30 years old. But can you imagine what Devers would do for this Yankee lineup?
The Yankees need bats, and let's face it: they are already considering playing Luis Garcia Jr. at second base, so they clearly aren't prioritizing defense too much right now.
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New York would almost certainly want San Francisco to eat some of Devers' salary in any potential trade, which would increase the cost in terms of prospect capital on the Yankees' end. But even if you're trading more pieces than you would like, you would be getting a proven slugger with a terrific playoff pedigree, something New York desperately needs.
Devers has only spent one game at third base the last two seasons, but he played at the hot corner the first eight years of his big-league career.
If it means getting his .856 OPS bat into the lineup on a daily basis, sign me up ... regardless of the putrid defense.
