The Yankees could shop for these 3 under-the-radar infielders to improve lineup

12/19/2024 01:39 PM

With the Yankees in need of a second base or third base upgrade to round out their infield, there aren’t many viable upgrades available. Ha-Seong Kim and Alex Bregman are the best infielders available on the market, but the Yankees haven’t been heavily linked to either player thus far. Furthermore, the attractive trade pieces in the infield are limited, as the likes of Brendan Donovan would likely cost the Yankees Clarke Schmidt or Luis Gil, requiring the team to go back into a pitching market that’s not very team-friendly.

If the Yankees choose to go down the trade route for their infield, they’ll have to get creative, and these three players could be acquired without trading away the entire farm system.

Swinging an In-Division Trade For Solid Second Base Upgrade

The Baltimore Orioles have a logjam in their infield and could use players in that group to bolster other areas of their roster, and Ramon Urias could be the exact kind of player the Yankees need. Inexpensive, solid with the bat and glove, and more importantly not someone who Brian Cashman would have to sell his entire farm system for. With two years of club control left, Urias posted a 115 wRC+ last season as a part-time player who can provide some power and average.

Playing in Baltimore hasn’t helped Urias much over the past two seasons due to the change they made in left field (which they’ve since adjusted), and Yankee Stadium would fit his all-fields approach well. According to Baseball Savant, Urias would have hit 14 home runs instead of 11 had he played 100% of his games in the Bronx, and his profile fits exactly what the Yankees need in the lower half of their lineup.

Steamer projects a 105 wRC+ for Urias and he has a career 109 wRC+ in 429 MLB games, and at second base he’s posted a career +4 DRS and -2 OAA. He’s a solid enough defender to be a considerable upgrade over Gleyber Torres on that side of the ball, and if he hits the way he did last season with more favorable home ballpark conditions, he could end up having a 20-HR season.

Last season he posted a 105 wRC+ and .405 SLG% at home, but on the road that increased to a 123 wRC+ and .172 ISO, and his spray charts tell a story of a hitter who desperately needs new field dimensions:

His home runs just barely sneak out and there are plenty of flyballs to right field that either die at the warning track or are kept in by the tall right field wall. His centerfield approach plays there but there are just so many flyballs that die just short of being a double or a home run. At Yankee Stadium however you can start seeing where some of those flyballs to left field would either be off the fall or in the seats, and there’s some opposite-field power here as well.

What I personally love about Urias is that he makes excellent swing decisions; he graded out in the 90th Percentile in SEAGER (which measures swing decisions) and it’s not because he’s an uber-patient hitter. He runs roughly average Chase Rate numbers but doesn’t let hittable pitches fly by him, and if he’s hitting sixth or seventh for the team having someone who’s super aggressive in-zone will definitely help with run production.

It’s obviously a small sample size, but I think it’s why he’s such a good pinch-hitter (career 162 wRC+ as one) and also why he performs well with RISP, where he has a career 113 wRC+. The Yankees need someone with a skillset like Ramon Urias who can take advantage of pitches in the zone and break up the slew of batters who work the count, especially if he’s hitting after the star sluggers in the lineup.

The Yankees have controllable bullpen talent they could use to lure Baltimore into making a deal, and I’m not sure that Mike Elias will hold any reservations about dealing in-division if the price is right. I’m not as sure about how these two teams match up, but Ramon Urias is a solid get.

Could the Yankees Add Another Switch-Hitter To the Offense?

Willi Castro is in his final year of arbitration and will make somewhere between $8 million and $9 million, and according to Dan Hayes of The Athletic, the Twins are looking to move him and shed some payroll. This is a player who is 100% available at the right price point, and similar to the Orioles, the Yankees have some bullpen help that could entice a team that doesn’t have the cash needed to shop at the top of the reliever market.

Last season he repeated his 2023 season with a 108 wRC+, and while the steals went down, Castro still ranks in the 66th Percentile in Sprint Speed and is only entering his age-28 season. He’s extremely versatile, playing the outfield and infield with solid enough defense that you can live with starting him occasionally at four or five different positions. I know that we saw him completely embarass himself in CF back in May, but I’d be shocked if he has to play there in NY.

Similar to Ramon Urias, I’m targeting a hitter with good zone aggression who could see his game power improve at Yankee Stadium, where his swing from the left side could make huge strides.

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There are quite a few balls to right field that would get out, in fact Willi Castro would have hit seven more home runs had he played all of his games at Yankee Stadium. Going from 12 home runs to 19 is quite a jump, and given his massive improvement in batted ball quality last season, the Yankees could be looking at the perfect addition for their infield. Castro had the best Exit Velocity (87.4) and xwOBACON (.371) of his career outside of 2020, a COVID-shortened year.

The best position to use Castro at is third base as he has a strong arm, and in his career, he has +1 DRS and +2 OAA at the position. His versatility allows for the Yankees to do a ton of funky things with Jazz Chisholm and Cody Bellinger depending on who gets hurt or who starts to slump, and that kind of versatility could allow Brian Cashman to get any bat he wants at the trade deadline.

Willi Castro isn’t a sexy name or a big-time star, but he does have a swing fit for Yankee Stadium and could be a 110-115 wRC+ with the Bronx as his home ballpark. Still in his late-20s, this is a speedy athlete with some sneaky power who has averaged roughly 3 WAR per 150 games since joining the Twins.

Going For an Underrated Left-Handed Option at Second Base

Michael Massey enjoyed a good but not great season with the Royals last season as their primary second baseman, posting a 102 wRC+ with 14 home runs across 100 games. While his OBP (.294) isn’t very enticing, the 26-year-old infielder has some good power to right field and could fit right into the bottom half of the Yankees’ offense thanks to his pulled flyballs, as his swing is quite literally built for the Bronx.

He has relatively even splits against LHP and RHP, and after the Royals acquired Jonathan India, perhaps they could shop Massey for some pitching help.

Michael Massey would have hit 20 home runs instead of 14 (in just 100 games!) if he played all of his games at Yankee Stadium; one has to wonder what he would do in this ballpark. If he could be a 20-25 HR bat from the left-handed side, the Yankees might have one of the deepest lineups in the sport, and he’s another hitter who fits the mold of high zone aggression, but this time it comes with excellent contact rates.

He’s going to swing a lot, and while it’s not always the best swing decision, he’s able to pull the ball in the air a lot and as a result hit more home runs than you would expect. He ranks in the 95th Percentile in Zone Contact% as well, and on the defensive side of the ball, we saw a massive improvement at second base. Massey had 0 DRS and +3 OAA at the position this past season, which again is an upgrade over what they got from Gleyber Torres this past season.

With four years of club control and still in his pre-arbitration years, the Yankees would get a cheap player who slots in perfectly at second base and adds to this team’s ability to hit for power. Kansas City was 29th in HR Factor for LHB (76), Yankee Stadium on the otherhand was third at a whopping 119; that’s quite the step up for a dead-pull lefty.