The New York Yankees have begun the season hovering around .500, and there are a few glaring team needs.
The lack of a solid third baseman is the issue least likely to resolve itself for the Yanks, meaning that a trade before July’s deadline is in order. Could a former St. Louis Cardinals All-Star be the answer to this problem for the Bronx Bombers?
On Thursday, Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller wrote that third base is indeed New York’s most worrisome team weakness.
“Starting pitching is … a major concern for the Yankees … but it might be fine by July,” Miller wrote.
“Third base is a different story, where the Yankees have gone with a revolving door of Oswaldo Cabrera, Oswald Peraza and Pablo Reyes thus far without much success.”
“Kind of seems like the plan here was to throw things at the wall for a few months, see if anything sticks and make a trade if nothing does.”
New York has been linked to Nolan Arenado for months, but if a deal hasn’t happened by now, Arenado-to-the-Yankees is probably dead in the water.
Instead of Arenado, the Yanks might target a former Cardinal who made an All-Star team with the club in 2019: Paul DeJong.
Since playing six-plus seasons with the Cards to begin his Major League career, DeJong has played for the Toronto Blue Jays, San Francisco Giants, Chicago White Sox, Kansas City Royals, and Washington Nationals, with whom he signed a one-year, $1 million deal this past February (per Spotrac).
Despite his journeyman status, DeJong is still only 31 years old and capable of adding significant slug to any lineup.
He’s off to a less-than-ideal start to 2025 with the Nationals, slashing .200/.238/.300, much lower than his career .228/.295/.417.
DeJong’s plate numbers are sure to rise, though, and he’ll be popping up in trade rumors aplenty, just as he did last season while hitting 24 home runs.
Expect the Yankees to monitor the DeJong situation between now and July unless Cabrera magically morphs into Alex Rodriguez.
