The New York Yankees may seem like they have very few pressing needs at this point in the season. Despite a brief hiccup losing the first two games of a three game World Series rematch against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Bronx Bombers have won 10 of their last 13 games to take a solid grip on first place in the American League East.
Nonetheless, even the Yankees have some notable deficiencies that they will need to address to sustain their success deep into the season. And one of those deficiencies is in the middle infield. The Yankees have scrambled to fill the second base slot and for that matter the third base position since they let longtime second-bagger Gleyber Torres walk in free agency over the offseason.
Now Torres is manning second for the team with the best record in baseball, the Detroit Tigers, while the Yankees continue to shuffle second basemen in and out. Five different Yankees have manned the bag this season, with D.J. LeMahieu there on Tuesday in the opening game of a series against the Cleveland Guardians at Yankee Stadium.
ESPN Insider Sees Yankees Dealing for Rays Veteran
The game was LeMahieu’s 16th at second base this year. The team leader in appearances at the position with 30, Jazz Chisholm Jr., got the start at third.
On Tuesday, ESPN’s top MLB insider and expert Jeff Passan predicted a trade for the Yankees that would solve the second base problem, or as Passan put it in his review of potential upcoming trades, to “plug the infield hole that has caused such consternation.”
Passan’s Yankees trade idea would bring veteran Tampa Bay Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe to the Bronx.
The eight-year veteran is playing out the possible final year of his contract with the Rays, who exercised their club option to retain Lowe for a price of $10.5 million, the highest salary the 30-year-old has made in his eight-year career. The club also has an option for 2026 at a price tag of $11.5 million.
“Filling their hole at second base — with few options available — made the most sense. Intradivision trades are never easy to execute, but the possibility of Lowe and a relief arm makes sense,” Passan wrote. “Regardless of what the Yankees do at the deadline, they’ve given themselves a nice cushion in the AL East and were the class of the division through Memorial Day. Lowe’s career numbers at Yankee Stadium are admittedly abysmal, but his left-handed stroke and the short porch in right field feel like a match made in heaven.”
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In 159 career plate appearances at Yankee Stadium, Lowe is hitting only .175 with a forgettable .655 OPS. Those numbers are well below Lowe’s career batting average of .245 and .804 OPS.
According to the sports business site Spotrac, if Lowe were to hit the open market — as he would if the Rays, or the Yankees if they make Passan’s predicted trade, do not exercise the 2026 option — he would be looking at a four-year, $75 million contract.
The Rays are always cash-strapped, however, and would be unlikely to re-sign Lowe at a prove anywhere in that territory. It would be in Tampa Bay’s interest to move Lowe out if they can get an attractive prospect package in return.
