With the 2024 season quickly approaching, teams are looking to lock down their lineups and rotations. When speaking to most Yankees' fans, there seems to be a consistent concern with their lack of depth in their rotation. Some may have similar concerns with the bullpen as well. From a line-up perspective, most fans are relatively content going into opening day.
One mainstay in the lineup over the last few years has been Gleyber Torres. Gleyber came up as a highly touted shortstop prospect but proved over time that defensively, he was better suited to play second base. Although Gleyber has shown an ability to generate offense at an offensively weak position, the Yankees have shown little desire publicly to find a way to extent him prior to reaching free agency. Not only have they showed little public interest in extending him, they have rumored to shop him around in moves that could bolster their starting rotation. The Yankees have Oswald Peraza who is also a highly touted prospect who many believe could be the best defensive prospect in the system, waiting in the wings would could also be a reason for the Yankees willingness to shop Gleyber around.
Similar to the Yankees shopping Gleyber around, there are rumors swirling around in South Florida regarding their second base batting champion, Luis Arraez. Arraez has a significantly different hitting profile than Torres. Torres is best known for his power and slugging while Arraez is likely the best pure hitter in baseball but lacks any significant power. Gleyber is set to be a free agent at the end of the 2024 season while Arraez does not hit free agency till 2026.
The Yankees and Marlins are in much different places right now. Marlins just retooled their front office after Kim Ng turned the perennial doormat into a playoff team in 2023. New management seems to be looking to "retool" rather than build upon the foundation that Ng left. Some further proof of this thought process is the Marlins' also shopping Jesus Luzardo.
Given the uncertainty around the Yankees' desire to resign Gleyber and having some pieces in the farm system like Peraza, Pereira, Hampton, Jones; it wouldn't be crazy to see the Yankees make a push for Arraez and/or Luzardo.
Arraez would add an element to the lineup that the Yankees desperately missed since DJ LeMehieu's 2019/2020 seasons. Arraez's elite ability to put his bat on the ball sprinkled into a line-up with Juan Soto and Aaron Judge could wreak havoc amongst the AL East. Many who follow me understand my appreciation for Arraez. The ability to add a high average hitter while extending him long term would allow the Yankees a lot of flexibility knowing the middle of their infield is locked up for an extended period of time.
In an effort to test the temperature on such trade, we conducted a poll amongst 86 Yankees fans. 57% were in favor for making a move to bring in Arraez. Far from a landslide but certainly a majority. With spring training quickly approaching, it will be interesting to see if the Yankees make a significant move such as acquiring Arraez or if they find a way to bolster the rotation. As many know, I’m clearly on the side of acquiring the batting champ.
Comments