The New York Yankees could still have some offseason splashes in store, but much of what they have to do this offseason centers around shoring up the last few spots on the roster.
New York needs more reliable middle relievers. They have to figure out the depth chart at the catching position. And with Ben Rice, Jazz Chisholm Jr., and Ryan McMahon under contract, they need at least one infielder who can counterbalance the platoon splits and flat-out rake against left-handed pitching.
That final objective could point to a new deal for a piece the Yankees brought in at the trade deadline.
On Sunday, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman acknowledged at the winter meetings that his team is currently overly dependent on left-handed bats. That prompted SNY Yankees insider Andy Martino to declare that the odds of New York bringing back utility man Amed Rosario might be quite good.
“In light of Brian Cashman’s comments yesterday about Yankees being too left handed, I see a solid chance that the team brings back Amed Rosario,” wrote Martino on X. “Can be (right-handed) first base complement to Ben Rice, among other things.”
Rosario batted .303 with a .788 OPS in his 16 regular-season games for the Yankees after he arrived in a deadline deal with the Washington Nationals. He went on to go 3-for-10 in the playoffs, including the RBI single that opened the scoring in the Yankees’ 4-0 win over the Boston Red Sox in the sudden-death game of the best-of-three wild-card series.
Though Rosario doesn’t profile as an above-average defender anywhere on the diamond, he could feasibly man any infield position, and he could also take over right field in an emergency scenario, especially with the short porch in Yankee Stadium.
Meanwhile, at this point in his career, the nine-year veteran Rosario likely acknowledges that he’s best served as a platoon player, as his OPS against right-handed pitchers this season was just .614.
There won’t likely be a ton of rumors and updates surrounding Rosario’s free agency; more likely, the notification will pop up that he’s signed somewhere and we’ll all react to it. But the logic behind that somewhere being New York makes a lot of sense for both sides.
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