Do the Yankees have room for highly coveted utilityman?

One of the players most frequently linked to the Yankees on the trade market is utilityman Brendan Donovan, with Hector Beauchamp of Latino Sports reporting that there’s buzz in the Orlando lobbies about their involvement there.

A player who has drawn interest from the New York fanbase for years, his odds of being dealt are very high going into this Winter Meetings, but does he make sense for this team?

Less than 24 hours ago, GM Brian Cashman emphasized the Yankees’ need to be more balanced in the lineup, having more lefties than righties in their lineup than he’d like.

Furthermore, the infield is essentially set; Ryan McMahon at third, Anthony Volpe at shortstop, Jazz Chisholm at second, and Ben Rice at first will make up the infield.

Donovan wouldn’t address any of the team’s needs, so could a pursuit of him make any sense for the Bronx Bombers?

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Why Yankee Stadium Could Make Brendan Donovan Better

This past season Brendan Donovan hit .287 with a 119 wRC+, having solid game power but specializing in the batting average and on-base percentage departments.

His career .282 AVG and .362 OBP make him extremely appealing for the Yankees at the top of the lineup, and there’s reason to believe he could get even better at Yankee Stadium.

Over the last two seasons (2024-2025) the utilityman would have gained 11 home runs at home according to Baseball Savant which would have a profound effect on any player’s slashline.

It’s not a perfect way to measure park effects, but it gives you an understanding of how much his SLG% could be affected by a ballpark change, especially given the recent surge in batted ball quality.

Brendan Donovan’s Barrel% has climbed from firmly below-average to above-average in the past year, and the Yankees could help him unlock more by increasing his league-average Pull AIR% numbers.

He’d also address the team’s supposed need for contact, with even Cashman admitting that he’s not happy with the strikeouts in the bottom of the order.

Could the Yankees trade for Donovan and then flip McMahon? Who knows, but if they did, it would improve the offense and potentially cut some payroll as well.

This leads us into where this trade idea immediately becomes an issue, and its with adding a player to a position where the team already has players they’re unlikely to move off from.

A Trade Could Create Serious Headaches For the Yankees

It’s really easy to say that the Yankees should just trade Ryan McMahon, but how the team could pull it off without eating a lot of the contract is…uncertain.

According to FanGraphs, the bottom 10 projected 3B groups are the Angels, Nationals, Rockies, Athletics, Pirates, Reds, Marlins, Red Sox, Yankees, and Mariners.

Out of those teams, the Angels might be the only one who would seriously consider paying $16 million for McMahon when weighing the team’s contention status, internal talent, and external options on the market.

If I were to explore teams outside of that group there could be a fit with the Phillies if the Yankees were to eat some money.

Perhaps a deal where the Yankees take Bohm off of their hands ($10.3 million) and add a prospect such as Bryce Cunningham would entice Philadelphia.

For the Phillies, they make a serious defensive upgrade at third base and shake things up a bit, as Bohm seems like a player they want nothing to do with in 2026.

They also add a good pitching prospect to slide into the top 10 of their farm system, more value than they likely would have recieved in a deal for him otherwise.

In terms of financial commitments, the Yankees only dump $6 million on Philadelphia for 2026 and they could kick in about $6 million for 2027, a year where the Phillies have a lot of bad money coming off the books.

Brian Cashman gets a right-handed bat who crushes lefties and can play both 1B and 3B which helps, and shouldn’t prevent a Brendan Donovan trade prospect-wise.

How about if the Yankees traded Jazz Chisholm and moved Brendan Donovan to second base, giving them a player with similar projections but an additional year of control?

This is a lateral on defense, a lateral with the bat, and a downgrade on the bases at second base which is just not appealing to me at all.

You need to stay athletic and powerful, not detract from that while likely giving away more value than you’re getting back since Chisholm is just a rental.

What If This Was the Cody Bellinger Replacement?

The Yankees replacing Cody Bellinger with Brendan Donovan is not something that I would automatically hate just because the final number he signs for matters in this context.

If the Angels were to give him a seven-year $200 million deal then I’m happy to throw Donovan in left field despite the worse defense since I could end up getting a similar-enough OPS+ that my pivot from that will make up for it.

That being said, I think Donovan’s defense in left field will be below-average and could limit him to about a ~2.5-3.0 WAR player, which would be worse than what I’d expect from Bellinger if he were to return in 2026.

This is where I think the phrase “the grass isn’t always greener” applies.

Disdain over the Yankees running back a similar position player group to last year’s one is understandable on the surface; they got stomped in the American League Division Series and that was hard to watch.

That being said, operating to simply move on from players who were part of last year’s team for the sake of change is a risky business when the players at hand are not upgrades.

Kyle Tucker is an upgrade over Cody Bellinger and that’s why I think the Yankees should sign him, if the team had traded with the Astros instead of the Cubs then lost in the ALDS or ALCS, this answer would not change.

Brendan Donovan would be a shake up in left field but not one that makes the Yankees better, just one that might help them avoid a bad contract if things get crazy.

My conclusion here?

If the Yankees could reasonably move off of Ryan McMahon for Brendan Donovan, it would make that team a lot better since you’d be going from lefty to lefty.

A return of Cody Bellinger in that scenario also doesn’t hurt the balance since he hits LHP well, and it could work in the team’s benefit if they add a right-handed bat to the roster as a versatile infield piece.

Outside of that? Not really sure what to make of this.

It makes a lot of sense for the Cardinals who need pitching and could target plenty of arms in the Yankees’ system, but time will tell if this rumor is just about trying to get the Royals to bite or if its a real-deal situation.