Ryan Garcia
The Yankees have not received much production from third base, sporting an 89 wRC+ which is 17th in MLB and heavily boosted by the performance of Amed Rosario.
Rosario’s defense has been brutally bad at the hot corner which is why the team is 25th in Defensive Runs Saved (-5) at the position.
Last year’s trade deadline lacked consistent options at the hot corner, leading to the acquisition of Ryan McMahon who has not lived up to his contract since being traded to New York.
One of the options who could get moved is Isaac Paredes, an infielder for the Houston Astros who seems to be on the way out given the team’s struggles and the noise all offseason around trading him.
While his offensive profile is a bit abnormal for a Yankee Stadium hitter, I believe this could end up being a really strong fit for this lineup.
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Could Isaac Paredes Work on the Yankees?
After a slow start to the 2026 season, Isaac Paredes has caught fire in the last few weeks and rose his wRC+ to 113 entering play today.
The right-handed hitting infielder has one of the sport’s most unique offensive profiles, pulling the ball in the air at an abnormal rate to hit home runs despite not having much raw power on the surface.
This serves as both the reason why teams would trade for him, but also the root of why some people would be skeptical of importing him onto the Yankees’ roster.
Yankee Stadium has an incredible built-in advantage for left-handed batters who pull the ball to right field, but that advantage is not the same for right-handed hitters who do the same.
Pulled flyballs from righties have an .853 wOBA while lefties get a 1.040 wOBA (since 2021) at 161st River Ave, but I don’t think this is a reason to completely avoid Paredes on the market.
Jose Caballero is an odd comparison to make on the surface, but he’s also a pulled flyball machine who has an approach that shouldn’t work at Yankee Stadium in theory.
Isaac Paredes and Jose Caballero had their time in Tampa Bay overlap during the 2024 season, and that ballpark was considered to be a unique advantage for these kinds of hitters when they played at Tropicana Field.
Caballero hit nine home runs in 139 games with a .347 SLG% that season, in his 93 games with the Yankees he has hit eight home runs with a .412 SLG%.
This isn’t to say that Isaac Paredes will be better coming over from Daiken Park’s short left field wall to the Bronx, but rather to say that he might not have some insane offensive drop-off.
He has a 123 wRC+ over the last five seasons, and he has a .344 wOBA at home with a .339 wOBA on the road over this timespan.
If you were to remove Tropicana Field and Daiken Park from these samples specifically (Paredes was a Cub for a bit), it’s a .324 wOBA, which would be around a 110 wRC+ during that five-year window.
This is straight-up a good hitter without the ballparks that he dominated in, and I think the fit for the Yankees is pretty strong given what they struggle with.
Having a high-contact hitter with good plate discipline and excellent pull-side power is exacrtly what this lineup needs right now, Paul Goldschmidt is hitting third against right-handed pitching right now which is ridiculous.
I know Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton are hurt, but that says a lot that there’s not a better option in the mind of Aaron Boone to split up the lefties than someone who has hit like Anthony Volpe vs RHP.
- Trent Grisham CF
- Ben Rice 1B
- Aaron Judge RF
- Cody Bellinger LF
- Giancarlo Stanton DH
- Jazz Chisholm 2B
- Isaac Paredes 3B
- Austin Wells C
- Jose Caballero
I do want the Yankees to improve at catcher, but if the Yankees went from a hitter who has a 71 wRC+ on the season to one who has a ~110 wRC+, that’s a 39-point improvement in offensive production relative to the league.
For context, Kyle Tucker has a career 136 wRC+, so this would be the equivalent of going from an average hitter to a player who the Dodgers handed $240 million to over a four-year timespan.
Defense could be a concern, with -1 DRS and 0 FRV at third base in 389.1 IP at third base this season, but the Yankees have one of the 10 worst third base rooms defensively by DRS and FRV in 2026.
They’re not going to go from elite to bad defensively, they’ll go from bad to…bad. I know Ryan McMahon is all-but-certain to improve his defensive data, but that still matters.
As for worries that the Astros would rather fold than help the Yankees, I would consider trading Kyle Tucker here to be different than trading Isaac Paredes here, but I can’t guarantee that Jim Crane will feel the same.
For 1.5 years I wouldn’t expect the Yankees to cough up George Lombard Jr. or Carlos Lagrange, so I think there’s a reasonable price that could be paid by Brian Cashman.
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