As it stands, the biggest hole on the Yankees’ roster is in the infield, with either 2B or 3B being a position where either DJ LeMahieu or Oswaldo Cabrera would get the starting nod on Opening Day. It mirrors the issue the Yankees had in left field entering the 2023 season, as they (correctly) let Andrew Benintendi walk in free agency, but proceeded to leave the position up to Aaron Hicks and Oswaldo Cabrera, which resulted in a position that provided -0.3 fWAR that season. The Yankees cannot make that same mistake again this winter, and they need to make an addition to their lineup.
While the infield market is questionable, viable starting options are available, and Willi Castro could be a strong addition to plug in at 2B or 3B. The Twins are looking to shed payroll, and the versatile utilityman would give the Yankees a legitimate starter on the dirt and a player capable of playing around the diamond in a pinch.
The Yankees Could Add a Bat That’s Perfect For Yankee Stadium
Hitting is complicated, not only do hitters have to handle how good pitching has become in the modern game, but they also have to adjust to different ballpark dimensions that can affect what’s a home run or an out. Willi Castro didn’t struggle in his games at Minnesota, but the Bronx would provide a much better home field advantage for his pull-side power.
When looking at Baseball Savant’s Expected Home Run metric, Willi Castro would have hit 19 home runs instead of 12 if he played all of his games at Yankee Stadium. It’s not enough to make him a middle-of-the-lineup power bat, but it likely would have improved his OPS by a pretty significant margin. While right field is only 328 feet to right field, it’s extremely tall and routinely turns line drives that would go out at Yankee Stadium into doubles off the wall.
While you can’t play 100% of your games at just one ballpark, having 50% of your possible games come at a favorable ballpark can still make quite an impact. If you just look at his home games, Willi Castro would have added five more home runs to his total, giving him 17 on the season, which still would make a serious dent in his OPS. Furthermore, given that Castro posted a solid .331 OBP, an improved SLG% would make him a pretty well-rounded hitter.
The friendlier dimensions of Yankee Stadium may also help Willi Castro better improve his pull rates, as he pulled around 28% of his flyballs from the left-handed side but could try to improve that number in 2025. That may be difficult with already-existing swing-and-miss issues in-zone, but his aggressive approach allows him to keep the strikeouts to about a league-average clip.
James Rowson helped unlock more of Jazz Chisholm’s game power by having him pull the ball more often, which he also did in Miami when Rowson was the bench coach with the Marlins, and the same could be accomplished here with Willi Castro if he were to come over to the Bronx. The Yankees aren’t trading for their three hitter, but adding a solid hitter would further deepen their lineup.
Furthermore, Willi Castro’s versatility gives the Yankees a player who can move around the diamond depending on the team’s needs, as injuries and slumps will almost certainly cause Aaron Boone and Brian Cashman to shuffle things around in the lineup during the season.
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One of the most valuable parts of Cody Bellinger’s game is his ability to play both the OF and first base, and Willi Castro can competently play about 4-5 different positions in the infield and outfield. If the Yankees are picking out where his primary position would be, I think that third base just makes a ton of sense with Castro’s elite arm and questionable numbers at shortstop.
That makes me think that range or his first step could be the issue, which could be mitigated at third base where arm talent and reaction time are far more valuable. Furthermore, Castro has +1 DRS and +2 OAA at third base across 458 innings, which won’t win him a Gold Glove but would put him in the firmly above-average category if he played a full season there.
According to Dan Hayes, Willi Castro is a “likely target” to be traded by the Twins as he enters his final year of arbitration, and the Yankees can certainly pay the price needed in a trade to get him. First and foremost, it’s one year of a solid position player. I have a hard time believing the Twins would hardball the Yankees to trade someone like Jasson Dominguez or George Lombard Jr.
Secondly, the Twins’ need for cost-controlled pitching and a right-handed outfielder could make someone like Mark Leiter Jr. or Everson Pereira attractive. Maybe Yoendrys Gomez, who is out of MiLB options, could be of interest to the Twins who might like some of his pitch data, especially since the young right-hander can either start or work out of the bullpen if needed.
The Yankees need infield help, the Twins would love to shed some payroll, and getting a bullpen arm would be ideal for Minnesota as well. It’s a deal that doesn’t have any public smoke to it, but it doesn’t take much thinking to see why this could make sense for both teams and how it could come together.