Yankees do not view Bo Bichette as potential shortstop upgrade

Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic wrote about some of the latest rumors with the Yankees and other active teams in the market.

Bo Bichette, who the Yankees reportedly checked in on, is a player they could sign as a backup option to Cody Bellinger, but in this article its reported that they do not view him as a shortstop.

An acquisition of Bichette would mean trading one of Jazz Chisholm or Ryan McMahon away to make room for him, as the declining defense and sprint speed is clearly a concern to the Bronx Bombers.

It was reported in December that he would be open to playing second base, and in the World Series he played his first MLB innings at the position.

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Bo Bichette Would Not Play Shortstop If the Yankees Signed Him

This past season was excellent for Bo Bichette offensively, recording a career-high 129 OPS+, but the defensive and athletic profile has regressed considerably.

By being in the 20th Percentile in Sprint Speed, Bichette had by far his slowest season ever in the big leagues, and it reflected in his baserunning and fielding abilities.

According to Baseball Savant, Bichette was in the 10th Percentile in Baserunning Run Value and the 4th Percentile in Fielding Run Value.

Due to his declining defense and speed, the Yankees do not believe he could hold up at shortstop and would rather move him to 2B or 3B, which would require a trade of Ryan McMahon or Jazz Chisholm.

Going from Bo Bichette to Jazz Chisholm could be considered a lateral since he only produced an OPS+ that was four points better than the Yankees’ All-Star second baseman in 2025 while being much slower.

If they were able to upgrade from Ryan McMahon to Bo Bichette, it would both make this lineup significantly better and give them some financial flexibility to potentially land Cody Bellinger as well.

This seems more like a fantasy; the teams rumored to be exploring the 3B market such as the Pirates seem to be very payroll conscious, and their focus on Eugenio Suarez after missing out of Kazuma Okamoto is revealing

Pittsburgh might be willing to shell out cash for some power and offense, but I doubt they would do the same for a more defensive-minded infielder given the composition of their roster.

All signs point to the team landing Cody Bellinger and not ending up with Bo Bichette as the New Year passes by, as reported in the same article his re-signing is their top priority.