The New York Yankees just lost the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Yes, they made just about every type of blunder you can imagine, but the truth is, their roster construction wasn’t ideal to begin with.
The Yankees’ roster had several fatal flaws
People playing out of position, no real power threats on the bench, a shallow bullpen, and subpar play at first base doomed them, too.
The situation at first base requires the Yankees’ urgent attention. The numbers say that the production they got from players at the position (Anthony Rizzo, DJ LeMahieu, Oswaldo Cabrera, Ben Rice, and others) was among the worst in the league:
“Yankees first basemen had the worst OPS of any team in MLB this season (.619) by a wide margin. Their 76 wRC+ ranked 29th. Their .216 batting average ranked 27th. They hit 16 HR … zero from 8/1 through the end of the World Series,” Yanks insider Max Goodman posted on X.
Yikes.
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The Yankees need urgent help at first
Rizzo has been a phenomenal slugger during his career and the Yankees benefited from that in his first couple of seasons, but he is rapidly declining and hasn’t been the same since the post-concussion symptoms he suffered in 2023.
Rice didn’t adjust well to MLB pitchers getting familiar with him, and LeMahieu is near the end of his career. Circumstances are forcing the Yankees to bring in someone from outside the organization, either via free agency or trade, to get some consistent production at first base.
Even an average hitter would represent a sizable upgrade from what the Yankees fielded this season at the cold corner. Finding a real upgrade might prove challenging because the real off-season priority is retaining Juan Soto and that would eat up most of their resources. Still, first base is a necessity for this team if contention is the goal.
