Yankees’ Pursuit of 32-Year-Old Third Baseman: Is There More Than Meets the Eye?

In yet another last-minute 2023 MLB offseason move, the New York Yankees are reportedly trying to lock down a third baseman in a lineup that is already at its best defensive capacity. Can it be deemed a desperate move from the Pinstripes or a pre-calculated business tactic?

Gio Urshela has already played under the Yankees banner in 2019–2021. Locking the 32-year-old hitter once again might indicate the team’s probable plan of trading him for a pitcher they could actually make use of in their rotation. The Yanks already have enough players on the team to fill all the other positions. The only position they need to fix before the 2024 regular season kicks off is that of a starting pitcher. How do they plan on going with that?

Are the New York Yankees planning for a quick trade?

Urshela just came off an injurious season playing for the Los Angeles Angels, where the player was kept off the bases for the rest of the 2023 season. The Angels, who planned on using him as their regular shortstop, could only get 2 homers and 64 hits out of the slugger, with an RBI of 24 across just 62 games played. The slugger, who fractured his pelvis in June, reportedly didn’t go through any surgery to get it fixed. If the draft predicted by The Athletic is of any indication, what use could the New York Yankees possibly make out of him?

The Pinstripes might use him to make a trade with the pitching prospects they reportedly have their eyes on at this moment. On the other hand, they could also decide to keep Urshela as an option and send Oswald Peraza off as a trade pawn.

Peraza’s AL record of 2 homers and 14 RBIs certainly makes for a better trade option. However, if the team does go through with drafting Urshela, it will be a tough choice to pick between the two, considering Peraza faced a knee injury this September. Considering the almost ragged form of their current pitching lineup, who could the Bronx Bombers make a trade for using either option at hand?

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The Yankees’ current pitching lineup and the prospects they could go after

Their current prospective trade options mainly consist of three aces. From the Milwaukee Brewers, they have Corbin Burnes. Luis Castillo from the Seattle Mariners and Dylan Cease from the Chicago White Sox are deemed quite promising as well. While the White Sox need to fix both their offense and defense lineups, the other two teams are in dire need of locking down a third baseman. The New York Yankees can use that opportunity to their best benefit, considering they have a pretty shaky pitching rotation right now.

Read More: New York Yankees’ Pitching Woes Intensify in Gerrit Cole’s Shadow, Urgent Restructuring Needed

The Aaron Boone-led team currently has just Gerrit Cole as a starting pitcher who is deemed healthy enough to play throughout the next season. Other than him, they have Clarke Schmidt, Carlos Rodón, and Nestor Cortes Jr.—none of whom can be permanently depended on to hold up the pitching long term. The three are infamous for being out of games due to their injury-prone form.

Who do you think will be the perfect fit for the Yankees’ pitching conundrum? Let us know more about your choice of aces in the comments below!