Jim Bowden was on MLB Radio where he discussed some of the Yankees’ latest interests, and he noted that in speaking to rival GMs, the Yankees are ‘pretty obsessed’ with adding a right-handed bat.
While they’ve added right-handed hitting depth with the return of Amed Rosario, who is expected to platoon with Ryan McMahon at third base, they could look to add some more offense there.
One of names mentioned by Jim Bowden is Nico Hoerner, who he heard them linked to inside the industry, as he could be an infielder who even plays shortstop for them if they want to improve their offense even further.
It could be an active January for the Yankees, who finally seem to be making some noise inside the industry after only landing supplementary pieces for most of the season.
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Bo Bichette is someone that the Yankees have been linked to, and Jim Bowden mentioned them as a team to look out for on his market due to their desire to further balance the lineup.
A name who could really make sense is the aforementioned Nico Hoerner, as the Yankees could play him at shortstop over Anthony Volpe and turn their worst everyday regular into a high-average hitter.
If the Yankees were to land him without giving up Jazz Chisholm or Ryan McMahon then the infield would be set with elite defenders and a more complete offense.
Another route for the Yankees to take would be adding a bench bat, someone like an Austin Hays even if they were to pull down Cody Bellinger from the free agent market.
You could also see them add a catcher who can hit against lefties, a name in mind for me would be Ryan Jeffers from the Twins who is a rental and has crushed southpaws in his MLB career.
The club’s top priority remains Cody Bellinger and The Athletic reported that the team is letting teams and agents know that they would like to add a starter, so there’s reason to believe a bench bat is more of an opportunistic pursuit.