Sometimes the smallest comment at the Winter Meetings reveals the biggest truth about where a team’s head is at. For the New York Yankees, that moment came late Sunday night when Brian Cashman casually mentioned something that’s been hiding in plain sight for months: this lineup leans too heavily to one side of the plate. And for a club that still thinks in October-sized ambitions, that imbalance matters more than it sounds.
The Yankees Want Their Offense to Stop Tilting Left
Cashman didn’t overcomplicate the message. He thinks the Yankees have stacked too many lefty bats and not enough righties, and he wants to “balance that out.” You could almost hear the gears turning as he said it. The Yankees built a run-scoring machine last season, but machines need tuning, and anyone who watched this group closely knows how matchup-heavy October baseball can expose lineup construction.
The most interesting part is where this concern intersects with Ben Rice. The young first baseman didn’t just pop onto the scene in 2025; he barged in, held the door open for himself, and demanded to stay with a 133 wRC+. The Yankees love the bat, they love the makeup, and Cashman just said out loud that Rice is their first baseman. But that wasn’t the end of the sentence.
Rice Is the Guy, But the Platoon Door Is Wide Open
Cashman’s full quote told the real story. He praised Rice, said he was “managing first base,” and then circled right back to the lefty-righty imbalance. It was a hint without being a declaration, the kind of comment front offices make when they’re leaving room to act.
The Yankees spent most of 2025 solving this exact issue with a tidy platoon. Paul Goldschmidt did the heavy lifting against left-handers and gave them a 169 wRC+ in those situations, even if the second half reminded everyone that time waits for no slugger. Rice, meanwhile, crushed righties with a 141 wRC+ and held his own against lefties with a 104 mark. It worked. It worked really well.
But with Goldschmidt likely out of the picture, New York doesn’t have a clean right-handed complement in the building. And while Rice isn’t helpless against southpaws, there’s a real opportunity here to optimize the position rather than simply accept good enough.
The Yankees See a Spot Where They Can Add Value
This is where Cashman’s roster-building instincts kick in. He isn’t hunting a headline move at first base. He’s looking for edges. A well-timed right-handed bat who mashes lefties doesn’t just help Rice; it smooths out the entire lineup. Last season showed how dramatically the Yankees’ run scoring spiked when they were layered with the right mix of threats.
In the big picture, this is the kind of move contenders make. You don’t force Rice into full-time exposure if you don’t need to. You don’t shrug at a chance to turn an already-productive spot into a true advantage. And you don’t ignore your GM when he tells you your lineup tilts too far in one direction.
What Comes Next
A platoon partner for Rice isn’t a crisis, and the Yankees won’t treat it like one. But it’s absolutely on the list. Cashman all but said so. It fits their broader push to redistribute the offense, and the Winter Meetings tend to reward teams that identify small-but-real weaknesses before they become big ones.
If the Yankees exit Nashville with a righty bat who profiles well against lefties, no one should be surprised. It’s exactly the sort of quiet, functional improvement contending teams prioritize. And if they don’t? Then we’ll learn just how confident they are in Rice turning that 104 wRC+ against southpaws into something more threatening.
For now, the message is simple enough: the New York Yankees believe in Ben Rice, but they believe even more in giving their lineup every possible advantage.