The Yankees have already started carving out a future for George Lombard Jr. at shortstop, but that plan may not be set in stone.
A bigger name could eventually force the issue.
On Friday, FanSided’s Jake Elman put New York among the top-five landing spots for Orioles All-Star shortstop Gunnar Henderson. The timing is distant - Henderson won’t hit free agency until after the 2028 season - but the speculation is hard to ignore, especially with his agent, Scott Boras, in the picture. ESPN’s Buster Olney also said on the “Just Baseball Show” that it’s unlikely Henderson re-signs with Baltimore.
That opens the door to a familiar kind of Yankees conversation: if Henderson becomes available, can New York make room?
“Elman wrote” that Lombard Jr.’s promotion doesn’t really block the path, because Jazz Chisholm is heading toward free agency and Ryan McMahon has just one year of team control remaining.
“Elman added” that McMahon’s hold on third base isn’t exactly ironclad either, noting that he has “barely been a replacement-level third baseman, and he’s almost exclusively manned the hot corner since the start of 2022. Turning him into a backup utility man is far easier said than done,”
Anthony Volpe adds another layer to the puzzle, but the Yankees could theoretically shift him to second base if Henderson were to land in the Bronx.
Still, this is all a long way off. Henderson could just as easily stay with the Orioles, and by the time the conversation gets real, the whole thing might be moot.
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For Baltimore, the return added real volume to a transaction that already looked seismic, with multiple players coming back in the exchange. However it is judged later, this was the kind of deadline move that instantly changes the conversation around a club, because when a core catcher of Rutschmans stature is involved, every piece of the return and every next step becomes part of the story. [Read more 🡒]