The search for help at third base is shaping up to be one of the winter’s bigger storylines, and the Phillies, Yankees and Red Sox are all being linked to the same prize.
That matters because each club has reasons to keep an open mind at the position. In New York, the Yankees have spent the last couple of seasons trying to patch third base together, and it still hasn’t stuck.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. was asked to learn the spot on the fly after arriving at the 2024 trade deadline, and the team has since added Ryan McMahon, Amed Rosario and Jose Caballero in hopes of stabilizing the hot corner. None has fully taken hold.
McMahon has been the biggest letdown, with his glove still playing well but his bat dragging down the bottom of the lineup.
Philadelphia is facing its own decision with Alec Bohm. Bohm’s season got off to a rough start, but he settled in as the year went on and finished with .249/.315/.383, 15 home runs and 88 RBI.
Even with the slow opening, he is being viewed as a legitimate free-agent target. Still, the Phillies are trying to get younger, and a long-term commitment to another veteran may not line up with what they want to do.
That sets the stage for a possible market chase, and Jim Bowden of The Athletic believes Japanese star Teruaki Sato could be at the center of it. Bowden wrote, “Some teams believe he can stay at third base; others see him as best suited for first base or left field.
Either way, the bat profiles for the middle of the order. I think he stays at third base initially and would be a perfect fit for teams like the Phillies, Red Sox, Angels and Yankees, which leads me to believe this will end up being a big-market bidding war,”
If that kind of competition develops, Sato would bring exactly what clubs are hunting for: a legitimate middle-of-the-order bat and a defender capable of handling third base. He is coming off a 39-home-run season and won the Triple Crown, which only adds to the appeal for teams trying to upgrade the hot corner in a hurry.
In Other News...
Yankees Offseason Suddenly Centers On Two High-Stakes Decisions
The Yankees offseason picture is already coming into focus, and it starts with the bullpen. David Bednar and Paul Blackburn are both headed for free agency, leaving New York with two important late-inning questions to answer as it tries to keep its relief mix from thinning out too quickly. MLB insider Jim Bowden thinks the club will be aggressive in trying to keep both arms in place, which would give the front office a chance to stabilize a bullpen that figures to be central to whatever comes next.
There is also a familiar rival lurking in the background. Bowden expects the Yankees and Red Sox to get involved in a bidding war for NPB player Teruaki Sato, even though there have been reports suggesting New York may hesitate because of defensive concerns. For a Yankees team trying to balance urgency with roster fit, that creates a pretty clear offseason tension: do they pay to preserve what they already have, or dive into a market chase that could get expensive fast? [Read more 🡒]
Yankees Have Two AL East Roster Holes They Can't Ignore
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Backup catcher, third base and center field all loom as spots that need attention, and the Yankees figure to have options if they want to patch those holes with outside help. Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Cedric Mullins are among the names being tied to possible upgrades, which gives the club a sense of the kind of roster flexibility it may seek. The bigger question is how aggressive they want to be in fixing multiple issues at once, because this winter feels like one where standing still would be the easiest way to fall a step behind. [Read more 🡒]
Yankees Fans May Need To Start Watching Kyle West Closely
Kyle Wests first full season in the Yankees system gave a glimpse of his power, but his Arizona Fall League run has made the 13th-round pick a lot harder to ignore. After a .226 season in High-A with 20 home runs and 75 RBIs, the 2025 draft selection has carried that pop into the fall, where hes hitting .282 through 13 games with three homers.
The biggest attention grabber so far has been the longest home run in the 2026 AFL, a blast measured at 462 feet. For a player still trying to climb the organizational ladder, that kind of raw power is the sort of development the Yankees will want to keep tracking closely as he builds on an encouraging showing. [Read more 🡒]