The Yankees are heading into another winter with work to do, and the latest round of predictions from ESPN and SNY points them toward the kind of fixes fans have been waiting for. After getting swept by the AL East rival Tampa Bay Rays in the ALDS, New York is still set to bring back GM Brian Cashman and manager Aaron Boone next season. That leaves the roster as the obvious place to attack.
ESPN’s David Schoenfield sees Japanese slugger Teruaki Sato as a strong match for the Yankees. Sato, who turns 28 in March, just put together a monster season with the Hanshin Tigers, winning the Triple Crown in the NPB while hitting .306/.383/.609 with a .991 OPS, 39 home runs and 106 RBI in 143 games.
A natural third baseman, Sato would give the Yankees a possible answer at the hot corner and could step into the spot occupied by Ryan McMahon, who is owed $16 million in 2027. His profile isn’t a perfect stylistic fit - he’s a left-handed hitter and strikes out a lot, which doesn’t exactly clean up the Yankees’ lefty-heavy lineup - but the power is real. That kind of pop would sit nicely alongside Aaron Judge and Ben Rice.
There’s also a familiar angle here for Yankees fans. Last offseason, they were hoping for Kazuma Okamoto. That move never happened, but Sato would give the club another shot in the Japanese market.
SNY’s John Harper went in a different direction, projecting the Yankees to land both second baseman Luis Arráez and catcher Ryan Jeffers. Those are two spots where the Yankees didn’t get much offense last season, and both players would address clear needs.
Arráez could take over at second base and succeed Jazz Chisholm Jr. there. He was an All-Star in 2026 with the San Francisco Giants before being dealt to the Philadelphia Phillies at the deadline, and he also took a step forward defensively at second, finishing with 12 Outs Above Average, fifth-best at the position. Harper’s view is that Arráez would be an upgrade over Anthony Volpe at second base and let the young slugger settle into a bench role, which he’s likely best suited for.
Jeffers would add help behind the plate. Limited to 92 games last season because of a broken hamate bone, he still turned in the second-best offensive season of his career, hitting .256/.353/.461 with an .814 OPS, 127 OPS+, 14 homers, 56 RBI and 2.8 bWAR. He turns 30 in June and could give the Yankees a right-handed complement to the lefty-hitting Austin Wells.
Yankees fans were hoping for both players at the trade deadline this year. Instead, the idea now is that they may just have to wait a little longer. The month of November should start giving the first real clues about where this roster is headed.
In Other News...
Yankees Risk Another Costly Fit Chasing Right-Handed Help For Judge
The Yankees are already looking at ways to reshape their offense around Aaron Judge after another early postseason exit, and the front offices priorities are clear: add a right-handed bat that can make the lineup less predictable. One name that has surfaced is Teoscar Hernandez, whose power and World Series experience would give New York a more proven middle-of-the-order option if the Dodgers were willing to deal him.
The fit is not as simple as the bat speed suggests. Hernandez comes with defensive limitations, a hefty salary for his lone remaining guaranteed season, and some recent slippage in home run production, all of which make him a more complicated target than a quick fix. For a Yankees club trying to build a deeper, more balanced attack around Judge, the question is whether the upside is worth the cost and the risk. [Read more 🡒]
Yankees Prospect Dax Kilby Is Forcing A Much Bigger Conversation
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Eric Longenhagen has already taken notice, praising Kilbys progress and projecting him as a potential top-20 prospect when the next rankings come out. For a Yankees system always under the microscope, that kind of leap matters because it shifts Kilby from a name to monitor into one that could force a much bigger conversation about where he fits in the organizations long-term plans. [Read more 🡒]
Yankees Are Being Warned Away From 3 Tempting Trade Targets
As the Yankees sort through an offseason that could shape the next phase of their roster, not every tempting name on the trade market deserves serious pursuit. CJ Abrams, Hunter Goodman and Spencer Torkelson all make sense at first glance, but each comes with a different kind of caution flag, whether it is Abrams defensive questions and likely price tag, Goodmans swing-and-miss issues and the Coors Field effect on his power numbers, or Torkelsons fit on a club already carrying depth at first base and designated hitter.
For a team trying to balance urgency with long-term planning, the better path may be to resist the urge to shop for a quick fix and instead keep leaning into internal options. George Lombard Jr. and Spencer Jones are among the players the Yankees can continue developing, and that approach carries its own risk, but it also avoids paying for a trade target who may not solve the problem cleanly enough to justify the cost. [Read more 🡒]