New York Post: Goldschmidt’s Return Complicates Rice’s Role As An Everyday Player

15 comments

1. It definitely does

2. Goldy only starts against left handed pitchers and pinch hits. Rice the everyday 1b.

3. It only complicates it if our management staff is braindead…. so yeah that checks out

4. The post loves to stir up controversy when there is none.

5. Ah yes because they both don’t benefit from rest

6. It really doesn’t.

   Rice will get the vast majority of starts at 1B, unless it’s a really tough lefty and Goldy may get the occasional pinch hit or defense replacement for Rice in late game situations where they want to shore up defense or there is a nasty lefty reliever.

7. I think signing Goldschmidt was primarily defense-driven, as a late inning replacement for Rice.  Goldy’s secondary benefit is a 1B option when against lefties.  Training wheels as Rice moves into a more important role.

8. Yep, a tiny handful of players go all 162. Bumps, bruises, strains, dead legs in August…140-145 games is average.

9. When Curry mentioned the Yankees interest in Goldy it was specifically in a reserve and mentorship role

   Cash has also said many times that Rice will be the everyday 1B

   I think the Yanks are all in on Rice as the 1B personally and this move doesn’t change that

10. Rice will never be a full time player until he learns how to play first base.

11. Lol we already know goldy is there help make rice better at 1B and fill in for Stanton when he’s not playing. Rice behind the dish is helpful when we play a team with little to no base stealing threat

12. Posting a link from the New York post 🙄

13. Why is this so hard? Rice becomes our #1 catcher. Austin .215 Wells can ride the bench, where he can no longer GIDP every clutch situation.

14. Comparing Rice to Alonso is a joke! Try comparing Rice to Mattingly, Rizzo or Goldy!

15. Yankees need a backup catcher—that’s Rice. They needed a backup 1B for when Rice catches—that was Bellinger, up until they signed Goldschmidt. If Bellinger was to be the backup 1B, then they needed a 4th outfielder—that was Dominguez, but now he’s getting reps in AAA. It seems that the most important backup position is the catcher, because you can’t expect Wells to play every single day at that position, and perhaps the least necessary backup position is 1B. Kind of funny how that works out for Rice.

    I can see Goldy and Rice both starting games when Austin Wells needs a day off. Wells played a career high 126 games in 2025, which left 36 games for Rice to catch last season.