The New York Yankees have had a relatively quiet offseason, but they managed to keep their outfield intact by bringing back Cody Bellinger and Trent Grisham.
New York had arguably the best offense in baseball last season, with Bellinger and Grisham making a major impact. Though the Yankees retained both outfielders, bringing Grisham back on a one-year, $22 million qualifying offer and signing Bellinger to a five-year, $162.5 million contract, New York did not address the imbalance in its lineup.
The Yankees lineup features too many left-handed batters, struggling against lefty pitchers and could use another right-handed bat. The New York Post’s Joel Sherman reported that the Yankees have talked about potentially pursuing 34-year-old outfielder Randal Grichuk to address the issue.
“Even with Bellinger, the Yankees are still eyeing a righty-hitting outfielder as a main target with the goal to find someone who would play left field vs. southpaw starters with Bellinger moving to center and Grisham on the bench,” Sherman said Tuesday. “But it is possible that the righty bat could play elsewhere, such as first base.
“With righty-hitting outfielders with strong ledgers against lefty pitching such as Austin Hays and Rob Refnsnyder having signed as free agents elsewhere, the Yankees have talked about reuniting with Austin Slater or perhaps enlisting Randal Grichuk. Both have track records of hitting lefties well.”
Grichuk has performed well against left-handed pitchers in his career, slashing .268/.318/.500 and would give the Yankees another right-handed option in the outfield. Though the veteran slugger didn’t display as much power when playing for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Kansas City Royals as he did earlier in his career, he would still be a good addition for New York.
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