Third baseman Ryan McMahon also was a trade-deadline acquisition last season and almost instantly provided a significant defensive upgrade to a position that hadn\u2019t been a team strength in more than a few years. So consistently spectacular was McMahon in the field that it didn\u2019t take long for long-time employees around the club to say he was the best-fielding third baseman the franchise has had since Scott Brosius. At the plate, though, it was a different matter. The lefthanded hitter batted .208 with four homers and a .641 OPS in 54 games with the Yankees, striking out 62 times and walking 21 in 185 plate appearances. Amed Rosario will see some time at third against tough lefty starters and Caballero could be an option as well. But the Yankees hope the offseason of work McMahon put in tweaking his stance and swing pays dividends so he is at third base as often as possible. His glovework is that good.<\/p>\n
GRADE: B<\/p>\n
MIDDLE INFIELD<\/p>\n
There may be no more outwardly confident player in the Yankees’ clubhouse than second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr.\u00a0 He\u00a0no sooner had become only\u00a0the third player in franchise history to produce a 30-30 season (30 homers, 30 stolen bases) when, while\u00a0discussing the achievement, Chisholm began lamenting the month he spent on the IL and how a 40-40 season would have been possible. This year he has\u00a0talked openly about possibly becoming the second player in MLB\u00a0history to post a 50-50 season (Shohei Ohtani did it in 2024). Chisholm, super-popular among his teammates, does not see any limitations in his game. Ask him if a 60-60 season along with\u00a0a Gold Glove\u00a0is possible, and Chisholm wouldn\u2019t shoot it down.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to put a ceiling on him,\u201d manager Aaron Boone said. \u201cHe went 30-30 last year and missed a month and didn\u2019t run for two months. So he\u2019s capable of some special things between the lines.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chisholm, among the most dynamic players on the roster, \u00a0also is capable of the occasional brain lock, whether it be on the basepaths or in the field. But the positives of his\u00a0game as a Yankee have far outweighed the negatives.<\/p>\n
The Yankees acquired shortstop Jose Caballero at last summer\u2019s trade deadline to upgrade their defense and add\u00a0further athleticism to their running game. Caballero, capable of playing third, short, second and all three outfield positions, certainly did the former, filling in ably at every position the Yankees put him. He also was as advertised on the bases, leading MLB with 49 stolen bases (he went 15-for-18 in that category with the Yankees). Caballero filled in well at shortstop \u2014 both at the plate and in the field \u2014 in early September when Anthony Volpe received another cortisone injection in his ailing left shoulder. That shoulder required\u00a0surgery after the season to repair a torn labrum, the reason Caballero will be the starting shortstop to start 2026. Volpe\u2019s rehab\u00a0has gone without a hitch\u00a0and he could be back in play by late April or early May, at which point the Yankees could have a decision to make regarding everyday reps at short, depending on how things are going for Caballero.<\/p>\n
GRADE: B<\/p>\n
CATCHER<\/p>\n
Austin Wells\u00a0has always had a bit of a chip on his shoulder. Drafted as an offense-first catcher in 2020 (taken 28th overall), from the first days of his professional career, Wells set about proving all the talent evaluators who said he would never catch in the big leagues wrong. And by the end of last season, Wells\u2019 first full big-league season as the Yankees\u2019 starting catcher, more than a few of those scouts were declaring how wrong they had been when it came to his defense. But while Wells turned himself into an average\u00a0and at times above-average backstop defensively, he never clicked offensively with any degree of consistency in 2025. Wells did hit 21 homers \u2014 a total that pretty much every team, in a vacuum, would happily sign up for from their starting catcher \u2014 but still didn\u2019t fulfill his or the Yankees\u2019 expectations\u00a0on that side of the ball, hitting .219 with a .712 OPS. Many around the club are predicting a breakout season offensively for Wells. Even if he simply duplicated his 21-homer season from a year ago, he would be a valuable bat. If he does have that breakout year, look out.<\/p>\n
GRADE: B<\/p>\n
OUTFIELD<\/p>\n
Much of the Yankees’ offseason drama revolved around the outfield. There was the question of whether centerfielder Trent Grisham, fresh off hitting a career-best 34 homers, would accept the qualifying offer, which this year was $22.03 million. Grisham, to the surprise of more than a few in the organization, did accept it, and when leftfielder Cody Bellinger re-signed in January, their starting outfield was set for 2026 (those two along with\u00a0three-time AL MVP Aaron Judge in right). The return of Bellinger and Grisham effectively took two of the club\u2019s top young outfield prospects out of the mix for everyday playing time, at least to start the season: Jasson Dominguez (no longer really considered a prospect as he debuted in 2023 and played in 123 games last season) and Spencer Jones. Both Dominguez and Jones, who has yet to make his big-league debut, will sit waiting with Triple-A Scranton\/Wilkes-Barre to see when and\/or if everyday opportunities present themselves at the big-league level. In some ways, the Yankees hope that isn\u2019t the case because that would mean the trio of Bellinger, Grisham and Judge were\u00a0turning in seasons similar to the ones they had last year.<\/p>\n
GRADE: A<\/p>\n
DH\/BENCH<\/p>\n
Giancarlo Stanton made it through spring training healthy \u2014 at least\u00a0when compared with his\u00a0recent past. That includes last year, when tendon tears in both elbows \u2014 he and the Yankees have called it tennis elbow \u2014 caused him to miss all of spring training and the first 2 \u00bd months of the regular season. Stanton, 36, has had at least one \u00a0stint on the injured list\u00a0 each of the last seven seasons, but he broke camp as healthy as he\u2019s been in some time. The Yankees couldn\u2019t do much better than having Paul Goldschmidt serve as Rice\u2019s backup\/mentor at first base, and Amed Rosario can play multiple positions adequately in addition to crushing lefthanded pitching. J.C. Escarra, though not offering much with the bat, \u00a0nonetheless is an ideal backup catcher as he\u2019s well above average with the glove. The Yankees finally, after several years of trying, secured righthanded-hitting reserve outfielder Randal Grichuk. If nothing else, the\u00a0acquisition of Grichuk saves the Yankees from having to face him; he\u00a0\u00a0routinely did plenty of damage against\u00a0their pitching.<\/p>\n
GRADE: A-<\/p>\n
ROTATION<\/p>\n
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