Coming into the 2025 MLB season, it was clear that the Yankees‘ lineup would feature a pretty notable hole: third base. While the hope in baseball always is that some bright luck or surprise production will emerge to fill the obvious holes teams have, over the course of 162 games, the holes are going to reveal themselves.
The Yankees, though, got no period of surprise production at third. They got, instead, exactly what was expected–some of the worst offense from third basemen in baseball. In fact, the team’s third basemen are hitting .217 this year, which ranks as third-worst in the league.
That fact makes clear what the Yankees need to do as July 31 approaches. They need a third baseman. While the Diamondbacks’ Eugenio Suarez has been the focus, though, they could look elsewhere, especially with Suarez’s defensive warts becoming obvious.
And former MLB GM Jim Bowden, writing in The Athletic, says the Pinstripes need not look far–they could have a third-base answer across the river in Queens, where the Mets have Mark Vientos returning from injury.
Mark Vientos for Jasson Dominguez?
Wrote Bowden in looking at the league’s buyers at the trade deadline, acknowledging the Yankees’ interest (and reservations) about Suarez: “Maybe there’s even a deal to be had with the crosstown Mets, who could offer Mark Vientos for Jasson Domínguez or Cody Bellinger. … There just aren’t a lot of sellers at this trade deadline, so GMs will have to get creative; GM Brian Cashman has a long track record of doing that.”
Vientos is coming back from a hamstring injury that has cost him a month of the season. In 69 games, his numbers have not been great (.221/.275/.352) but he missed nearly all of June with the injury and is now batting .300 in his last eight games. He hit 27 homers last year, so it is a matter of time before his power comes back around (he has just six homers this year).
Whether the Yankees would give up Dominguez–their long-prized prospect–or Bellinger is open to question, though.
Yankees Will ‘Go to Town’ at MLB Trade Deadline
But Bowden is right that Cashman has been creative in the past, and he has put pressure on himself and the organization to do so again this season. Last month, Cashman was bold in answering questions about his approach at the trade deadline.
“We’re going to town,” Cashman said. “We’re going to do everything we possibly can to improve ourselves and try to match up, and hopefully at the end of it all, we’ll have whatever is here on this current roster remaining healthy, and we’ll add to it and be proud of that and take our shot.”
As Bowden points out, it is not just third base that remains a problem for the Yankees–they also need a starting pitcher and at least one bullpen piece. For an organization that is lacking in top-shelf prospects in the farm system (Bleacher Report ranks the Yankees’ system No. 27 in baseball)creativity will be a must.
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