Despite a slow winter meetings with lots of rumors but not so much action on the free agency/trade side of things, it was reported, however, that the New York Yankees have in fact “checked in with the Texas Rangers at the Winter Meetings about a trade for Rangers shortstop, Corey Seager”, according to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News.
Grant, who’s the Texas Rangers beat writer, stated that the teams who’ve “inquired” about Seager are “Boston, Atlanta, and the Yankees.”
Seager, age 31, had a 6.2 WAR season in 2025 and posted a .271/.373/487 slash line with 21 home runs and an .860 OPS in 103 games for Texas. Seager has been well regarded as a top-10 shortstop in the game, with excellent bat-to-ball skills and a hitter who takes his walks.
Corey Seager Is Still An Elite Player
Seager in 2025 showed continued excellence in most offensive categories, ranking in the 93rd percentile in average exit velocity (92.9mph), 92nd percentile in barrel percentage (15.3%), 95th percentile in hard hit percentage (53.6%), and the 83rd percentile in chase percentage (23.0%), according to Baseball Savant. Seager also held down the shortstop position, posting a 4 OAA (Outs Above Average), per Baseball Savant.
While Seager isn’t considered the best defensive shortstop, he’s still regarded as well above average. As he gets older, he is seen as possibly transitioning to third base, as has happened with traditional shortstops, such as former Texas Ranger Alex Rodriguez, when he was traded to the Yankees back in the 2004 offseason.
The primary concerns with Seager and a potential Yankees trade are his long-term health and his contract. Seager, who’s already in his 30s, hasn’t appeared in more than 130 games since 2022. Seager gets hurt often, and 2025 was no different.
Contract and Injury Concerns With Seager
Seager had a wide variety of injuries this past year. It started with a hamstring injury playing the A’s in April, resulting in a 10-day IL stint. He then returned to the IL in the middle of May with the same recurring injury and missed the end of the season after undergoing an appendectomy, according to Sports Illustrated. Looking back at previous seasons, in 2024Seager dealt with hip, wrist, and two hamstring injuries. In 2023, he also dealt with a thumb and hamstring injury.
Seager, according to Spotrac, is also still owed $189 million over six seasons after signing a 10-year, $325 million contract with the Rangers back in the 2021-22 offseason. The Yankees and Seager back during his free agency seemed like the perfect fit—left-handed power bat, solid defender at short, not a lot of swing and miss. But the Yankees passed on him because their top prospect at the time, shortstop Anthony Volpe, was not far from the big leagues.
Looking back, this was the wrong decision, considering Volpe has been a poor player for the Yankees offensively and defensively so far, with regression defensively in 2025 after a shoulder injury he sustained in May, which required offseason surgery. The Yankees could maybe be looking to move on from Volpe, and the Rangers, despite Seager’s strong success so far in Texas, are looking to reportedly cut back on payroll heading into next year (2026), which was confirmed by the Rangers GM Chris Young during “end of season” press conferences, reports MSN.
The Yankees and Seager would be a good fit, aside from the mentioned risks, even several years after his free agency. If the Yankees are considering moving on from Anthony Volpe at shortstop, and if they work on the financials within Seager’s contract as it relates to the Yankees’ own payroll flexibility, then the odds likely aren’t zero, especially with the Yankees being the ones who reached out.
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