We’ve officially entered the theater of the absurd. Or maybe it’s just the laboratory of desperation.
In a pregame scene that had beat reporters reaching for their phones and fans raising eyebrows, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com posted a video to X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday afternoon showing New York Yankees first baseman Paul Goldschmidt fielding grounders at second base.
That’s right, second base.
Goldschmidt, a seven-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove winner at first base, has never logged a single inning at any other position in his 14-year MLB career. So why is he suddenly turning double plays on a steamy June afternoon in the Bronx?
The obvious answer: the Yankees’ infield situation is less than ideal, and they might be willing to try anything.
Yankees Have Paul Goldschmidt Taking Pregame Grounders at Second
Second base has been a revolving door all season for the Yankees.
DJ LeMahieu, once the steady veteran presence, missed nearly two months at the start of the season with a calf injury and has struggled offensively since his return. Jazz Chisholm Jr. began the season as the starter, but he missed about a month with an oblique issue and has also been ineffective with the bat. Jorbit Vivas, Pablo Reyes, Oswald Peraza … they’ve all had opportunities, but none of them have overly impressed.
And that’s before touching on the issues at third base, where the same cast of characters have attempted to fill the hole left by the season-ending injury to Oswaldo Cabrera. Unfortunately for the Yankees, Anthony Volpe can’t play every infield position at once.
This isn’t just a question of who plays where, it’s who plays at all.
So what does a potential Goldschmidt-at-second experiment signal? For one, it could be about Ben Rice. And Giancarlo Stanton.
Rice, the 26-year-old slugger in his second MLB season, has shown that he deserves a spot in the everyday lineup, slashing .246/.333/.520, with 12 home runs and 25 RBIs in 204 plate appearances. Most of Rice’s starts have come as the designated hitter, although he came up as a first baseman, and if Goldschmidt can play adequately at second – even on a part-time basis – it gives manager Aaron Boone a path to pencil Rice in at first more regularly.
That becomes even more crucial with Stanton potentially nearing a return from injury. With the DH spot earmarked for Stanton’s bat (and hurting elbows), freeing up first base becomes a puzzle worth solving.
Putting Paul Goldschmidt at Second Base Could Open Several Options for First
Then again, this might not be about Rice or Stanton at all. This could be about what’s coming.
Goldschmidt, who signed a one-year deal with the Yankees after playing six seasons with St. Louis, will be a free agent again after this season. He has looked good in pinstripes – defensively sound and still capable of driving the ball – but if the Yankees don’t see him as a long-term piece at first, this second-base trial balloon could indicate Brian Cashman is sniffing the market for another first baseman at the deadline.
But it’s all for naught if Goldschmidt is unable to handle second base, even in short spurts, It’s a wild idea. His career fielding stats show a highly capable, rangy first baseman with quick instincts – just not someone who’s had to pivot and turn two while dodging runners barreling down from first.
And at age 36, asking him to suddenly learn a middle-infield role feels like teaching a cat to swim. It might not go well.
But desperate times breed creative solutions. And if you’ve watched this Yankees team try to manufacture offense and consistency from a patchwork infield all year, this sort of left-field thinking (or, more accurately, right-side-of-the-infield thinking) starts to make a strange kind of sense.
Is Paul Goldschmidt actually going to start at second base for the Yankees? Probably not. But the fact that he’s even taking groundballs there tells you how deep the infield uncertainty runs in the Bronx right now.
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