Yankees Predicted to Add $18 Million Former MVP for Cleanup Spot

Getty Yankees potential target Paul Goldschmidt

The Yankees, like all teams in MLB at this juncture, are pretty much at a standstill until they have some clarity on what, exactly, will  happen with star outfielder Juan Soto. It’s funny how a 26-year-old slugger expected to set a record for everyday-player contract playout can cause a market to grind to a halt.

But the Yankees will have a question to answer no matter how things shake out with Soto–they’ll need a capable first baseman who can man the position, at least on a short-term basis. It’s long been rumored that the Yankees would nab Mets star Pete Alonso if Soto goes to Queens, but that talk seems to have cooled–the Yankees don’t want to make a long-term commitment to anyone at first, it seems, because they eventually want to move star Aaron Judge there as his 30s progress.

Maybe it makes sense, then, that the Yankees could look for a veteran short-termer to fill the spot expected to be left by Anthony Rizzo after the team did not pick up his option this year. At Bleacher Report, they’re predicting the Yankees to add a surprising name to the lineup in 2025: Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt.

Yankees Predicted to Gamble

Goldschmidt was the N.L. MVP just two years ago, but his decline has been precipitous. His OPS was .981 in that MVP year in 2022, but dropped to .810 in 2023 and a career-low .716 last season. He also struck out a career-high 173 times. That’s what the mid-30 do to some players.

He’s an excellent first baseman, with four Gold Gloves to his credit. The Yankees value that.

At Bleacher Report, in predicting the Yankees’ 2025 lineup, analyst Joel Reuter has Goldschmidt in the cleanup spot between Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. (He has Soto back in the No. 2 spot, for what it’s worth.) It would mark a gamble on the part of the Yankees, that playing for a contender and being surrounded by other big bats could reignite Goldschmidt, for at least another year.

Paul Goldschmidt Could Be a Bargain

At ESPN, Kiley McDaniel rates Goldschmidt the No. 37 free agent on the market, worthy of a one-year, $18 million contract in what is hoped to be a bounce-back season.

Wrote McDaniel: “As a 37-year-old first baseman, he wasn’t going to get a long-term deal even with a huge 2024 performance but there are some signs that Goldschmidt’s mediocre 2024 isn’t a harbinger of a bad 2025. His wOBA (all-encompassing hitting metric) was .310 last season, but his expected wOBA (based on how hard he hit the ball, launch angles, etc.) was much higher at .333.

“On top of that, he made a real improvement in the second half, cutting his strikeout rate from 28% to 24% and improving his isolated power from .143 to .210.”

At Spotrac, Goldschmidt, who is coming off a five-year, $130 million contract, is predicted to be a bigger bargain, garnering a one-year, $12.3 million deal.