The New York Yankees will enter the 2025 season with a quartet of former MVPs, including first baseman Paul Goldschmidt.
While the Yankees were seemingly in on some other options like Christian Walker and potentially Pete Alonso earlier in the offseason, they eventually settled on a shorter term deal with Goldschmidt.
And, according to Jon Heyman of The New York Post, the 37-year-old had bigger offers in front of him. Instead, he opted to join the Yankees.
“At least the Nats, Guardians and Diamondbacks were in for the ex-MVP, and word is, he turned down bigger offers. He and Carlos Santana, who signed a day later for 500K less back with his old Cleveland team, made the most financial sense (ultimately, they deemed Christian Walker and Pete Alonso too much loot),” Heyman wrote.
The Yankees agreed to a one-year deal worth $12.5 million to bring Goldschmidt to the The Bronx. Though he’s coming off a down season, he had a resurgent second half in which he posted a .799 OPS.
Whether it was the right move to go after Goldschmidt over Santana will be something of debate during the 2025 season, but this does give the Yankees a chance to platoon Goldschmidt and promising 25-year-old Ben Rice at first base.
While Rice struggled immensely against left-handed pitchers during his first season in the big leagues, Goldschmidt posted a strong .839 OPS against southpaws.
The Yankees offense is going to look very different from the one that returned to the World Series for the first time in 15 years, and they’re hoping to get the type of player Goldschmidt was during the second half of his down season.
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