The New York Yankees may or may not be done making offseason signings, and that means they’ll be closely monitored every day until Opening Day.
In the wake of Juan Soto’s signing with the New York Mets, the Yankees had an initial flurry of moves that warranted widespread praise. They quickly signed Max Fried and Paul Goldschmidt and traded for Devin Williams and Cody Bellinger.
For the last month, though, the Yankees have been relatively quiet. They have to decide before the season begins whether or not they are comfortable with their infield group as currently constructed.
If New York doesn’t want to hand over the third base position to a combination of D.J. LeMahieu and Oswaldo Cabrera, they’ve got limited time left to find one more infielder.
However, content creator Steven Russell believes the Yankees will make use of that time. Russell predicted in a recent TikTok video that New York would sign former San Diego Padres Gold Glove utility infielder Ha Seong Kim this winter.
“The Yankees have had a solid offseason, but I don’t think they’ve improved their defense enough, and I think Ha Seong Kim would be a great addition,” Russell said.
Kim, 29, is recovering from offseason labrum surgery, and hopes to be ready to play by the end of April. He is projected for a four-year, $49 million contract, though it’s tough to say how the shoulder injury might affect his market.
With a 99 career OPS+ to accompany top-tier defense, Kim is an incredibly valuable player. He’s racked up 15.3 bWAR in his four-year big-league career since signing with San Diego out of South Korea in 2021.
If the Yankees added Kim to their infield mix, expensive as it may be, it would be hard to deny them the title of preseason American League favorite.
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