Yankees To Re-Sign Paul Goldschmidt

The Yankees and first baseman Paul Goldschmidt are finalizing a one-year contract, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. Salary figures for the Excel Sports Management client have not yet been reported. The Yankees have a full 40-man roster and will need to make a corresponding move once this deal becomes official.

It’ll be Goldschmidt’s second season in the Bronx. The former MVP signed a $12.5MM deal last offseason to serve as New York’s everyday first baseman. The role will be different this year, as Goldschmidt seems ticketed for more of a short side platoon role after Ben Rice outplayed him last season. The left-handed hitting Rice connected on 26 homers with a .255/.337/.499 batting line across 530 trips to the plate.

Goldschmidt managed only 10 home runs in a similar amount of playing time. His .274/.328/.403 batting line was a little better than league average. It came with dramatic splits, both in terms of handedness and timeliness. Goldschmidt started his Yankee tenure on a tear, hitting .338/.394/.495 with six longballs through the end of May. That plummeted to a .226/.277/.333 performance over the final four months of the season. It was essentially an inverse of his 2024 campaign in St. Louis. Goldschmidt started that year very slowly before picking it up in the second half.

Between his late-season struggles and Rice’s breakout year, the seven-time All-Star lost playing time as the season progressed. His plate appearance tally dropped in each month. Goldschmidt will remain in the lineup against left-handed pitching, as he continued to tee off on southpaws even as his numbers against righties dropped. He’s coming off a .336/.411/.570 slash against left-handers compared to a .247/.289/.329 mark when he didn’t hold the platoon advantage. Seven of his 10 home runs came off lefties even though he saw twice as many plate appearances versus right-handers.

Rice had seven homers in 119 plate appearances against lefties last year, but it came with a .208 average and .271 on-base mark. Even if the Yankees don’t want to make him a strict platoon bat, they’ll time some of his rest days against tough southpaws. Goldschmidt can pick up those at-bats and offers a fallback at designated hitter in case Giancarlo Stanton misses time. Lefty-hitting catcher Austin Wells had reverse splits last season but is a career .218/.282/.360 hitter against southpaws. If the Yankees want to continue giving Rice scattered reps behind the plate, they could shield Wells from a lefty and start Goldschmidt at first.

At 38, Goldschmidt is clearly on the downswing of what should be a Hall of Fame career, but he can still be productive if deployed in a more limited role. He’s also highly respected off the field and was just named to the U.S. World Baseball Classic roster for the third time in his career. He clearly made a strong impression in the clubhouse and with the coaching staff. The late-season drop in playing time evidently didn’t sour him on giving it another go in pinstripes. Joel Sherman of The New York Post reports that he passed on more money from another team to remain in the Bronx.

New York has a lineup that skews to the left side generally. GM Brian Cashman and manager Aaron Boone had spoken multiple times about wanting to add a righty bat for balance. Goldschmidt joins utility infielder Amed Rosario as righty options off the bench, while José Caballero would also be in that mix if Anthony Volpe reclaims the shortstop job once he returns from shoulder surgery. They’re going to carry J.C. Escarra as a backup catcher.

That would only leave one bench spot for Oswaldo Cabrera and Jasson Domínguez if everyone gets through camp healthy. Jon Heyman of The New York Post wrote on Thursday that it seems likely Domínguez will be optioned back to Triple-A to begin the season. That seems even more likely with Goldschmidt back, though Spring Training injuries could certainly change the picture.

More to come.