Yankees Offseason Trade Target: Catcher Stephen Vogt

Stephen Vogt of the Oakland Athletics could be a fit for the New York Yankees this winter to fill their vacancy at DH, as well as provide a safety net for their young catcher and first baseman.

The New York Yankees recent trade of Brian McCann to the Houston Astros has left the club without a true veteran safety net behind 23-year-old starting catcher Gary Sanchez, who has all of two months of big league experience. Moving Mac also removed one of the organization’s primary backup first base options for Greg Bird, whose injured shoulder remains one of the club’s biggest question marks going into 2017.

Recent reports indicate that the Yankees are scouring the free-agent market for a veteran hitter to fill their open designated hitter job. There are plenty of bat-only types available, but if they decide to target someone with a little more positional flexibility for the role, they could consider initiating trade talks for Stephen Vogt of the Oakland Athletics.

Earlier in November, Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reported that Oakland is open to listening on three of their most valuable veteran trade chips, Sonny Gray, Sean Doolittle, and Stephen Vogt, because they have more or less accepted the fact that they can’t contend in the AL West in 2017.

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Yanks Go Yard recently discussed the merits of a Gray trade for both the short and long-term aspirations of the Yankees, and I think Vogt has some appeal for New York as well. He could serve as Sanchez’s mentor and occasional backup and provide an alternative to Bird at first base if the youngster needs more time to get back to full strength.

If those two guys are playing at 100%, Vogt has the bat to be a useful full-time DH. As a bonus, he has even played both outfield corners in his career.

Over the last two seasons, Vogt has emerged as one of the best offensive catchers in the American League, hitting .256/.322/.424 (106 OPS+) with 32 home runs in 1043 plate appearances in that span. He’s been worth a combined 7.7 wins above replacement in those two years according to Baseball-Reference’s metric and been elected to the last two AL All-Star squads.

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The main drawback of targeting Vogt instead of one of the free agent bats available is that he would likely cost the Yankees significant prospects to acquire instead of just money. It may make more sense to sign both a veteran DH/1B guy and a backup catcher on the free agent market instead of trying to acquire both in one with Vogt.