Yankees showing interest in free agents Josh Harrison and Marwin Gonzalez

The Yankees are in the market for a middle infielder to help them make up for the absence of SS Didi Gregorius who is likely to miss the majority of next season. Free agents Josh Harrison and Marwin Gonzalez have been two of the best utility men in baseball in recent years, but would either be a good fit in New York?

According to Jon Heyman of Fancred Sports, the Yankees have shown interest in both Harrison and Gonzalez along with a couple of other teams.

The two time All-Star Harrison is a free agent for the first time in his career after spending the first eight seasons of his career with the Pirates. His versatility has to be one of the reasons why the Yankees have interest because he can play both second and third base. Second is where he’s better defensively and that’s a position where the Yankees could potentially have an opening next spring if the plan is to start Gleyber Torres at shortstop until Didi returns.

Of course, the Yanks could also go the Manny Machado route and sign him to a mega-deal to be their shortstop, but if that doesn’t happen Harrison makes sense as a potential option. However, if he’s looking for a multi-year deal I can’t really see him landing with the Yankees.

Assuming the Yankees end up extending Didi or re-signing him as a free agent next offseason there really isn’t an opening for Harrison to earn consistent playing time. With Torres at second and Miguel Andujar at third Harrison would be a bench player once this Yankee team is at full strength and at this point in his career I’m not sure he’s ready to accept that kind of role.

As I said earlier this is his first time being a free agent and at 31 years old you’d expect him to cash in on the biggest deal offered to him for the most years. The Yankees aren’t going to be the team who offers him that deal which is why I think he’ll end up signing somewhere else before it’s all said and done.

If the Yankees don’t sign Machado I can see whoever they bring in to fill in at second or shortstop to only be signed to a one year deal. That is unless they attempt to sign the former Astro Gonzalez, a player who is arguably the best utility player in the game today.

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It would make much more sense for the Yankees to sign a player like Gonzalez to a multi-year deal because unlike Harrison, he can also play shortstop and a very solid left field. I think there will be plenty of teams in the mix to land Gonzalez and plenty of teams who would overpay to get him which could lead to the Yankees missing out on him as well.

As much as I’d like to see them get him I could understand why they wouldn’t want to offer a four-year deal for around $50-60 million for a guy who might not play every day.

Another name to keep an eye is Harrison’s former teammate Neil Walker who the Yankees could bring back on a one-year deal to be their primary second basemen until Didi returns. Walker’s numbers weren’t all that impressive for the Yanks in 2018, but he picked up a lot of clutch hits throughout the season. He also played much better in the second half once he got more consistent at-bats.

Remember Walker signed with the Yankees late into spring training last year which definitely played a role in his slow start. If they signed him earlier this time around I could see him having a nice bounce-back season. Also once Didi returns he could shift back to the same utility role he filled very nicely towards the end of last season.