4 budget free agents Yankees need to sign in 2021

1. Austin Romine

If Gary Sanchez is traded, the Yankees should pursue Austin Romine. Yup.

This move is conditional, of course, but if Kyle Higashioka ends up the only catcher on the Yankees roster at some point in the next few months, someone should call Romine instead of splurging on James McCann.

Romine unfortunately backslid as the season dragged on in 2020, unable to replicate his .281 average from the ’19 season, but still hit .306 with runners in scoring position, 12 points above his career .294 average in such situations. That’s very good. That’s exactly what this team was missing from this position in 2020. No further questions.

Were the Yankees correct to choose Gary Sanchez over Romine after 2019? Of course they were! One was a multi-time All-Star, one was a career backup. But now, we have Sanchez’s souring relationship with the team to take into account, as well as 60 more games of strange data, during which we watched him legitimately lose his job in the postseason.

It wouldn’t take a detective to grow suspicious that El Gary’s time in the Bronx is ending. Therefore, with Game 1 assignments already belonging to Kyle Higashioka for the foreseeable future, the team might be in need of a platoon backstop without an ego.

Romine, on a cheapie, would fit quite well. After all, we’ve already seen it! He departed prior to this season to be a starter, but would he return if he could somewhat approximate that role?

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