Yankees: 4 upcoming free agents who can reopen NYY’s window

2. Starling Marte

The Yankees can have a veteran to keep the seat warm for Jasson Dominguez, as a treat.

With Hicks’ clear regression and another troublesome injury, it’s become much easier to see how both Estevan Florial and Dominguez can potentially contribute in the next two years — in a world where the Yankees saw their prospects as major leaguers, that is.

Bottom line, the incumbent shouldn’t enter 2022 as the guaranteed starter, and they should absolutely sign Starling Marte on a two-year deal to thicken out the outfield picture this offseason. They should also trade for him in a month! Or a week. Or a day.

The last time the Yankees had the chance to select a Marlins outfielder, they picked the wrong one, taking on the onerous Giancarlo Stanton deal instead of nabbing Christian Yelich for a comparatively cheap package. This time, there’s no “other” choice to be made; even if Marte isn’t the 162 OPS+ guy he’s currently playing like, he’s been solidly 15-20 points above average in that metric throughout his career.

He has power. He plays good defense. He likely has 2-3 prime-ish years left. This isn’t the type of long-term contract that will hamstring a franchise, and it would certainly leave the Yankees in a better place than starting Brett Gardner and trying out Miguel Andújar in center while they wait (forever) for their top prospects to cool on the window sill.