Predicting landing spots for 4 former Yankees still stuck in free agency

Luke Voit Prediction: Cincinnati Reds

Spoiler Alert: Whichever team signs Luke Voit will be getting him at his most furious, and they’ll be happy they did so.

If it’s a team at the bottom of the totem pole (like the Cincinnati Reds or Oakland Athletics, who are somewhere between a team and a money laundering operation), they’ll be able to flip Voit to his fourth home in two years at the trade deadline. There’s a good chance that, after the Reds ditched Mike Moustakas last week, they’ll be looking for some cheap pop to insert into the lineup, and with Joey Votto in recovery mode this offseason after left shoulder/biceps surgery, they will have to fill both first base and DH innings.

Cincinnati would provide Voit with the path of least resistance to playing time, thanks to Votto’s issues and a dearth of names in their depth chart (unless you think Jake Fraley hasn’t earned any competition for reps).

Voit had a much better first half in San Diego (13 bombs in 82 games, 113 OPS+) than he did after being dealt to Washington (9 homers, .676 OPS in 53 games). Ultimately, the ex-Yankees slugger performs better in a playoff race than he does in exile, but he may need to grin and bear it in Cincinnati after his 2022 season wrapped with a whimper and a surprising non-tender.

He won’t end the season in Cincinnati, but he’ll rack up 15-20 first-half homers while playing his home games at the less-than-spacious at Great American Ball Park.

Bonus Prediction: He’ll be a San Diego Padre again by end of season.