It turns out Mets helped Yankees dodge disaster with potential Corey Seager trade

Texas Rangers fans are profoundly annoyed with Corey Seager at this point, and his future in Texas is looking more and more uncertain. Once upon a time, Yankees fans would have loved to hear that, but not right now.

It's not just Seager's .186 batting average and .657 OPS in 2026 that have Rangers fans frustrated. He has now been to the injured list eight times in four-plus campaigns for the Rangers, and his latest issue could have been completely avoided if he had been hustling around the base paths.

Seager's confusion and hesitation rounding second base in a game on June 11 led to a concussion and subsequent IL stint that comes after Seager was recently absent from the lineup for 17 days while battling back inflammation.

Suffice to say, it's been a downfall in Texas for Seager since he won World Series MVP for the Rangers in 2023. Let's not also forget that Seager won an entirely separate World Series MVP for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2020, and he's had a heck of a career to this point, replete with five All-Star selections. Nonetheless, at 32 years of age and with a growing list on injuries, Seager's best days do appear behind him, and Rangers fans are fed up.

Yankees were thinking about trading for Corey Seager this past offseason

Did the Yankees avoid a complete disaster this past winter, when they were reportedly monitoring Seager's status on the trade market? It seems like it. Intel from The New York Post's Joel Sherman reminds us that not only were the Yanks very much checking in on Seager, but that the New York Mets played a part in Seager not ending up in the Bronx.

According to Sherman's info, the Rangers — looking to shed salary — ultimately opted to go into business with the Mets on a Marcus Semien trade rather than part with Seager. The Yankees totally dodged a bullet here, especially with Seager set to make $31 million every season until 2031 — a terrible contract in light of his apparent decline.

The Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves were also sniffing around on Sneager in December, according to The Dallas Morning News' Evan Grant. Both teams, like the Yankees, have to be relieved that they didn't end up with Seager and his remaining $186 million (even the horrid Red Sox).

The Yankees were among the teams reportedly interested in Seager when he was a free agent four winters ago because Gleyber Torres was failing at short. But they opted to bring in Isiah Kiner-Falefa as a stopgap until Volpe, then their No. 1 prospect, was ready. As frustrated as Yankees fans are with Volpe (and have been), there's no doubt that José Caballero in 2026 is a better baseball player than Seager.

NJ.com's Randy Miller also pointed out recently that Seager's lefty bat would have been redundant in New York's lineup. Miller even suggested that had the Yankees traded for Seager in December, they might've decided to trade Jazz Chisholm Jr. and move Volpe to second base! No bueno.

You can give Seager his flowers for the 2023 season and also acknowledge that he's been a diminishing asset since then. The Yankees would have been in a bad situation had they traded for him in December. They have a good player who can play the shortstop position in Caballero and a potentially better player in George Lombard Jr. rising fast. Not to mention, Volpe has been heating up over the last week ...

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