Jorge Polanco contract details make Yankees losing infield option look far worse

Hold on to your seat cushions, because the New York Yankees have lost infield target Jorge Polanco to the Seattle Mariners, after advancing interest from the Houston Astros in the past week. It feels kind of crazy to care about this, but ... here we are.

Polanco, who tormented the Yankees during his time with the Twins, but took a step back in Seattle's spacious ballpark in 2024, underwent knee surgery following the conclusion of last year's campaign. He certainly sold himself this offseason as a player who'd been held back by physical ailments, not overall regression, in the 93 OPS+ season he posted in '24.

That had the Yankees eyeing him as a potential bounce back option with obvious upside within their budget. Unfortunately, unable to clear Marcus Stroman's money in time, Polanco went for a sum that New York can't have been comfortable with, agreeing to head back to Seattle for a second go-round at the price of a cool ... oh, come on, $7.75 million, consisting of a $7 million base salary for 2025 and a $750k potential buyout next winter?

If the Yankees are out here on the open market refusing to entertain one-year pacts under $10 million, then a long January just got extended into a darkening February.

Yankees lose Jorge Polanco to Mariners (not Astros), but still...it's weird that that stings

Was Polanco our favorite option? By no means. But when Jack Curry speaks, we listen, and it seemed a few weeks back that the versatile option had moved into the catbird seat.

The worst part of Polanco signing elsewhere isn't that the Yankees won't employ Polanco this year. He's also a Mariner, not an Astro. Silver linings. The worst part is the minuscule price tag, as well as the reality that's closing in like a cloud. If the Yankees couldn't scrounge up $7.75 million of guarantees for Polanco, then what else will they refuse to afford? $5 million AAV for Tim Hill over two years? A one-year flyer for Brendan Rodgers or Yoan Moncada, which can't be all that much cheaper?

In retrospect, it's somewhat wild that the Pirates, not the Yankees, spent just over $1 million to secure Adam Frazier's services this week. DJ LeMahieu and Oswald Peraza might be reporting for duty after all.