Latest update proves Yankees had grander first base plan than Paul Goldschmidt

The New York Yankees' post-Juan Soto pivot is receiving as close to rave reviews as you can get for an offseason where you lost a generational talent to your crosstown rivals.

The additions of Max Fried and Devin Williams have bulked up an already powerful pitching staff, helpfully bumping a few creaky rungs a little further down the ladder. Cody Bellinger, at his peak, would be a near-perfect Yankees fit; he's a player who's lingered for years at their periphery. Paul Goldschmidt will bring Hall of Fame pedigree to first base on a one-year deal. If he ends up continuing to falter, the Yankees will simply move on (though Aaron Judge, of course, believes in his guy).

Goldy wasn't the Yankees' initial plan for the position, though, it would seem. According to ESPN's Jorge Castillo, the team never intended to double down on qualifying offer free agents, disqualifying them from the Pete Alonso/Christian Walker mix. They did, however, try to find a trade match with an AL rival before spending any money in free agency at all.

"The Yankees engaged in discussions with the Cleveland Guardians on Josh Naylor, but the two sides couldn't come to a resolution, according to a source," Castillo wrote. Something tells us Cleveland's asking price from the Yankees was significantly higher than boom-or-bust pitcher Slade Cecconi.

Yankees tried for Josh Naylor trade before pivoting to Paul Goldschmidt

Trying to find a trade fit with the team you just defeated in the ALCS feels a bit like flying too close to the sun. So does flirting with surrendering assets in exchange for just one year of Naylor, an antagonistic gnat who fought with the Yankees during the 2022 postseason, and torched them in an empty stadium in 2020. Perhaps, with Gleyber Torres gone, the Yankees thought they could avoid most of the resulting awkwardness, though Gerrit Cole probably wasn't thrilled to be sharing the dugout with a man who believes himself to be the pitcher's father.

Either way, the Yankees were then left with a choice between awarding the position to Ben Rice, or bringing in either Carlos Santana or Goldschmidt for one year. Santana's preference to be in Cleveland, along with Goldschmidt's ties to the locker room, made the end result of this debate painfully obvious.

Goldschmidt could be a fantastic piece of the puzzle, but Yankee fans will undoubtedly be keeping a side eye on Arizona, depending on how the fit progresses.