4 former Yankees fan favorites still without a job heading toward Spring Training

Gio Urshela, 3B

The Urshela reunion is the only one the Yankees actually have registered interest in, and a partnership was hinted at again this week with dueling Gleyber Torres/Urshela Instagram story posts/reposts. Yup. It's that kind of offseason. The kind where "putting up a picture with your friend" qualifies as ironclad news, and a reason to start speculating about Oswald Peraza trade fits.

The Yankees seem unlikely to acquire Urshela as a stopgap/utility infield option unless they can find a taker for Peraza dangling a pitcher (or they can somehow get off DJ LeMahieu's contract). Still, with New York lying in wait, someone has a chance to pounce on a still-productive player.

Urshela is coming back from a devastating pelvic fracture last season, but hit .299 with limited pop (two homers/91 OPS+) in just over 200 at-bats. After being shipped to Minnesota in exchange for Josh Donaldson/Isiah Kiner-Falefa the previous season, though, it's very safe to say he outplayed his new counterparts, posting a 119 OPS+ and being the same clutch line drive artist he'd been in the Bronx.

Urshela fits in the clubhouse and in the depth chart. All the Yankees need to do is find a corresponding move to make it work.

Mike Ford, 1B

Will the Yankees reunite with Mike Ford as a lefty-swingin' backup option for Anthony Rizzo this season? Not likely, unless they can -- again -- find a way to get LeMahieu out of town, as well as manufacture a desire to do so. The modern Yankees aren't exactly built on a distinct lack of versatility, and Ford would represent exactly that.

But he did post a 122 OPS+ with the Mariners last season and he did slug 16 homers in 219 at-bats and ascend fairly close to the folk hero status he had in the Bronx in 2019. It's at least worth noting that he could be valuable in the right circumstances, as well as point out that his trainer/hitting coach might've been onto something when he flamed New York on the way out. People just ... love to flame this regime. Probably their problem, not the Yankees' issue.

Still turning just 32 this summer, Ford could provide bench pop for a team that needs a backup. He could also provide shushing if the Yankees' bench gets too chirpy. Sounds like a Blue Jay -- first baseman or manager, take your pick.

Rougned Odor, IF

The nadir of the Yankees, according to many, was the acquisition of Rougned Odor, a net negative offensive player who occasionally hit massive dingers and provided "fire," the exact type of thing statisticians hate because it can't be quantified.

That's why other fans will tell you that importing Rougie was one of the best moves of an otherwise dead 2021 season. He occasionally popped bombs. He hit the ball hard when he hit it at all. He was a lefty (naturally). He was a weirdo. Sometimes, he'd show up in odd places, like on the pitchers' mound every single time a visit was needed. The value of having Odor on your roster can't be calculated. Modern medical science advises against taking two of Odor, though, resulting in one-year stints in New York, Baltimore and San Diego the past three seasons.

No one has been able to get Odor's stink off fully in a while; the pep-filled nugget posted OPS marks of .665, .632, and .654 the last three years. Even when he was passing 30 blasts regularly in Texas in his early 20s, he walked so rarely that his OPS+ marks were 107 and 105. Doctors hate this infielder's one weird trick!

It's not stunning he remains unsigned. It's much more shocking he's only 30 years old in February. Some team will sign Odor, and will likely make the playoffs. Don't say we didn't warn you.