Ranking the available free agent left fielders Yankees can sign in 2023

Free Agent Left Fielders: Bargain Basement

We warned you...

8. Travis Jankowski
9. Jordan Luplow
10. Robbie Grossman
11. Raimel Tapia
12. Ben Gamel
13. Corey Dickerson
14. AJ Pollock

Simply put ... these are not starters. These are the players you eyeball while asking yourself, "Are they better fits than Oswaldo or Estevan Florial for the Yankees' final bench spot?" You know full well they don't have minor-league options, and the answer is more than likely no, outside of Jankowski and Grossman. Luplow was just sent into space by the Minnesota Twins. These guys will all, collectively, play for every MLB team by the end of 2026, per NASA. And they're never wrong.

Jankowski silently hit .267 with a .353 OBP this year and bats lefty, but compiled just a .689 OPS. Raimel Tapia has trundled along for the Rays, Red Sox and Blue Jays, so why not complete the picture? Ben Gamel, a former Yankee, has always been toolsier and grittier than his performance (but did post a league-average 100 OPS+ in 2021).

There's a place for these scroungers, but not in a starting role, and not in the Yankees' free agency plans. These are the Billy McKinney types. You'll run into them in a June lineup and wonder what went wrong. The barrel has been scraped. It's Soto or Bellinger or bust.