Yankees players who survived trade deadline but won't have same offseason fate

The New York Yankees imported athleticism (Jazz Chisholm Jr.), swing-and-miss (Mark Leiter Jr.), and just a guy (Enyel De Los Santos) at the 2024 MLB trade deadline. Unexpectedly, though, they didn't do much trimming to their existing roster.

Instead of using the Chisholm move to spur the clearing of a logjam, the Yankees shoved him into third base, a fit that felt imperfect a week ago but now seems to be revolutionary. Did the Yankees believe they were getting an additional infielder (Jonathan India, Yandy Diaz)? It sure seemed like it, but maybe they always knew that Chisholm would take to the position naturally, like a kid messing around in the backyard trying on multiple gloves.

Regardless, the Yankees' deadline left them with the same overflowing roster they sported earlier in the week. Returning injured relievers will shove existing bodies off the big-league club over the course of the next few weeks, but fundamentally, the 2024 Yankees are now set in stone.

The 2025 Yankees? Not so much.

Kudos to several of these pieces for riding out the trade deadline on the active roster, but they'll have to face reality when the Winter Meetings begin, if not sooner.

Yankees players who survived trade deadline, won't be on 2025 roster

Pending Free Agents Who Yankees Will Let Walk, Saquon Barkley-Style: Clay Holmes, Gleyber Torres, Alex Verdugo, Tommy Kahnle

Go "explore the market" and come back to us. Except don't do the second part.

With apologies to Kahnle, who's been a very fun Yankee during almost every healthy moment of his multiple tenures, the rest of this batch is made up of departing free agents the Yankees won't miss much. Verdugo was brought in as a stopgap league-average bat, and though he barked in April and May, he's mostly been unusable. Holmes was essentially untouched through late May, but has seen his role called into question in recent weeks, and the Yankees won't match his forthcoming All-Star payday. Torres was recently named the Yankees free agent with the "worst" chance of returning, according to Chris Kirschner of The Athletic, and we all know why.

Kahnle will be 36 by next August. There's almost no way the Yankees would offer him another multi-year deal, and they might balk at a one-year pact, too, regardless of the cost.

Rostered Yankees (With Team Control) Whose Spots Aren't Safe Beyond 2024

Trent Grisham: Will the Yankees carry Grisham, a fourth outfielder with moderate pop and flashes of greatness, into his final year of arbitration eligibility, when his cost will exceed his current $5.5 million? Given all the money they'll need to woo Juan Soto, that type of financial commitment seems unlikely for a player with warts, Healthy Jasson Dominguez or no.

Nestor Cortes Jr.: Speculation ahead of the deadline indicated the Yankees would flip him in the right deal, with both the Cardinals and Twins heavily connected. Another escalating arbitration cost for a player the Yankees clearly aren't quite keen on, entering his final season of team control? Expect the team to more actively shop him next offseason, and expect Cortes' cryptic tweets to suddenly get very Minneapolis-specific.

Jose Trevino: Expect the Yankees to shop Trevino after the emergence of Austin Wells. He's likely a backup catcher, in the team's perfect reality, but will he be satisfied with that role in the Bronx? He accrued a lion's share of the reps in the first half, and Wells only burst through the door because of Trevino's mid-August calf strain. If his arm strength was sapped by last year's wrist surgery, that's all the more reason for the Yankees to seek a different backup, as Trevino's arbitration cost rises above $3 million next year. Every little bit helps. Very fun Yankee, and would love to see him return to his peak in pinstripes before the end of 2024 to make the decision more complicated. After all, this uniform has been very meaningful to him.

Yankee Who'll Surprisingly Survive: DJ LeMahieu

Look at the way the Yankees have rallied around LeMahieu, even during a moderate less-than-a-week semi-surge, highlighted by a six-RBI day in Philadelphia (how?) and a walk-off hard grounder. He's been a nearly-league-average bat in even his worst seasons, prior to 2024, and given the love for him in that locker room, they'd rather pay the cost and keep him as their sixth infielder than eat the money and let him loose.