Yankees kind of look silly after free agency report following Austin Hays deal

After Cody Bellinger blew up the New York Yankees budget, the conventional wisdom around the team has shifted. No longer thought to be done, the sentiment now is that the club will still look to add pieces this offseason.

That doesn't mean a star is on the table, but there are smaller deficiencies the club can attack. Chief among them is a right-handed bat for the outfield, which we now know for sure that New York is considering.

Trent Grisham is left-handed, Jasson Dominguez might as well be, and while Bellinger has a reverse split, he's another lefty in the mix. Only Aaron Judge presents a true right-handed option out on the grass. The infield is no better, but that's a story for another time.

One name that had been bandied about as a potential solution, either as a cheap Bellinger fallback option or as a potential righty bench weapon, was former Cincinnati Reds outfielder Austin Hays.

Hays had been the subject of the next battle for New York, with both the Yankees and Mets eyeing him as a Bellinger backup plan. Ultimately, neither club would emerge victorious as Hays agreed to a one-year, $6 million deal with the lowly Chicago White Sox.

Yankees losing Austin Hays to White Sox is kind of embarrassing given the remaining options

At the end of the day, Hays isn't the kind of player you look at as a major difference maker, but if your aim is to win the World Series, even the pieces at the margins are important. At 30 years old, Hays is still in the thick of his prime, so while there are competing demands for a player in his situation to weigh, namely playing time versus a chance to win a World Series, you'd have to think that if the money were equivalent, New York would be the more compelling environment.

The paltry sum of $6 million isn't much to beat, but it would appear that the Yankees didn't have any interest in going that high.

With the need unfilled, they'll turn to the next tier of lefty-mashers, headlined by Randal Grichuk and Austin Slater. Grichuk is four years older than Hays, and has a history of success against southpaws with a career .268/.318/.500 line. However, decline might be setting in as he only hit .227/.273/.430 against lefties last year.

Slater ironically came over from the White Sox to the Yankees at last year's trade deadline, but managed just 25 plate appearances in pinstripes due to a left hamstring strain. His credentials as a lefty-killer are more shaky, slashing .224/.290/.435 against them in 2025, and .267/.357/.430 for his career.

Hays represented a premium option in this niche role. He posted an out-of-this-world line in 2025 against lefties, coming in at .319/.400/.549, and owns a career mark of .282/.340/.479 when he has the platoon advantage. Throw in a career .717 OPS against righties, and he's capable of stepping into a starting role should injuries strike, which isn't something you can say for the others.

While this isn't the end of the world, it seems like the kind of low-cost signing that could have had an outsized reward. To see Hays land with a non-contender shows that this was about the money, and with such low stakes it's disappointing to see the Yankees refuse to pay up.