Yankees lose coveted infielder to Rays on reasonable contract beyond their budget

A totally fine deal! But not for us.

New York Mets v San Diego Padres
New York Mets v San Diego Padres | Orlando Ramirez/GettyImages

The New York Yankees are telegraphing their intentions by screaming as loudly as possible whenever anybody is in earshot: "No, we WILL not be signing an infielder until Marcus Stroman is traded. THANK YOU! Do not use us for leverage, please! Everyone will know you are LYING!"

Those "infielders" currently being blocked by Stroman's deal aren't just the upper-tier ones like Alex Bregman and Nolan Arenado, either. We're talking about the likes of Brendan Rodgers, Paul DeJong, and Jorge Polanco, who the Astros might just mess around and make their sixth infielder while we're waiting.

Obviously, if the Yankees have no interest in budging for a $5 million wild card while they wait for Stroman to head to a new locale, there was no chance they'd invest the necessary cash to lure Ha-Seong Kim, the versatile and singles-hitting Padres infielder. Kim will miss the start of the season rehabbing from shoulder surgery, and his offensive game made him an imperfect target to begin with. Still, targets with All-Star upside are few and far between at this point. It seemed fair to assume you'd at least be hearing a peep from the Yankees in his market, before they decided to kneecap themselves.

UPDATE? Kim is a Ray now on a two-year, $29 million deal, first reported by ESPN's Jeff Passan. The Yankees' budget likely lags $24 million below that.

Yankees lose infield target Ha-Seong Kim on two-year deal to Rays

Again, $14.5 million per year for just two years was out of the Yankees' budget, but not the Rays'. Think about it. Mull it over. The Rays are currently paying the Yankees to spend the year in New York's spring training stadium, by the way. Profit!

Like Kim or not, he's an ideal Rays player, coming off seasons of 4.9 and 5.8 bWAR before faltering a bit in 2024 (96 OPS+, 2.6 bWAR) before getting his issues (hopefully) resolved surgically. He's a pest. He's a gnat. And he's out of the Yankees' budget, while the team they're currently renting a ballpark to under duress has more than enough money to lure him.

Maybe, just maybe, the Yankees can make a play for Brandon Lowe now. More likely, though, they just watched an AL East rival get better at their own expense - an expense we didn't expect them to pay for even one second.

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