Yankees PREPARING BIG MOVE Before Lockout? (Yankees News 2026)

The New York Yankees may start making moves fast. So do me a favor, if you love the Yankees, subscribe if you haven't already. You'll learn of anything they do. But according to Jack Curry, a lot of people say, hey, we won't pay attention to what you have to say until we hear it from Jack Curry himself. Well, Curry went on the Michael Kay show, and he said a lot. He said a lot. We're going to try to go over most of it, if not all of it. But Curry believes that the Yankees will try to get business done before the lockout begins. Now, the last time this happened in 2021, the Yankees really didn't do much of anything, and they entered the lockout with really no changes other than the players that either had expiring contracts, and that was just about it. Now, this time around, Curry believes, and people within baseball Believe that the New York Yankees are going to be fast and furious. So, bullpen, Curry mentioned, is an area of need. Of course. Of course. You have David Bednar, who you just gave a qualifying offer to. You have Bednar, who you need to resign. You have to. Because I'm not sure if you're going to go get a lockdown closer like that. I don't think it's out there. Outside of trading everything away for Mason Miller, because that's unfortunately what you would have to do. The Yankees tried trading for him at this past deadline. The Padres wanted George Lombard Jr. And the Yankees said, no, no shot. Not for a guy who pitches one inning. We're not going to trade you our top prospect. Well, that's what the Padres wanted. And I knew that. I've said that time and time again on here. That the Padres. If they were trading away Mason Miller because of what they traded for him, that they were going to want George Lombard Jr. Now, you have to, as I said, you have to bring back David Bednar. What kind of deal is he going to command? Curry talked about Bednar on the Michael Kay show, and he mentioned that the Yankees want Bednar. From the sounds of it, it depends at what cost. Because Curry mentioned that if David goes on the market and he sees, wait, I'm pretty much the top closer here on the market. I don't have to settle for what the Yankees are offering me, which they're going to offer him a very, very respectable deal. That's what it sounded like with Curry anyway. But what if I could get, if the Yankees only offer me 51, let's say the Devin Williams deal that he got from the Mets last year, let's say the Yankees offer him that, which I think if Williams got what he got last year, I think Bednar, he should get more. Bednar might be a $20 million AAV guy. I could see $60 million for three. I could see $80 million for four. I really could. But when it comes down to it, are the Yankees going to go to that length to retain him? I hope they do. But are they going to do that? We'll see. Curry said this. He mentioned that if Bednar gets an offer, and he might get an offer that he can't refuse, he may take that offer because he's of that age where it's like, shoot, the clock is ticking, the clock's ticking, and I want to go and cash in. And I wouldn't blame him, but the Yankees have to do their best to retain him. Because if you don't, that back end of that bullpen is going to be a gigantic, gigantic weakness. It's going to be huge. Now, as far as third base, Curry mentioned that that is definitely an area of need. The Yankees were disappointed with the results of Ryan McMahon. And listen, I've said it on here, right? If you listen to this podcast, you know. I've told you, and you've seen it with your own two eyes, McMahon regressed defensively. If you don't have that defense that you were, it felt like that you were guaranteed to have quality defense. If you don't have that, if that goes away, then what you do offensively just devalues you as a player entirely. And now all of a sudden you become a liability on this, on this team, because if you can't You can't play defense if you're not playing good defense and you're not hitting. Brings your value down, and the Yankees would rather just not have you on the roster. We've seen it with Aaron Hicks. We've seen it with Donaldson. We've seen it with DJ LeMahieu, cutting him with like a year and a half left on his deal. The Yankees are not afraid to do that. I think that could happen with McMahon if they don't think he serves a purpose otherwise. Now, how about second base? How about center field? When it comes to third base, I want to backtrack a tiny bit. When it comes to third base. If we don't have McMahon, then who's your third baseman? Curry rules out Sato. I know we want him. I want him. But the Yankees don't like his defense. They think he's a good hitter, but they don't like his defense. Now, as I've said, I think the defensive argument is a bunch of crap. You've dealt with McMahon. How can he be any worse? I mean, Ryan just wasn't very, he was below average. So if Sato is a little worse than that, but he brings you a decent bat. And listen, I understand, oh, he strikes out a lot. Okay, cool. He hit 300 over there in Japan. He won the frigging Triple Crown. He had two back-to-back seasons of elite years over there. Two consecutive years where he mashed, hit the crap out of the ball. He really did. He's a good bat, I think he's going to be good. I really do. He's going to be better than Murakami. Akimoto found a ton of success. But Toronto, I think he's going to be like of that level. And then imagine him playing at Yankee Stadium 81 times a year. Unfortunately, it just sounds like the Yankees don't want to go there because of his defense. But listen to this, though. Listen to this. The Yankees, they like Luis Urías. So when it comes to second base, they like Luis Urías. He's a free agent, and the guy never strikes out. He's the guy who puts the bat on the ball. He never strikes out. And the Yankees are scared by his defense, regardless what he just did this past year with his improved defense. The Yankees are still scared by his defense. And that's always been a thing with Arise. I think that's ridiculous, to be completely honest with you. He improved defensively. He's still a really good contact hitter. That's what he is. He's a guy who could slap the ball around. He's going to hit you 280, 290 to 300. He's never going to strike out on you. I would just sign him. He's just so different from what we've had. I really want him on this team. I want him. But the Yankees being scared by his defense, as I said, you had McMahon and Arraiz improved his defense. So why can't you just take that and say, hey, we'll sign you to like a three-year deal. Do you want it? Because last offseason, the guy barely had a market. He took a one-year with the Giants. But when it comes to second base, Curry once again mentioned Brandon Lau, but the qualifying offer, it's going to scare the Yankees away. And then he also mentioned center field with Spencer Jones, that the Yankees just aren't fully committed to him in center because of his defense. They were impressed with his offense, but his defense, not so much. Here's an interesting nugget. He doesn't know if they're going to stick with Jones in center. He's the number one contender to take the job, but he doesn't know if the Yankees are going to stick with him in center. When Curry talked to people within the organization about Centerfield, they mentioned Bellinger having experience there, who just won a gold glove and left. Congratulations, Belly. Aaron Judge having experience there. Why are we bringing him up? I don't know. And then, here's a really interesting one. They brought up the name Jason Dominguez again. And Dominguez, you guys know, big Dominguez fan. Big, big, big, big, big. Love myself some Jason Dominguez. Still very young. Still think he could improve as a player. They'll probably end up trading him. But they mentioned Dominguez as a potential option. That's how much they think of Spencer Jones' defense. That's what they think of him. That you're bringing up Jason Dominguez, a guy who you sent down, who you shot to the freaking moon. That's... That's what they think about Spencer Jones' defense. That they're bringing up Dominguez, who was a butcher out there in the outfield for the Yankees. He was a butcher, and they're bringing him up. That's nuts to me. It really is. I just think that's a little nutty. Now, here's an interesting one, and we're going to get into this more tomorrow. Now, first I want to say this. Yankees still consider Austin Wells their starting catcher. He's loved by the starting pitchers. And Austin Wells did have a really good second half of the season. Guys, he did. I'm sorry, but he did. In 56 games, 49 games started. He had 229 with a 787 OPS. That first half was so dreadful for him. But he did produce in the second half. I'm sorry to tell you, but he did. And his defense is, he's a top five defensive catcher in baseball. So Curry said that the Yankees are going to keep him. That's their starting catcher. They'll probably get. A backup catcher through a trade, because he believes the Yankees will fill these needs, a lot of these needs, through trades rather than the free agent market. Corey Seager. The Rangers are going to shop Corey Seager. We're going to talk about that more tomorrow. But guys, thank you so, so much for watching. I'll see you next time. Take care.