The Yankees should sign the versatile Marwin Gonzalez

One area that the Yankees are currently lacking is a versatile backup infielder and free agent Marwin Gonzalez is a player who could solve this and in turn improve the roster.

Gonzalez, who is entering his 10th big league season, is very multi-faceted because he can not only primarily play shortstop, first base and second base but he can play left and right field as well. He is a switch hitter so he would add value in that way as well in terms of varying the lineup and it would vary the ways that he could come in off of the bench depending on who is pitching.

In the 2020 Covid shortened season, Gonzalez played in 53 out of the 60 games and had five homers, 22 RBI, four doubles and a very low .211 average. Last season, he played 23 games at third, 21 games at second, 14 at first and eight in right field.

He played for the Astros for the first seven seasons of his career and then for the last two seasons was on the Minnesota Twins. Gonzalez, who will be 32 on March 14, has a .261 average with 96 homers, 370 runs scored, 369 RBI and a .317 on-base percentage in 962 career games.

Gonzalez, who grew up in Venezuela, had his best season of his career in 2017, which was also during the time period that the Astros were cheating. In 2017, he finished 19th in MVP voting, which was the only time he has received votes for MVP. That season, Gonzalez had 23 homers, 34 doubles, 67 runs scored, 90 RBI, a .303 average, a .377 on-base percentage. He finished with a career-high in every one of those categories that season.

His highest average since 2017 has been .264 in 2019 and that season he had only 15 homers and 55 RBI.

He has not been as productive since 2017, which could lead the Yankees to be able to sign him to a one-year contract for him to try to prove himself again. As of now, the Red Sox, Blue Jays, Mets and Phillies are teams that have been reported to be interested in Gonzalez, but the Yankees should pursue him.

Since he can play every position besides third base, pitcher and catcher, he could play up to three or four days a week. The Yankees do not have a player who is versatile like he is and if he comes to the Yankees he will be able to play for a likely division winner.

As of now, Tyler Wade is the backup at shortstop and second, Mike Ford would be the backup to Luke Voit at first (second baseman DJ LeMahieu is also a solid first baseman), LeMahieu would be the backup to Gio Urshela at third and Mike Tauchman would be the backup at all three outfield positions.

If Gonzalez finds a starting position with another team he would obviously take that one, but at this point he might not. The Yankees could really use an upgrade on Tyler Wade since in his 161 career games across four seasons he has a very low .190 average.

In 43 games in 2019, he had a .245 average but in 52 games played last season (88 at-bats) his average was only .170. He is basically known for his speed, but in his 161 games he only has 13 steals. This is a low number for someone as fast as he is.

Wade has not really been someone who has adjusted very well to the part time backup role that he has had the last few years and he is not on track to a starting role anytime soon. If they could acquire Gonzalez, the Yankees could unload Wade for a minor leaguer.

The Yankees are not a team that looks to steal very much, so that gives Wade even less value. It will be more beneficial to have a veteran like Gonzalez on the bench who has some power and can hit for a higher average. Gonzalez, who is 6–1 and 205 pounds, would also be able to fill in at at many different positions when a starter inevitably goes on the injured list.

For the Astros, Gonzalez appeared at every position besides pitcher and catcher, which makes him likely the most versatile player in all of baseball. He set a major league record by hitting his first 25 homers of his career with no one on base.

If Gonzalez signs with the Yankees, he would have Thairo Estrada and Gleyber Torres, who are also from Venezuela, as his teammates.

Gonzalez signed a two-year contact that was worth $21 million with the Twins before the 2019 season ($10.5 million a season). He would obviously have to take a major pay discount with the Yankees since they only have about $4 million to spend this offseason to stay under the luxury tax.