Two of the Yankees’ outfield spots are accounted for, with Aaron Judge and Harrison Bader penciled into New York’s starting lineup, but the other remains up for grabs.
Aaron Hicks, Oswaldo Cabrera and Estevan Florial are among the internal candidates to hold down left field for the Yankees in 2023, unless New York dips into free agency and/or the trade market, which very much remains a possibility before Opening Day.
One free agent the Yankees could consider: David Peralta.
The New York Post’s Jon Heyman on Thursday noted the Yankees have talked to Peralta, a Gold Glove Award winner with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2019, as well as fellow free agent Jurickson Profar.
“Though they’ve talked to free agents Jurickson Profar and David Peralta, and about Pirates center fielder Bryan Reynolds (the price is said enormous) and Twins trade candidate Max Kepler (“nothing serious there right now”) for left field, the Yankees appear destined to choose among veteran Aaron Hicks and youngsters Oswaldo Cabrera and Estevan Florial,” Heyman wrote. “At shortstop, they haven’t found a taker for Isiah Kiner-Falefa, so last year’s starter will try to fight off highly regarded kids Oswald Peraza and Anthony Volpe to win that job.”
Peralta spent parts of nine seasons with the Diamondbacks before Arizona shipped him to the Tampa Bay Rays at the 2022 Major League Baseball trade deadline. He was a productive player for the Snakes, posting a career-best 3.6 WAR in 2015 and totaling a career-high 30 home runs and 87 RBIs to go along with an .868 OPS en route to a Silver Slugger Award in 2018.
Peralta is coming off a 2022 campaign in which he slashed .251/.316/.415 with 12 home runs and 59 RBIs in 490 plate appearances split between Arizona and Tampa Bay. The 35-year-old wouldn’t necessarily qualify as a splashy signing for the Yankees, but they’ve already done plenty of heavy lifting this offseason by re-signing Aaron Judge and Anthony Rizzo while also adding Carlos Rodón.
