{"id":93983,"date":"2025-08-27T08:40:40","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T08:40:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=93983"},"modified":"2025-08-27T08:41:03","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T08:41:03","slug":"yankees-linked-to-another-shortstop-but-the-numbers-dont-add-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=93983","title":{"rendered":"Yankees Linked to Another Shortstop, But the Numbers Don\u2019t Add Up"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Heavy-Thumbnail_20250826_160208_0000.png?w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Heavy-Thumbnail_20250826_160208_0000.png?w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Heavy-Thumbnail_20250826_160208_0000.png?w=1100&amp;quality=15&amp;strip=all 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Heavy-Thumbnail_20250826_160208_0000.png?w=1350&amp;quality=35&amp;strip=all 1350w\" alt=\"Yankees Linked to Another Shortstop, But the Numbers Don\u2019t Add Up\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>Heavy<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The New York Yankees have reached the breaking point with their current shortstop, Anthony Volpe. Benched multiple times this summer and leading the league in errors, Volpe has become the focal point of frustration in a season where the Bronx has demanded more. Naturally, the rumors followed. National outlets and analysts have thrown out the same solution again and again: sign Bo Bichette.<\/p>\n<p>It sounds like a blockbuster move on the surface. Bichette is a name. Bichette hits. And Bichette would steal headlines by leaving the rival Toronto Blue Jays for the Yankees. But peel back the hype, and the numbers tell a story the Yankees can\u2019t afford to ignore.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>A Bat That Plays, A Glove That Doesn\u2019t<\/h2>\n<p>Let\u2019s get the obvious out of the way. Offensively, Bichette has reestablished himself after a brutal 2024. He\u2019s hitting .304 with an .819 OPS in 2025, producing a strong .363 xwOBA and posting some of the lowest strikeout rates in the league. The bat speed isn\u2019t elite (just 13th percentile), but his ability to put the ball in play and rack up doubles has long made him a dangerous table-setter.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s the selling point. Writers argue he\u2019d make sense in pinstripes because he could bat ahead of Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, creating the kind of traffic the Yankees have sorely lacked. On paper, he\u2019s a top-of-the-order upgrade.<\/p>\n<p>But shortstop is not an on-paper position. It\u2019s the defensive anchor of the infield, and here\u2019s where the fantasy falls apart. Bichette owns a -12 Outs Above Average mark this season, placing him as the worst MLB shortstop. His Fielding Run Value sits at -10, another red flag. According to Statcast, his range has collapsed, his sprint speed is down to the 21st percentile, and his arm strength has slipped to the 33rd percentile.<\/p>\n<p>That is not an upgrade. That is a liability.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Trading One Problem for Another<\/h2>\n<p>This is why the constant projections feel disconnected from reality. The Yankees already have a shortstop problem. Yes, the current option hasn\u2019t hit enough, but he at least brought a Gold Glove pedigree before this season\u2019s collapse. Bringin Bichette would flip the equation: better bat, worse glove.<\/p>\n<p>Defensively, the numbers make it clear. Over seven seasons, Bichette has accumulated -32 Outs Above Average. That\u2019s not a one-year dip or a slump\u2014it\u2019s a career pattern. He has never profiled as even an average defender at the position, and at age 27, there\u2019s little reason to expect a sudden turnaround.<\/p>\n<p>The Yankees would be choosing offense at the cost of further destabilizing their infield. That\u2019s not how championship teams are built, especially in a ballpark where ground balls up the middle turn into hits all too easily.<\/p>\n<p>The speculation may generate clicks, but it doesn\u2019t withstand scrutiny. Bichette is an attractive name, a marketable star, and a talented hitter. But as a solution to the Yankees\u2019 shortstop woes? The glove makes him the wrong fit at the wrong time.<\/p>\n<p>For the Yankees, signing Bichette would be a headline move\u2014and a defensive disaster.<\/p>\n<p>Alvin Garcia Born in Puerto Rico, Alvin Garcia is a sports writer for Heavy.com who focuses on MLB. His work has appeared on FanSided, LWOS, NewsBreak, Athlon Sports, and Yardbarker, covering mostly MLB. More about Alvin Garcia<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Analysts keep linking Bo Bichette to the Yankees after their shortstop\u2019s struggles, but Statcast shows his defense is a liability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":93984,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Yankees Linked to Another Shortstop, But the Numbers Don\u2019t Add Up - News 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=93983\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Yankees Linked to Another Shortstop, But the Numbers Don\u2019t Add Up - 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