Yankees Bench Potentially an Underrated Aspect of the Team

"He's such a big part of that group in there — one of the heartbeats in there," Boone said of Goldschmidt, according to the New York Post's Greg Joyce. "He's been great for our culture ever since he walked in the doors last year. When he hits that ball, everyone gets a little extra excited because they want it for him because they know how much he gives to that room."

Goldschmidt understands his role. He'll have to make the most of it when the opportunity strikes. In Seattle, he did.

"I knew coming back here that we had Benny at first and G DHing," Goldschmidt told the Post. "So I knew this wasn't going to be a place, unless somebody got hurt, that I would be playing every single day. But I love these guys in this lineup, I love being a Yankee, and just have so much fun here. Obviously, a great team that has a chance to win. I knew what I was going to be doing, so I'm happy to do whatever they need me to do."

A Good Bench

The Goldschmidt signing wasn't one of those unanimously beloved moves, and there's still a lot of time to grumble that the team has "run it back," in case he ends up playing as poorly as some predicted, but, for now, there are worse options for the Yankees to have on their bench than a former MVP.

Joining Goldy are J.C. Escarra, Amed Rosario, whose bat made its contributions in the first game against Seattle, and the former Yankee killer Randal Grichuk. It's a far cry from where the bench was in previous years, and even last year as well. Last year at this time, the Yankees had Oswald Peraza and Oswaldo Cabrera waiting in the wings. Both have shown an inability to hit over the years, and while nobody expects batting titles from their part-timers, respective career wRC+s of 57 and 82 proved to be nothing but easy outs in the rare chances they got in games.

Before them, the Yankees' bench has been a cavalcade of journeyman, and, in 2023, when the worst happened, and both Stanton and Aaron Judge were lost for an extended period of time, the fragility of the bench was just one reason they missed the postseason that year.

Willie Calhoun could not bang over the long haul, it turned out. Then, just like Calhoun, Billy McKinney, and Jake Bauers could only get them so far.

If the same happened this year, and both Stanton and Judge were temporarily lost, the Yankees would obviously be in big trouble, and you could expect something of a swoon to happen, but at least Goldschmidt can hold his own. Same with Grichuk and Rosario. They've shown as much in this league that they can be successful at the plate.

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