The New York Yankees have been among the teams most connected to Corey Seager and some consider them the favorites to sign the star shortstop, but it continues to look less likely they will get a deal done.
Seager would be a massive upgrade for the Yankees, but they might be unwilling to lock in someone at the position longterm because two of their top three prospects, according to MLB Pipeline, are shortstops.
This mindset has reportedly led them to just monitoring the free-agent shortstop market rather than pursuing one of the top available players at present time.
Even if the Yankees do want to bring in one of the top shortstops, they appear to be more interested in signing Marcus Semien than Seager because he fits more in line of being a stopgap, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network:
“They’re definitely looking at those two shortstops. There’s no question about that, so they may land one of them. I think at this point they’re looking at Semien a little more closely than Seager. We shall see. It’s funny to have a backup plan being potentially a $250 million player, but Marcus Semien fits them as a shorter term guy. They have prospects like Volpe and Peraza — their two-best prospects are shortstops — so they’d like to do Semien, who is 30 years old.
“That makes sense for them. Seager obviously is a little bit younger than that, but Seager could fit too because he’s such a good hitter he could switch over from shortstop after three years and move over to third base to play there. Yankees are clearly looking at those two players and shortstop is their priority.”
While Seager is arguably the top free agent on the market, Semien is a popular name for teams looking to upgrade in their infield.
The 31-year-old has led MLB in WAR since the beginning of 2019 despite a down year during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
In that three-season stretch, Semien has hit .268/.346/.509 with 85 home runs, a 128 wRC+ and 15.4 WAR, which is 1.4 more than the next closest player over that time period.
Semien also has the ability to play shortstop, second base and third base, with at least 400 Major League innings at each position, which should increase his value to any team.
Dodgers not interested in Semien, other shortstops
The Los Angeles Dodgers remain hopeful to get a deal done with Seager, but they have a lot of other teams to bid against.
Along with the Yankees and Dodgers, Seager has also been connected to the Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers, and it would be surprising if every team didn’t at least check in on his price.
There is speculation Seager could sign before the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) expires on Wednesday, Dec. 1 at 8:59 p.m. PT, as it would likely cause a lockout if a new deal is not in place.
However, if the Dodgers miss out on re-signing Seager, they would reportedly move forward with Trea Turner as their shortstop rather than pursuing another player from the deep market.
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