Does Bo Bichette Make Sense for the Yankees?

By E.J. Fagan

January 2026

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NOTE: The following comes from EJ Fagan's substack page and is shared with permission.

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The Toronto Blue Jays are loading up. They’ve added Kazuma Okamoto, Dylan Cease and resigned Shane Bieber. The are also reportedly still in on Kyle Tucker. All after winning 94 games and almost beating the Dodgers.

Plus, the Orioles and Red Sox have made big additions this offseason. The AL East is in an arms race.

The Yankees, on the other hand, aren’t doing much at all. They are negotiating with Cody Bellinger and seem likely to sign him. They’ve brought back some depth and bench guys acquired last year. They’ve been connected to a few players but without a lot of smoke.

Maybe we’re heading toward the Yankees running back the post-deadline 2025 team plus the returning injured players. That team would no doubt be favored to make the playoffs, but probably not to win the division. It’s uninspiring.

But you know how you could strike back against the Blue Jays? Sign Bo Bichette.

Bichette solves a lot of problems for the Yankees. He was pretty good in 2024, but was battling injuries the entire time. Here’s what he managed to post:

His defensive numbers at shortstop were abysmal. Some of that might be injury related, but Bichette has put up pretty bad OAAs throughout his career (although he’s been better according to DRS). I’d bet on him being ugly out there, which is why he’s reportedly willing to move positions.

The Yankees need a shortstop. Anthony Volpe will be out until at least May, and has been below average over the course of three years. Maybe Volpe’s disaster 2025 season was related to injuries but Bichette is inarguably a big upgrade at the position. Bichette would start the season at shortstop and we’ll see what happens from there - maybe he moves to DH or elsewhere in the infield.

He also balances out the lineup. He’s a right-handed contact hitter with decent but not drastic career platoon splits. Bichette probably bats leadoff for the team, forming a pretty killer and balanced top of the lineup with Judge, Rice, Grisham, Bellinger, Stanton and Chisholm. Going from Volpe to Bichette is a massive upgrade.

He also balances out the age distribution of the team. At 28 years old, he won’t enter his decline years until most of the current Yankee contracts are cleared. Signing him doesn’t close a future window or guarantee a fallow period the way that signing a 31 year old would.

Maybe they could even backload the contract to make the Steinbrenners feel a little better.

MLB Trade Rumors estimates that Bichette will earn $208 million over 8 years. That’s a $26 million AAV. Their non-NPB predictions have been pretty bang on so far. If they sign Cody Bellinger and Bichette, the Yankees luxury tax payroll would be at something like $338 million. The payroll would probably be maxed out for 2026-2027 barring a trade, but gets better when Giancarlo Stanton and Ryan McMahon come off the books in 2028.

I also don’t think this is pure fantasy. I think the Yankees are trying to acquire another infielder. They’ve been connected to Ketel Marte, Corey Seager and Nico Hoerner, and at least listened to offers on Jazz Chisholm.

Really, we’ve seen very few non-Bellinger rumors other than the Yankees and infielders.

Maybe the plan is to sign Bichette and trade Jazz for a starting pitcher? Or trade Jazz at the deadline if Volpe comes back healthy and good? Losing Jazz’s $10 million or Volpe’s $4 million could blunt Bichette’s short term cost a bit.