FILE – St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt (46) in the fifth inning of a baseball … [+]
If Paul Goldschmidt’s first season goes extremely well in terms of health and production at the plate, the New York Yankees will be congratulating him for reaching a milestone in the final weeks of a regular season they hope ends with an AL East title.
The milestone is 400 career homers and Goldschmidt is 38 shy of the mark that currently claims Giancarlo Stanton (429) as its only member. Barring any injury, Mike Trout will get there before Goldschmidt since the Angels’ star is 22 away of the mark.
Not only would Goldschmidt reaching 400 as a Yankee be a milestone but it would set a career-high. Goldschmidt is the owner of seven 30-homer seasons but never more than 36 and even as his batting average dipped to .268 and .245 over the past two seasons, he still hit a combined 47 homers, including 11 in the last three months when the St. Louis Cardinals saw him bat .269 and it is plausible to think those results as the Yankee reasoning for signing him instead of signing Christian Walker or Pete Alonso, who went to the Houston Astros and remain unsigned respectively.
If Goldschmidt reaches 400 before Trout, he would be the 59th to do so. Of those members of the 400-homer club, 16 played for the Yankees and a few others were rumored to be Yankees but ultimately were never acquired for various reasons.
Goldschmidt will hit other milestones during the course of his reported one-year deal, $12.5 million deal he will sign with the Yankees.
St. Louis Cardinals’ Paul Goldschmidt (46) plays during a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds … [+]
He is 72 shy of 2,000 career regular-season games, something only Freddie Freeman (2,032), Carlos Santana (2,080) and Andrew McCutchen (2,127) surpassed among active players. Goldschmidt also is 13 shy of 2,000 career RBI, a figure the Yankees hope he passes in the first month and would join Freeman as the only active player to do so (though Freeman’s 12 RBI in the World Series off Yankee pitching do not count).
Goldschmidt will represent a return to a primarily right-handed hitting every day first baseman for the Yankees, who used Luke Voit in 2019 and 2020 before his knee injury ultimately resulted in acquiring Anthony Rizzo at the 2021 deadline. Before Voit, other right-handed hitting Yankee first baseman included Bob Watson in 1980 and 1981, Felipe Alou in 1972 and 1971, Bill Skowron from 1955 to 1962
Rizzo was in his age-32 season when the Yankees obtained him from the Chicago Cubs and is about two years younger than Goldschmidt. Rizzo gave the Yankees 60 homers in 370 games and a .234 average but injuries derailed his last two seasons and the Yankees got a combined 16 homers from first basemen and 37 over the past two seasons.
Last season’s power output by Yankee first basemen was the fewest in a 162-game season since 2007 and it was under similar circumstances of age and injuries as various foot injuries caused Jason Giambi played 18 of his 83 games in the field during his age-36 season.
Giambi’s age led the Yankees to the first base market in Dec. 2008 and it netted them switcher-hitter Mark Teixeira, who was 28 at the time. Teixeira hit 56 of his 206 homers with the Yankees from the right side and hit his 400th career homer as a Yankee on July 3, 2016.
Health and a declining bat are the main risks with an older player but the Yankees are signing someone whose fewest games played in a full season were 109 in 2014 during his age 27-campaign. They also are signing someone who batted .311 off fastballs in his MVP season in 2022 and under .250 against the pitch in each of the last two seasons but banking on his various batted ball results still being modestly successful.
Unlike Teixera at the end of his career, Goldschmidt has played over 150 in every full season since 2014, posting up consistently enough to reach 500 at-bats and be involved in over 100 double plays as part of a career that has seen him win four Gold Gloves.
And perhaps an interesting sub-plot is Goldschmidt becoming teammates with Luke Weaver. Weaver was a top Cardinals prospect in 2016 and was struggling to establish himself as a starter when he was sent to the Diamondbacks for Goldschmidt in Dec. 2018.
The Yankees installed Weaver as their closer to mostly successful results and will give him save chances again when Devin Williams does not take them but in whatever role it is, Weaver and Goldschmidt can join forces for a team who struggled to get consistent production at first base and were down to Jon Berti and Oswaldo Cabrera at first base options in the division series before Rizzo returned from a pair of broken fingers.
The Yankee offseason since seeing Juan Soto sign his lavish contract with the Mets two weeks ago is an interesting one with the additions of Williams, Max Fried, Cody Bellinger and Goldschmidt from the National League.
If Goldschmidt comes close or even passes the 400 career homer mark, an interesting signing becomes a successful one for the Yankees.
