The New York Yankees are definitely in need of some changes this winter, and while they don’t need to blow it up, they absolutely must make some adjustments.
The Yankees were swept out of the Division Series by the Tampa Bay Rays in embarrassing fashion, marking the second straight year they lost to an AL East rival in the ALDS.
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New York is expected to make some moves in the coming months, but whether or not the Yankees actually address all of their concerns remains to be seen.
For example, New York seems pretty content with Austin Wells at catcher, this even though Wells was one of the worst hitters in baseball for most of 2026.
The general consensus is that the Yanks will instead seek a righty bat to platoon with Wells behind the plate rather than outright replacing him, but Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller has other ideas.
In a piece where Miller rattled off some bold predictions for the offseason, he had the Yankees swinging a trade for Athletics catcher Shea Langeliers.
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Langelier’s 2026 campaign was abbreviated due to a knee injury that knocked him out for a couple of months over the summer, but when he was on the field, he was impressive.
In 106 games, the 28-year-old slashed .262/.328/.474 with 23 home runs and 58 RBI over 467 plate appearances, earning his first career All-Star selection.
The problem is that Langeliers is a subpar defensive backstop, and the Yankees clearly value strong defense behind the dish. That’s why they refuse to give up on Wells.
So would New York acquire a full-time catcher like Langeliers and trade significant prospect capital to do it? It seems rather unlikely.
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Langeliers is under team control through 2028, so he has two more years remaining before hitting free agency. The A’s don’t have to be in any sort of rush to move him right now, so they can simply be patient and wait for a king’s ransom.
The Yankees don’t seem eager to surrender a substantial trade package for a weak defensive catcher, so I don’t see this happening.
Of course, if New York is growing tired of seeing its offense fail every October, then perhaps swapping out Wells for a much stronger hitter would be the right move.
Personally, I’d be all for it. The Yankees could even keep Wells as a backup and a late-inning defensive replacement. But will they do it? Probably not.
