Not usually something we would endorse, but it could be the right one.

Wild Card Series – New York Mets v Milwaukee Brewers – Game 2 / Stacy Revere/GettyImages

There’s a lot of chatter during the start of MLB free agency about the New York Yankees’ 2025 plans. If they bring back Juan Soto, what else should they do? If they lose out on the Soto sweepstakes, then what’s Plan B?

It’s fair to say many are discouraged by any alternative approaches should Soto sign with another team. Call it shortsighted if you’d like … but what’s even attractive? Pete Alonso plus pitching? Emptying the farm system to trade for another star? A bunch of mid-tier options to accompany what’s largely an underachieving roster?

The answer is Soto plus more. But the “more” doesn’t have to be anything excessive. It could just be one more position player and a bunch of budget relievers. We’ll leave the bullpen recruitment to the Yankees because that’s a strength of theirs, but on the position player side, we’ll endorse bringing infielder Willy Adames on board.

The Milwaukee Brewers star is a free agent and is coming off a career year. He belted 32 homers and 112 RBI while swiping 21 bags. He added 93 runs scored and 33 doubles. All of those were high marks for the 29-year-old. Even better? He hit .262 with an .861 OPS in high-leverage situations and .293 with a 1.073 OPS with runners in scoring position. This team badly needs that.

And he did all of that while playing a premier position at shortstop. However, his defense did decline a bit. Both his surface-level and peripheral metrics took a hit, which may just simply be the result of slightly aging out of the position. And there’s no shame in that. It happens.

Yankees should consider signing Willy Adames, position switch

That’s perhaps led Adames to tell suitors in free agency that he’s willing to switch positions. Though we’ve typically rejected the Yankees’ insistence of playing guys outside their natural defensive homes, signing Adames and plugging him in at third base could be an offseason-saving move (if he’s paired with Soto).

Think about it. The Yankees are done if they make those two signings. Put Adames at third base, shift Jazz Chisholm Jr. back to second base. Anthony Volpe remains at short. Ben Rice becomes your first baseman. Oswaldo Cabrera remains the utility option. Figure out the outfield alignment with Soto, Aaron Judge, Jasson Dominguez and whoever becomes the fourth option.

Adames was never going to remain at shortstop his entire career, and the natural progression is a move to third base, as we’ve seen with plenty of other shortstops over the years. His arm strength (75th percentile) and range (68th percentile) remain very good and would translate to the hot corner.

The potential pitfalls? His strikeout and whiff rates. But those have been well documented. We’d say it’s a concern due to redundancy, but the Yankees aren’t changing that aspect of their identity. It’s ingrained in their DNA and they’ve showed no willingness to change it.

And if they’re not going to, they might as well target an historically elite defender with a penchant for delivering in the clutch. Adames come cheaper than Alex Bregman while providing more flexibility (he could play shortstop and second base if needed).

MLBTradeRumors predicted Adames to land a six-year, $160 million contract, which feels a bit too rich, especially with Bregman pegged at seven years and $182 million. Could the Yankees swing something in the $120-$140 million range? Adames’ idol is Derek Jeter. Maybe that could be a selling point?

There aren’t many supplemental moves the Yankees can make to change the complexion of their 2025 roster in convincing fashion. But a Soto-Adames pairing feels like the best show-stopping opportunity to do so.