MLB analyst believes Cody Bellinger, Jazz Chisholm Jr. integral for Yankees' off-season plans 

MLB analyst Trevor Plouffe believes Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Cody Bellinger will be integral to New York Yankees offseason plans. The Yankees acquired the versatile infielder during the 2024 MLB trade deadline from the Miami Marlins. Meanwhile, the Yankees acquired Bellinger and $5 million cash from the Chicago Cubs for Cody Poteet.

Both Chisholm and Bellinger combined could play anywhere on the field. While Bellinger has experienced playing outfield and first base, Chisholm is completely equipped to handle the hot corner and midfield. Plouffe, speaking on the "Baseball Today" podcast on Wednesday, believes this solves a lot of problems for the Yankees as they go about their business in the offseason.

"I think my overall takeaway is that Jazz and Cody’s positional versatility offers a wide variety of players they can go get to finish their team," Plouffe said.

"The team is not finished, and I think no matter what they do, they need two more guys. Whatever decisions they make, I think their team will end up being better than last year. I would agree it’s not better right now, but it will be," he added.

(from 8:54 mark onwards)

Trevor Plouffe offers views on who Yankees should go after to fill 2 infield spots

Carrying the discussion forward, Trevor Plouffe offered his perspective on how Yankees should fill two infield spots with Jazz Chisholm Jr. at the center of it.

"In a perfect world, you’d sign Alex Bregman and Christian Walker and just plug those guys into the corners, moving Jazz to second base," Plouffe said. "I know Jazz has played middle infield before, but realistically, what I think they should do is go get Ha-Seong Kim and put him at second base, keep Jazz at third, and then decide what they want to do at first base.

"There are a lot of options there. That’s one thing they have going for them. You could sign Carlos Santana on the cheap and have him play first base — I think he’d fit great in New York. Christian Walker is still out there, Pete Alonso is still out there; there are a lot of guys still available.

"But I think getting a guy like Ha-Seong Kim to really shore up the infield defense would be my next move if I were the Yankees," he added.

(from 6:26 mark onwards)

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