The Yankees’ forgettable season exposed two major issues: their bullpen and their shortstop play. While the relief corps let a few tight games slip away, Anthony Volpe struggled at shortstop. He led the chart with 19 errors and slumped at the plate, hitting just .212 with a .663 OPS.

Now he’s injured and unlikely to be ready for Opening Day 2026, which has only fueled talk of finding a replacement, especially with a big-name option reportedly becoming available. And if you haven’t guessed, that name is the Rangers’ $325 million shortstop, Corey Seager!

Former Yankee Clint Frazier is vocal over his YouTube channel, asking Yankees GM Brian Cashman to replace Volpe with Seager.

“But if I’m the Yankees, I’m signing or I’m trading for Cody or God, I’m messing up. If I’m the Yankees, I’m trading for Corey Seager to play shortstop. And you give them Anthony Volpe. You give them some of these younger guys they need to rebuild because Cory Seager comes in, and he’s got that big contract,”

So, is Seager available in free agency?

Well, no…

Up through 2020, Seager was thriving with the Dodgers, winning both the NLDS and World Series MVP awards. That run was enough for the Rangers to lure him away with a 10-year, $325 million deal. But in classic Rangers fashion, they’re once again looking to trim payroll. And this time, Seager is the big name on the block. Reports indicate that Texas would like to move him while he still has $186 million remaining over the next six years.

Now, that timing lines up perfectly with the Yankees’ needs. Volpe’s struggles have been obvious, while Seager is coming off a strong season, hitting 21 HRs in just 102 games. And looking at his career at shortstop, he’s crushed 84 HRs in 1,132 at-bats and posted an impressive 18.3 fWAR in only 344 games.

Hence, simply put, Seager outperforms Volpe in almost every category — the only knock is age.

According to Frazier, the Yankees should seize the opportunity and offer Volpe, along with a few prospects, to acquire Seager. That move could address one of their biggest weaknesses from this past season. As the Yankees are already working to enhance their bullpen and offense, why not the shortstop as well?

The Yankees have more work to do with their arms

Even if landing Seager could resolve their shortstop issues, the Yankees still need to focus on their pitching.

Let’s start with the Yankees’ notorious bullpen issues. They do have a few solid arms like David Bednar, but with Devin Williams and Luke Weaver hitting free agency, there’s still a lot of rebuilding to do. And as per SNY, Pete Fairbanks could be an appealing option as a setup man behind Bednar.

Reportedly, Fairbanks is coming off a career year with 61 appearances and 27 saves, and leans heavily on a 97 mph fastball–slider mix. The encouraging part is that he finally got a handle on his command last season, lowering his walk rate to 7.4 percent, better than the league average.

Then there’s Mitch Keller…

He’ll be 30 in April and is owed $55.7 million over the next three years. The Yankees might be able to send Pittsburgh some young bats in exchange for Keller, who put up a 4.19 ERA over 32 starts last season and has logged at least 29 starts four years running. Not anything extraordinary, but still enough to take up the job in the Yankees’ dwindling pitching division.

Plugging these two major weaknesses could enable the Yankees to take a jumpstart next season, but only when Brian Cashman is desperate enough.