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The New York Yankees are doing whatever they can to sign Yoshinobu Yamamoto in free agency, but that isn't the only guy they are focusing on in free agency. The Yankees took care of some other business on Thursday afternoon when they landed Luis Gonzalez on a minor-league deal to add some depth to their outfield unit.
Gonzalez spent limited time in the majors with the Chicago White Sox back in 2020 and 2021 before latching on with the San Francisco Giants in 2022, where he played 96 games and had decent numbers (.254 BA, 4 HR, 36 RBI, .683 OPS). Gonzalez missed most of last season due to back surgery, but he has some upside at the plate, and will now get a chance to carve out a role in the Yankees outfield.
González was NL Rookie of the Month with the Giants in May 2022, but did not appear in the majors last season after undergoing back surgery in March. He returned and played in 31 minor-league games, but the Giants released him in mid-September.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 21, 2023
New York has already done quite a bit of work to their outfield this offseason by swinging trades for Juan Soto and Alex Verdugo. When you add in Aaron Judge, the Yankees have one of the better outfields in the league, so playing time in the majors will be hard to come by for Gonzalez. However, if he can stick with the team, he could find a spot for himself as the team's fourth outfielder.
Gonzalez has upside, but he also has some injury concerns given how he didn't play in the majors at all last season. Given that he's signed to a minor-league deal, this is a low-risk, high-reward type of deal for the Yankees that could see Gonzalez become a key piece of their major league roster. And even if he doesn't, there's not much that New York loses by signing him to this deal.
