Yankees sign another player who couldn’t help them beat the Blue Jays in 2025 ALDS

Earlier this offseason, the New York Yankees re-signed Cody Bellinger to a five-year deal to bring the former NL MVP back to the Bronx for another go around. Just more recently, the Yankees struck again to bring back another core player from their 2025 season in Paul Goldschmidt on a one-year deal.

With that, it appears that New York is aiming to run it back with the same roster that actually couldn’t even beat the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2025 ALDS.

Having the 30-year-old Bellinger return makes sense given the outfielder is currently in his prime and coming off a productive season with the Yankees last year. But to do the same for Goldschmidt is a little more puzzling.

Yankees sign another player who couldn’t help them beat the Blue Jays in 2025 ALDS

After all, the 38-year-old veteran is coming off his worst season in terms of production numbers since his debut year back in 2011 with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

In 146 games with the Yankees in 2025, Goldschmidt managed just 10 home runs and 45 RBIs all season, with just 36 walks and 100 strikeouts in 489 at-bats. More significantly, he was used a lot more sparingly toward the end of the season as Ben Rice became to go-to-guy for New York down the stretch.

So bringing Goldschmidt back would ultimately cut into a bit of the playing time of Rice, who had a huge breakout sophomore campaign in 2025. He put up 26 home runs and 65 RBIs in 467 at-bats over 138 games played with the Yankees.

The Blue Jays, probably don’t mind that Goldschmidt will be a part of the Yankees once again in 2026. That is because Toronto practically owned the 38-year-old first baseman last season, holding him to just a .250 average, .669 OPS, with just two runs scored, one RBI and six strikeouts in 28 at-bats in nine total games played. They also made Goldschmidt look negligible during the 2025 postseason, limiting him to just one hit, one walk and one run scored in three games as the Blue Jays eliminated the Yankees from playoff contention.

In fact, the Blue Jays have actually done pretty well against Goldschmidt for his career, keeping him to a .269 average, .750 OPS, with just five runs scored, one home run and seven RBIs in 24 games. Toronto shouldn’t really need to worry about this latest Yankees addition. After all, Goldschmidt couldn’t help the Yankees get by the Blue Jays last year, and none of the moves they’ve made this year has convinced anyone otherwise that they can make that happen in 2026.