A NEW FACE THAT COULD CHANGE THE YANKEE OFFENSE

A superstar outfielder in Nippon Professional Baseball's Pacific League is rumored to be posted in the next two weeks, and he has some skills the Yankees could really use. The Yankees should be interested, because several other teams will be too, with good reason. 

The Orix Buffaloes just won their first Japan Series title in 26 years thanks to Masataka Yoshida's walk-off home run and now, he's likely destined for MLB. Someone is going to grab this guy because he's proven to be elite is one area that teams will salivate over.

Yoshida is a two-time batting champ in NPB and was a gold medalist at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. He is the contact hitter that Yankee fans have been dreaming about. This season he had a .335 BA with 21 home runs, 80 walks and only 41 strikeouts and FanGraph's scouting report HERE says he "is almost impossible to strike out, and his feel for contact is superlative enough that even though a) he's not very physical and b) is a left field-only guy, he's elite at the game's most important skill: hitting."

Almost impossible to strikeout...that sounds like a dream. The Yankees have too many guys that just strikeout a ton. They chase too often, and Yoshida is the opposite. As much as I liked watching Aaron Judge smash home runs this season, I'd also like to watch good contact hitting instead of stranding runners. There needs to be some balance. The Yankees can still be the Bronx Bombers, but can also get some guys that can just put the ball in play and Yoshida could be that guy.

If Yoshida is posted as expected, he will have 30 days to negotiate with MLB clubs and international spending limits will not be an obstacle due to his age and service time. He's an interesting option for many teams, and should be for the Yankees even if they re-sign Judge because he is a left-handed bat and he could be another option if Andrew Benintendi does not return.

It's time for the Yankees to think outside of the box, because what've been doing just hasn't been working.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj