New York Yankees Star Free Agent Addition Was Reportedly Top Target of Brewers

The New York Yankees are loving life with their offseason addition, but he almost wasn't available for them to sign.

Apr 17, 2025; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; New York Yankees first base Paul Goldschmidt (48) scores a run against the Tampa Bay Rays during the first inning at George M. Steinbrenner Field | Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

The New York Yankees knew they needed to upgrade first base.

Anthony Rizzo, who was solid in 2021 after being acquired at the trade deadline during that year, became a shell of himself following a dominant showing in 2022 when he bashed 32 homers and had 75 RBI to go along with an OPS+ that was 30 points above the league average.

After Juan Soto signed with the New York Mets during the offseason, the Yankees used the money they had set aside for the superstar and spent it on other areas of their roster.

While Max Fried was the most notable addition, many pointed to the signing of Paul Goldschmidt as one that could pay major dividends.

Thus far, that has been the case.

Goldschmidt is slashing a ridiculous .365/.417/.471 with an OPS+ of 156 entering Monday's action, and while he has only hit one longball with 10 RBI, the output he has produced thus far is a huge upgrade over what New York had been getting the past two years.

It's hard to imagine where this Yankees team would be without the veteran slugger, and according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, they almost had to live in that reality since the Milwaukee Brewers were prepared to strongly go after Goldschmidt.

"The Brewers were planning to pounce on free agent first baseman Paul Goldschmidt this winter if Rhys Hoskins opted out of his contract, believing he'd have a huge bounce-back season," the insider wrote.

But Rhys Hoskins decided to stay so the Brewers no longer had a need, and that allowed New York to sign the 2022 NL MVP to a reasonable one-year, $12.5 million contract.

At some point, the Yankees will hope the power returns to Goldschmidt's bat.

Even during his "struggling" season in 2024 where he was only one percentage point below the league average in OPS+, he still hit 22 homers and drove in 65 runs.

There is reason to believe a slugging increase will happen.

When excluding the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign, Goldschmidt has hit 20-plus home runs every year since 2014, blasting 30 or more in six out of those nine seasons.

Either way, what New York has gotten from the 15-year veteran has been exceptional, and they should be thanking Hoskins and Milwaukee that they were able to sign him.