Slugger Ben Rice launched 41 homers, first baseman Luis García Jr. hit 30, and designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton logged only 24 regular-season games. The New York Yankees still had four bats chasing two lineup spots in October.

“The construction of that team has to be a little bit better,” former Yankees catcher and four-time World Series champion Jorge Posada said in an interview with New York Post Sports. “We can’t have three or four DHs and three or four first basemen.” “Certain pieces are just going to stay on the field at all times,” Posada said in the same New York Post Sports piece. “So I feel like they really need to try to fill those holes.”

Stanton played only 24 regular-season games because of calf strains, yet Rice, García, and seasoned first baseman Paul Goldschmidt occupied the same two spots, leaving manager Aaron Boone with almost no defensive replacement options. Posada thinks competitors approach this in various ways.

The Tampa Bay Rays demonstrated the expensive impact of that gap by sweeping the Yankees 3-0 in the ALDS following a 93-68 season. That move increased the gap between World Series appearances to 17 seasons. The deadline restrictions account for some of the delay.

“So it’s hard to construct a team when they’re asking for your best players, and you can’t move them because, obviously, the Yankees’ system has good players coming up,” Posada said while explaining deadline limits to New York Post Sports.

General manager Brian Cashman landed García at the deadline, yet prospects George Lombard Jr. and Spencer Jones are on the big league club. Rice, outfielder Cody Bellinger, and Jones leave the lineup lefty-heavy. Posada wants a different blueprint.

“The guys who are going to do the little things to win ballgames,” Posada said in The New York Post Sports while invoking late Yankees general manager Gene Michael. “I feel like we’ve gotten away from that.”

Michael backed that talk with actions. Michael sent center fielder Roberto Kelly to the Cincinnati Reds for outfielder Paul O’Neill in 1992, then signed third baseman Wade Boggs, adding contact-heavy, walk-friendly lefties who wore down AL East pitching.

Today’s roster drifts from that model; Stanton’s future now sits at the center of that blueprint. He is due $25 million in 2027, but the Miami Marlins cover $10 million, so cutting him costs $15 million, a path taken with infielder DJ LeMahieu in 2025.

Removing Stanton would also open occasional DH turns for captain and outfielder Aaron Judge, who dealt with a rib fracture and a calf strain in 2026. With García at first base and Rice at DH, those rest days become realistic.

The Yankees already have roughly $244 million committed for 2027, per Cot’s Contracts. Yet more than $30 million departs with free agents, second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. and outfielder Trent Grisham, creating room for bullpen help and a right-handed catcher.

The market offers a few answers. Contact specialist Luis Arraez, linked to the Yankees, fits Posada’s profile, while closer David Bednar, a 2.47 ERA arm, is expected to receive a qualifying offer worth about $23.13 million.

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