‘Perfect’ Yankees third base option just hit the market (with a major catch)

If Brandon Drury was the Yankees’ knight in shining armor, he’d already be in pinstripes. The moment to make a move was March. The moment the Yankees did make a move was the 2017-18 offseason. But mid-May of 2025, in the wake of Oswaldo Cabrera’s devastating injury and Drury’s release from the Chicago white Sox, would mark a marriage of convenience, not of prosperity.

Drury, a familiar face around these parts, had a powerful 2023 season in Anaheim (26 homers! .803 OPS! 2.0 bWAR!), followed by a disastrous 2024 campaign that quite literally subtracted the exact same 2.0 bWAR from his ledger, evening him out at zero after a two-year stint. Coming off a .169 average in 97 games, he earned a flyer from baseball’s worst team this offseason … and he raked.

At White Sox spring training, Drury emerged as a star, hitting .410 with three homers in 13 games. Given the state of Chicago’s big-league roster, it seemed almost inevitable he’d earned himself an MLB shot before he went down at the tail end of camp with a broken left thumb. The Sox brought him back and allowed him to rehab on their dime, but instead he found himself in different injury hot water, exiting an April 26 game after being struck on the wrist by a pitch.

He remains in minor-league injury purgatory, enjoying his stint on the “7-day Injured List,” the most meaningless designation in sports, outside of an NHL injury report. While active, he only hit .179/.319/.282 in 47 at-bats with the Charlotte Knights. There are myriad reasons why he was released to end the week, and just as many reasons for the Yankees to avoid an awkward reunion.

Yankees must avoid ‘perfect’ third base option Brandon Drury after White Sox release

It’s an exceedingly easy pair of dots to connect. The Yankees have, and have always had, a third base vacancy in 2025. Even with Cabrera healthy, they didn’t seem set at the position. Drury is someone they targeted once upon a time who just mashed 26 home runs two seasons ago. Why wouldn’t he be next in line?

Not only is he out of commission, but there isn’t a recent major-league indicator that he’d be more valuable than DJ LeMahieu, a player potentially on his last baseball life cycle, but one the Yankees are also far more indebted to.

Perhaps if Drury had mashed in 2018, LeMahieu never would’ve been signed and plugged in as a roving Yankees infielder in the first place. But the veteran slugger botched that chance, arriving with blurred vision that complicated his journey. Was that disclosed by the Diamondbacks in the initial trade? Sure didn’t seem like it.

If the Yankees wanted Drury badly enough, they would’ve leapt at the chance during his spring training hot streak. Now, the milk has soured, and the move makes about as much sense as jumping the line for JD Davis.