In Introduction To Yankees, Paul Goldschmidt Hopeful Last Season Was An Abberation

Introductory press conferences in the early or any stage of winter for a new acquisition are a time of optimism and reflection.

And it was a theme of Paul Goldschmidt’s first official comments on Thursday since signing a one-year, $12 million deal to produce at first baseman, something the Yankees were woefully deficient at last season when they still won 94 games and their first AL pennant since Mark Teixeira hit 39 homers in the first year of an eight-year, $180 million deal in the 103-win 2009 season.

Goldschmidt is officially a Yankee and replacing Anthony Rizzo as the Yankees take a chance a former prominent National League first baseman in his late 30s, though Rizzo was in his age 32-season when first acquired from the Chicago Cubs at the 2021 trade deadline.

Goldschmidt is joining the Yankees after the worst statistical season of a stellar 14-year career that has seen him hit .289, and bat over .300 five times. The last of those .300 seasons occurred in 2022 when he hit .317 and led the National League with a .578 slugging percentage, a .981 OPS and a .177 OPS-plus en route to beating Manny Machado by 89 points to win the NL MVP.

In 2023 , a late season slump dropped his average to .268. Last season, an early rough start contributed to his career-worst .245 average. He was hitting .200 when the Cardinals came to Citi Field and took two of three in late-April and that preceded a career-worst 0-for-32 slide. Then was hitting under .230 deep into July after the Cardinals stood on the buyer/seller fringe at July.

“I didn’t play well most of the year and there are no excuses for that,” he said. “Things I did wrong got exposed. “I wasn’t hitting pitches that most of my career I had been able to connect on.”

When the Yankees saw him and lost two of three to the Cardinals on Labor Day weekend was 7-for-13 with four doubles to help St. Louis score 23 runs in the series.

It is the optimism of a late hot streak the Yankees are banking on and hoping not to hear Goldschmidt repeat comments about taking a while to get going.

“It took me a while to get back to a good position to hit,” he said. It took me longer than it ever has to get back to it.”

“I still felt like, ‘Man, I’m better than this,. That was my feeling last year, but you’ve got to go prove it. If you don’t perform, then you’re not gonna be playing.”

It has not taken the Yankees a while or longer than ever to get back at it after falling short to the Mets in the Juan Soto sweepstakes on Dec. 8. Goldschmidt is the latest prominent name to join the Yankees, who hope a veteran first baseman with a good track record until last season along with Cody Bellinger, Max Fried and Devin Williams can make the next version of the team another one who plays deep into October.

We’re gonna find out,’’ Goldschmidt said. “We definitely have the talent. The expectations are high… This team was in the World Series last year and was so close to winning it all.”

In a few months, the Yankees will hope the January optimism and eventual early spring training optimism expressed is accurate.

If there’s good news Goldschmidt does have durability on his side. In six seasons with the Cardinals, he missed a combined 35 games while Rizzo missed 165 games in his three full seasons.

And like Rizzo, Goldschmidt already seems to posses a strong bond with Aaron Judge, who can point out like a hitting coach if his various mechanics are off-kilter.

“We just stayed in touch,” Goldschmidt said. “He’s one of the best hitters in the world, maybe the best hitter, and as a right-handed power hitter, a guy that I’m very, very excited to play with and get to see him work every day.”