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ARLINGTON, Texas — On Monday’s episode of “The Show,” New York Post columnist Joel Sherman pushed back on co-host Jon Heyman’s idea that the New York Yankees trade for Texas Rangers shortstop Corey Seager, saying New York would be buying “the last five injury-prone years” of Seager’s contract.
Heyman floated the trade in a Sunday column, calling it a long-shot play. He suggested New York acquire Seager with the idea of moving him to third base, or keep him at shortstop and shift rookie George Lombard Jr. to third.
Neither host reported trade talks between the clubs during the segment. MLB.com’s Nov. 9 hot stove roundup said Heyman’s column also reported he has heard the Rangers will consider trading Seager, Jacob deGrom, and Nathan Eovaldi this offseason. The Post promoted a clip of the exchange Tuesday afternoon.
Sherman introduced the topic by recalling February 2004, when Texas traded reigning American League MVP Alex Rodriguez to New York. The Yankees moved Rodriguez to third base and kept Derek Jeter at shortstop.
Seager has played six major league games at third base, all with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2015. Lombard, the 26th overall pick in the 2023 draft, debuted Aug. 4 and hit .237 with seven home runs in 42 games, all of them at shortstop.
Sherman did not dispute that New York needs offense. He said Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner’s year-to-year push to hold down spending has cost the club, and that the Yankees “just blew it” last year.
“Can I agree with the thesis and not agree with the player?” Sherman said. “I think the thesis is right.”
Joel Sherman Points To Corey Seager’s Injuries And 2026 Decline
Seager hit .227/.312/.424 with 20 home runs and 51 RBI in 102 games in 2026. Injuries also held him to 102 games in 2025, when he hit .271/.373/.487 with 21 homers.
After the season, Seager had surgery to remove a bone chip in his elbow, Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News reported. Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young said Seager played the final few months with the elbow problem, and the Rangers expect him back for spring training.
Seager’s injured list history is the first part of Sherman’s concern. Back trouble is the part that would scare him most.
“Seager has been on the IL nine times over the last four years,” Sherman explained. “He’s been on it three times in each of the last two.”
Seager turns 33 on April 27, making 2027 his age-33 season. He signed the 10-year, $325 million contract with Texas in December 2021, and it runs through 2031.
“He’s coming off his worst season, where he had a low batting average in the .220s, where he had a low on-base percentage in the .300s,” Sherman said.
“I recommended Seager and Freeman [Freddie Freeman] the year they were both free agents for the Yankees because I liked that they were both great hitters besides being able to hit for some power,” Sherman continued. “He struck out almost 24% of the time last year, Seager, which was by far the most. It just feels like you’re going to buy the last five injury-prone years.”
Baseball-Reference lists Seager’s 2026 strikeout rate at 23.6%.
Heyman said on the show that Sherman had written a column listing third base options that are more realistic than Seager.
“I think they need a bat badly and not a half measure,” Sherman said. “I can’t tell you who that bat is. That’s why I found your column provocative. You provided a name. I personally don’t love the name because I think he’s trending in all the wrong ways, both in performance and health.”
Aaron Judge turns 35 on April 26. Giancarlo Stanton turned 37 on Sunday.
“But I am with you to say they’re not a half measure offensively away. Their offense stunk last year. It lacked tough at-bats,” Sherman said.
“And I can’t count on Stanton at all and probably a little less on Judge just staying healthy now at 35, in his mid-30s, like he’s going to have big man injuries like Stanton,” Sherman added. “He just does. He’s big and he does everything with great force and torque. I think they need another bat.”
“You at least had the courage of your conviction to go out and tell me a name,” Sherman noted. “I keep scouring, looking for the name. I can’t find it. Except for to tell you I’d be really afraid of the last five years of Seager’s contract.”
Jon Heyman Makes His Case As Texas Rangers Weigh Payroll Moves
Seager won World Series MVP with the Dodgers in 2020 and with Texas in 2023.
“Seager is a two-time World Series [MVP]. We’re talking about a very special [player],” Heyman said. “I don’t think people realize how special he is. The other two-time MVPs of the World Series are Reggie Jackson, Sandy Koufax, and Bob Gibson. Now, he’s probably not any of those three guys, but he certainly has a Hall of Fame case.”
“The Yankees haven’t been good enough for 17 years. So, the fans want to get young superstars for nothing,” Heyman continued. “That’s their goal. But I’m trying to be, how I think they should operate this team and not worry so much about making a profit every year.”
The Yankees last won the World Series in 2009. Heyman put the franchise’s value at a conservative $10 billion, while noting that neither host is an economist.
“I thought it was a decent case, but the pushback I got from Yankee fans, they want all these young stars who make nothing,” Heyman explained. “They don’t own the team. I don’t know why they’re all concerned about the money. I guess because they know that there isn’t an endless supply.”
Seager hit 33 home runs in 2022 and 33 again in 2023, his first two seasons with Texas.
“I think they need a home run. And to me, Seager, if he has his normal season, and he probably isn’t going to have five great seasons, but if he has his normal season in Yankee Stadium, he might hit 40 home runs,” Heyman said. “So, anyway, that was my thought behind that. I just don’t see other options. And he is a great player.”
Heyman answered the injury concerns by pointing to Steinbrenner’s first year in charge, when he said the Yankees spent heavily before winning the 2009 World Series.
“I don’t think you can wait for perfection. It’s not out there,” Heyman said. “Everybody’s got something going on, right?”
“It’s the New York Yankees. They need to win the World Series,” Heyman added. “They need to stop doing these half things.”
Texas has not said it will trade Seager. Young expects the 2027 payroll to be “very similar” to 2026’s, which sat around $193 million, Kennedi Landry of MLB.com reported.
“I don’t think we are in a spot where we have to move anybody,” Young said during a Nov. 2 Zoom call with reporters. “I think we’re looking at this as what is the best thing for the Texas Rangers in 2027 and beyond.”
Later in the call, Young said the Rangers are gauging interest in their current players to understand how they could reallocate.
“Oftentimes, [you] trade one player to make yourself stronger in two different spots, and that’s what we’re looking to do,” Young said.
Grant wrote last week that the Rangers will search for trade partners for Seager and deGrom, and possibly Eovaldi. In his column, Grant wrote that the three aging players eat up $92 million of a roughly $190 million payroll.
All three players have full no-trade protection. Seager gained 10-and-5 rights by completing his fifth season with Texas. DeGrom used his no-trade clause to block a deal to the Atlanta Braves at the trade deadline.
Last December, Grant reported that the Yankees, Boston Red Sox, and Braves had inquired about Seager, but that the Rangers had not had meaningful trade talks. Young said on MLB Network Radio on Dec. 14, 2025: “We are not shopping Corey Seager, I want to make that very clear.”
Texas went 80-82 in 2026 and missed the postseason for the third straight year since winning the 2023 World Series. General managers are meeting in Las Vegas this week. The collective bargaining agreement between MLB and the players’ union expires Dec. 1.
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