Yankees outfield surplus opens door for White Sox dream reclamation target

As Spring Training games continue and MLB teams prepare to cut their rosters down to 26 players by Opening Day, a few straggler free agents are still finding their new home. The Yankees added outfielder Randal Grichuk on a minor league deal to compete for an outfield spot, and the move further casts doubt on the roster spot of a former top prospect. The Yankees could now look to move outfielder Jasson Dominguez, a former top 100 prospect who has yet to put things together at the big league level, and I believe the White Sox make a ton of sense. 

Dominguez, 23, signed with the Yankees out of the Domincan Republic back in 2019 for an eye-opening $5.1 million at age 16. Dominguez impressed scouts with his excellent power and mature approach from a young age, and he posted solid production at each minor league level, despite being younger than the competition. By 2022, Dominguez had established himself as one of the top prospects in all of baseball, and he made his big league debut in 2023. A home run off Justin Verlander in his first ever MLB game, followed by three more over the next seven games got his career off to an excellent start, but an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery killed his momentum. 

Dominguez returned for 18 major league games at the end of 2024, where he posted just a .617 OPS. The Yankees opened a spot for Dominguez to take over as an everyday player in 2025, but he didn’t make the progress the team hoped. Dominguez slashed .257/.331/.388 and hit just ten home runs in 123 games last season. It wasn’t a terrible showing, but it wasn’t the large step forward the Yankees anticipated with Dominguez back and healthy. 

There remained some positives to Dominguez’s game in 2025 despite his overall underwhelming season. His bat speed ranked in the 80th percentile and he made a good amount of hard contact. His 9.6% walk rate was still solid, but he struck out more than 25% of the time and did struggle with chasing pitches out of the zone at times. On defense, Dominguez demonstrated elite arm strength and excellent speed, but struggled to consistently take good routes to the ball and graded well below average in the outfield. The Yankees outfield group of Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham, Giancarlo Stanton, and the newly signed Randal Grichuk make it tough to envision a roster spot for Dominguez.  

Dominguez could be the ideal reclamation target for the White Sox

If the Yankees look to trade the outfielder, I think the White Sox should consider a pursuit. He’s just 23 years old and would provide a young, controllable option at a position with a lot of questions about it’s future. The White Sox added Everson Pereira this offseason to be a high-upside reclamation project, but Pereira has dealt with nagging injuries this spring and has yet to appear in a Cactus League game. The White Sox will have to make a decision on Pereira, who is out of options, with potentially minimal in-game evaluations. Cutting Pereira would almost certainly mean veteran OF Derek Hill, known mostly for his defense, would make the roster and severely limit the offensive upside of the group. If the White Sox could land a player like Dominguez, who isn’t far removed from his days of being viewed as a potential superstar, it would seriously increase the ceiling of the White Sox outfield. 

It’s unclear what it might take to get a deal done, but the Yankees asking price would undoubtedly be high for a 23 year-old outfielder with several very strong tools. White Sox fans would probably be uncomfortable with the price, since it would almost certainly cost a controllable arm and more. But it’s a gamble I believe would be worth taking. 

The White Sox are in a position to add as much upside as possible and trust their newly established player development staff to get the best out of it. A dream scenario may have just opened up, and Chris Getz would be silly to let it pass him by without due diligence.