Paul Goldschmidt’s Yankees return ‘complicates’ Ben Rice’s role

TAMPA — Ben Rice may not want to lose his catcher’s gear just yet.

While the emerging slugger is still slated to be the regular Yankees first baseman this season, the re-signing of Paul Goldschmidt as a veteran backup could also lead to a few more starts behind the plate for Rice, according to manager Aaron Boone.

“I don’t anticipate it affecting Rice because we think Rice is a star and we think he’s going to mash in the middle of the lineup for a long time,” Boone said Sunday on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM.

“Before we signed Goldy back, I was thinking Rice is truly our third catcher [behind Austin Wells and J.C. Escarra]. Protect you late in the game if you make an aggressive move with the bench or whatever, you got that coverage. Now, it probably pushes him a little more into — I don’t expect a lot — but somewhat more of a catching role. There’s tough lefty days, we’re going to want Goldy in there, we could put Ben behind the plate because we feel he’s going to hold his own too against lefties. 

“So it complicates it there a little bit, but to finish off our roster with a really good player [in Goldschmidt], we felt like we had to do it.”

Boone acknowledged that Goldschmidt “wasn’t necessarily the perfect fit” — a right-handed hitting outfielder would have been more useful given the composition of their projected roster — but the Yankees opted to go for what they felt was the best player available in free agency to help balance out their left-handed lean.

Goldschmidt crushed left-handed pitching last season, posting a .981 OPS, though the Yankees have said they want to let the lefty-hitting Rice — who started 46 games at first base, 26 at catcher and 48 at DH in 2025 — face his fair share of lefties this year as well.

While the signing of Goldschmidt to a one-year, $4 million deal, as noti.group’s Jon Heyman reported, should not affect Rice’s overall playing time, it could have some ripple effects down the rest of the roster, particularly with how the Yankees make up their bench.

If everyone stays healthy through spring training, the Yankees bench will likely include Goldschmidt, Amed Rosario and two of Escarra, Oswaldo Cabrera and Jasson Domínguez.

Escarra still projects as the true backup catcher, though depending on how often the Yankees would play Rice there, that could change.

Cabrera and Domínguez are both switch-hitters who are better from the left side, though the Yankees may need Cabrera more as a backup shortstop to José Caballero (since they did not seem comfortable playing Rosario there last season).

Boone, meanwhile, indicated that a strict bench role was unlikely for Domínguez (and top outfield prospect Spencer Jones).

“Probably not in either situation a case where we’d want them as bench pieces — that doesn’t mean there’s not a scenario where they’re part of a true rotation where there’s real regular playing time,” Boone said. “But there’s a lot to still happen between now and when we break camp in late March.”