Yankees lineup shows Aaron Boone still hasn't learned from past failures

The New York Yankees spent all winter swearing up and down that they were going to give budding star Ben Rice every opportunity to be the team's every-day first baseman in 2026 rather than platooning him with Paul Goldschmidt. It took them all of two games to go back on their word.

With the San Francisco Giants running lefty Robbie Ray to the mound for Friday's game at Oracle Park, Aaron Boone has countered with several right-handed bats off the bench. Amed Rosario for Ryan McMahon at third and Randal Grichuk for Trent Grisham in the outfield make enough sense, sure; but leading off with Goldschmidt and chaining Rice to the bench? You can bet that Yankees fans are going to be irate — and to be honest, they have a right to be, especially after how last season ended.

Yankees are still playing unnecessary games with Ben Rice

Of course, by the numbers, Boone has a pretty solid case. For as good as Rice was in his sophomore season — and he was great, slashing .255/.337/.499 with even better underlying numbers — he was notably worse against left-handed pitching, with an OPS (.752) more than 100 points worse than his mark against righties (.860). Goldschmidt, on the other hand, has consistently hit lefties well even in the twilight of his career, with a .981 mark last season. Again: Staring at a spreadsheet, this is probably the right call, and this sort of strict platooning has become more and more a part of the modern game.

But this isn't about spreadsheets, and it's also not about just one game. Even amid a breakout season, New York seemed curiously reluctant to fully trust Rice at times last year: The team benched him in Game 1 of the Wild Card round against a tough lefty in Garrett Crochet, and did so again in its season-ending loss to the Blue Jays in Game 4 of the ALDS. They were decisions at odds with Rice's growing importance to the future of the franchise — which is why it was so encouraging when both Rice and Yankees brass spent the offseason talking him up as the team's every-day first baseman.

Which doesn't mean he has to play literally every day. Goldschmidt is on this roster for a reason; he still has value in a bench role, and it's understandable enough to run him out against at least some lefties in order to play the matchups and give Rice a break. But doing so in the second game of the season, when everyone's fresh and healthy, suggests that all that talk was just that. Which is a worrying sign: Because at this point, Rice is one of New York's very best hitters, full stop. And he needs to be treated as such, not just because of his talent (a .752 OPS against lefties is hardly awful for such a young hitter!) but because of how significant his development is for the Yankees moving forward.

Yankees need Ben Rice to become the bridge to a post-Aaron Judge era

As Yankees fans love to mention at every opportunity, New York has a bit of a developmental problem. The team's pitching machine continues to churn apace, with Cam Schlittler and Will Warren already in the Majors and exciting young arms like Carlos Lagrange and Elmer Rodriguez behind them. Hitting, though, is another matter — unless someone like Anthony Volpe or Jasson Dominguez breaks out this season, it's been a long time since Brian Cashman oversaw a homegrown hitter of real significance not named Aaron Judge. (Granted, "possibly the greatest right-handed hitter of all time" is quite the caveat, but still.)

Which is what makes Rice's meteoric rise over the past 12 months or so such an exciting development. This is the kind of middle-of-the-order bat that the Yankees, for a variety of reasons, have been left to fill via free agency or trade in recent years. Finding their own — courtesy of a 12th-round pick out of Dartmouth, no less — would be a huge coup, one that comes with significant team-building repercussions.

Of course, it becomes less of a coup if Rice remains chained to the strong side of a platoon. At a certain point, the Yankees are going to have to see if he can sink or swim — a tough ask of Boone given how urgently he needs to win to save his job, but an important one nonetheless. Rice has shown more than enough promise to warrant a longer leash against lefties, and denying him one is only setting everyone back.