Isiah Kiner-Falefa enters free agency this winter and while he has interest in returning to the Yankees, he understands that his time in pinstripes may be over.this season on September 21, a chopper down the third base line from Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk that ended the eighth inning.
“Being in there for Gerrit’s last outing against Toronto, with me at third base, meant a lot,” Kiner-Falefa told NJ Advance Media this weekend in Kansas City. “I took that in and the crowd was pretty good that night too.”There weren’t too many instances over Kiner-Falefa’s two-season tenure with the Yankees where he received that kind of reception.
Bring up Kiner-Falefa’s ability to produce in his second season with the team, overcoming his poor first impression at shortstop in 2022, and he’ll stop you in your tracks. While he’s dripping in pride about what he was able to accomplish, pointing out how much his mental toughness has grown in the last 18 months, he’s also frustrated with the numbers that he finished the season with, bummed out that he wasn’t able to play more down the stretch .
Boone added that he can absolutely envision a scenario where IKF returns to the Yankees next year, although for IKF, his place on the depth chart is a red flag. There are other organizations that can promise Kiner-Falefa regular playing time, possibly in the form of a multi-year contract.