Report: Dom Smith Opts Out of Yankees Contract Ahead of 2025 MLB Season

As teams trim their rosters with the regular season set to begin next week, Dominic Smith will become a free agent two months after joining the New York Yankees on a minor-league deal.

Per Robert Murray of FanSided, Smith has opted out of his contract with the Yankees.

The Yankees released an updated lineup for Friday's spring training game against the Detroit Tigers. The original lineup card had Smith hitting fifth and playing DH, but he was replaced in the revised lineup by T.J. Rumfield.

Smith signed with the Yankees in January after finishing the 2024 season with the Cincinnati Reds.

SNY's Andy Martino noted on Friday that New York had to add Smith to its 40-man roster by the end of the day, otherwise he would have 24 hours to opt out.

The decision by Smith to opt out suggests he wasn't going to make the roster, or at least wasn't going to be with the big-league club when camp breaks.

There was some thought the Yankees might need to carry an extra first baseman to start the season because of Paul Goldschmidt's uncertain status. The 2022 NL MVP was removed from Monday's spring training game against the Toronto Blue Jays in the third inning with a sore back, but he didn't sound concerned it was a major problem.

"My back has just been a little sore, so he just made the decision to stop there after three innings," Goldschmidt told reporters. "I can play a few innings; I could have probably played the whole game. In Spring Training, you just try to be smart. This was probably a time [when] there’s no need to push through something and make it more sore."

Goldschmidt said on Friday he will be back in the lineup on Saturday against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Smith was having a solid spring for the Yankees. He hit .297/.289/.568 with three homers in 37 at-bats across 13 games.

A first-round pick by the New York Mets in 2013, Smith has struggled to carve out a regular role at the MLB level. He has posted negative FanGraphs' wins above replacement totals four times in eight seasons since 2017.

Smith's best stretch came in two-season span from 2019 to '20 when he posted a .299/.366/.571 slash line with 21 homers across 139 games. The 29-year-old hit .233/.313/.378 in 93 games between the Reds and Boston Red Sox in 2024.