The New York Yankees signed utilityman Marwin Gonzalez to a minor league deal this week. The pact also included an invitation to spring training, and the former member of the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox is already in camp.}
“You want to be on a winning team,” Gonzalez said in the clubhouse at George M. Steinbrenner Field on Tuesday morning, per SI.com. “That made it easy for me.”
Gonzalez is 33 and can play a myriad of positions for the Yankees if he makes the roster: he has experience in every position of the field except for catcher, but is most suited to play the infield corners, second base, and the outfield corners.
“I’m always open to play any position,” he added. “I’ll be ready for whatever they need from me.”
He hasn’t talked about 2017 with any of his new Yankees teammates
Gonzalez was in the middle of the sign-stealing scandal with the Astros back in 2017. In fact, he is a career .256/.313/.404 hitter with a 96 wRC+, but that year, he slashed .303/.377/.530 with a 144 wRC+.
But the newest Yankees player will not let that affect his future with the team, and he is solely focused on making the club out of camp.
“That’s been in the past,” Gonzalez said. “We’ve played four seasons after that. We’ve been facing each other and playing around so I think that that’s really in the past and I’ve talked to a lot of the guys during the games and it’s been four years.”
Gonzalez added that he hasn’t talked about the 2017 season with any of his new Yankees’ teammates, so it seems all parties are trying to leave it behind.
In the meantime, Marwin will play his first spring training game with the Yankees on Thursday, and his focus is in getting in the best possible shape with the start of the season around the corner.
“Spring training is super short, so I gotta hurry up,” Gonzalez said. “That’s the best I can do.”