Service time manipulation is nothing new, although it is still criticized by many circles in the baseball industry. Teams often keep their players off the major league roster for a determinate period of time in hopes of securing an extra year of team control down the road. According to an agent, the New York Yankees are performing the practice with a young slugger.
Miguel Andujar’s agent Ulises Cabrera hinted that the New York Yankees may be handling his client with this particular objective in mind, according to a report from The Athletic’s Lindsey Adler.
“For him not to be playing Major League Baseball games at this stage of the year, especially after he’s just demonstrated that he’s still physically capable of giving higher-than-average production, it’s extremely frustrating to not be suiting up every night in New York,” Cabrera told Adler.
The primary issue with Andujar is that he offers the Yankees absolutely no defensive value whatsoever: not at his natural third base nor in left field, where he has been tried this season in an effort to increase his versatility.
His overall batting line (.242/.277/.355) may not be very impressive, but he was turning his season around in the last few games. Another problem is that the Yankees have many DH-types like Andujar, but with a better and more complete offensive profile, most notably Giancarlo Stanton.
“Although his dream from the very beginning was to do so in pinstripes, that doesn’t take priority over just playing baseball. Miguel Andujar should be playing for a Major League Baseball team, and a Major League Baseball game, tonight.”
Up and down through the Yankees’ ladder
He has been up and down between the Yankees big league roster and the alternate training site for much of the season. General manager Brian Cashman said that Andujar is currently down because the club needed bodies in the middle infield, where he can’t play.
But Cabrera seems to think that the Yankees are keeping him down with the intention of controling him for a longer period of time.
“If I were the general manager for the New York Yankees, I would certainly want to do what’s best for the New York Yankees and control the assets as long as I possibly could,” Cabrera explained. “They said at the time that that wasn’t the reason why he was being sent down. So, I guess we have to take their word for it. Right?”
According to Cashman, Andujar could still be eligible for Super Two status and enter arbitration after this season.