It was always an expectation that MLB players would begin to contract COVID-19 as the restart plan activated. The virality of the illness simply makes it unrealistic to believe otherwise. The New York Yankees have already begun to deal with multiple players testing positive, including DJ LeMahieu and Luis Cessa.
The latest to contract a virus is Aroldis Chapman, star closer for the Yankees. What does this mean? He becomes a third player on the team to test positive and could very well miss the beginning of the regular season.
“We did have a player test positive, it was Aroldis Chapman, so he is not at camp. He’s got mild symptoms but overall is doing well,” Boone said. “He will not be here for the foreseeable future. Beyond that, I’m not going to get into commenting much on him.”
So far, Chapman and Cessa are the only two players showing symptoms, while LeMahieu remains asymptomatic.
They will have to test negative on multiple occasions to return to regular baseball activity, but the lack of practice will undoubtedly hurt their progression leading up to a July 23 Opening Day against the Washington Nationals.
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What New York Yankees players could replace both LeMahieu and Chapman?
With the expectation that both significant players will miss time, let’s take a look at several options that could supplement their losses.
For the DJ at second base, two options really stand out. Both Tyler Wade and Thairo Estrada leads the pack in terms of supplementing.
While Wade is more useful on the base paths, he’s a solid defender who can play second base adequately in the short term. He has been waiting for this opportunity to make an influence, but his lack of offense has held him back significantly. For his career, Wade has a .197/.268/.298 slash line, which took a nice jump in 2019 to .245/.330/.362.
Estrada is another exciting player, who has launched two home runs during intrasquad exhibition games this spring training 2.0—in 2019, Estrada and 64 at-bats, hitting .250 with three homers and 12 RBIs. He played 17 games at second base, committing zero errors and logging a perfect fielding percentage.
I prefer the Yankees utilize Estrada as a starting player in the meantime over Wade, who should be primarily a pinch-runner.
As for Chapman, Zack Britain represents the best alternative. Manager Aaron Boone stated that Britton will take over as the closer if Chapman isn’t ready to start the regular season. He is the natural choice considering his experience and efficiency in the role.