The New York Yankees have been extremely hesitant to call-up one of their star prospects, in Oswald Peraza. For weeks now, the fans have been begging for a change, and yet it seems as though nothing will change. Baltimore is currently on the outside looking in, in regard to the playoff picture, but they believe in their young guys.
Today they called up the #2 prospect in all of baseball, according to MLB Pipeline, Gunnar Henderson. First, with Rutschman getting the long-awaited call, then with DL Hall briefly, and I can only imagine Grayson Rodriguez gets the call sooner than later. Meanwhile, the Yankees are choosing to accept mediocrity in the middle infield, and for a team with World Series aspirations, that cannot be the case.
Since the All-Star Break, the combination of both Gleyber Torres and Isiah Kiner-Falefa has been abhorrently bad. The shortstop position, specifically, has been putrid all season, but even more so since the ASB. The Yankees’ shortstop position ranks 29th in the league in wRC+ (51), 29th in OPS (.605), and 28th in fWAR (-0.1).
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For a month and a half, the team has been actively hurting themselves at that position just so they can continue to manipulate service time. With September Callups occurring tomorrow, if not now for Peraza, then when? How much longer can the organization continue to front the guy they prioritized hanging onto amidst this crazy trade deadline before it gets to be insulting?
The Yankees continue to settle for mediocrity:
IKF has been anything but solid this year, and it is getting to the most important portion of the year, where we cannot afford to settle for mediocrity.
For reference, Andrew Benintendi only has 31 games under his belt as a Yankee and has accumulated 0.5 fWAR in that span. IKF has played 116 games, accumulating 428 PAs in that time, and only has 0.7 fWAR to show for it. He is having a considerably less valuable year than last season (higher wRC+, 1.7 fWAR, 8 — yes, EIGHT — HRs, and far better defense with TEX).
The experiment has gone on long enough, and whilst I congratulate Marwin Gonzalez on the birth of his child, he should not be on this roster in September.
It seems as though the team may be content with what they have, and for expanded rosters, they may elect to go the tried & true route, thus meaning Tyler Wade will be back.
The team clearly have the pieces to challenge for a title, and I believe that #28 could be the Yankees’ if they simply cared enough. The Dodgers aren’t immortal, and teams can get hot when it matters most. Plus, anytime there’s the undisputed MVP in your lineup, I like the odds.
Oswald Peraza would immediately be an improvement over a black hole of a position for the squad — IKF has accumulated 0.1 fWAR in the last 30 days. Peraza has answered the call in AAA and has been dominating since June. Might as well give the kid a chance to show that the Pinstripes don’t lay too heavy on some shoulders.