The New York Yankees faced and are still facing an injury crisis, but soon a lot of their stars will be back. However, it will likely be three outfielders to return next. How will the Yankees work this out? Also, once Didi Gregorius comes back, which infielder will go?
The decisions:
Clint Frazier will be returning from a brief IL stint on Monday, and the Yankees sent Stephen Tarpley down for the corresponding move. But, Tarpley isn’t an outfielder, he’s a pitcher.
Tyler Wade has currently been playing the outfield, but I believe that he will begin to play the infield again. People thought for sure though that Mike Tauchman would go once Frazier returns, but Aaron Boone has confirmed that his time as a Yankee has not expired just yet.
Once Aaron Hicks returns in ~10 days, it will certainly be Tauchman’s time to go. A .176 average ain’t gonna cut it in the MLB, especially with Cameron Maybin hitting .333 while playing good defense. Maybin will 100% stay over Tauchman. Maybin is a proven outfielder with a lot of MLB experience.
But once Giancarlo Stanton returns, sometime shortly after Hicks, it will likely be Maybin’s time to go. They may be able to trade Maybin and get some cash or a prospect, because he deserves a spot on a MLB team, but won’t have one with a healthy Yankee squad.
Didi will begin his rehab assignment in a few weeks, and once he returns it will either be Tyler Wade’s or Gio Urshela’s time to go. Didi should be on the active roster in about a month or so.
I think that it should be Wade that goes because, well, Urshela has outplayed him in almost every aspect. Wade is a great base-runner and is very aggressive, but Urshela is more defensively sound and boasts a .338 batting average.
Wade just hasn’t proven himself enough to maintain a spot on a healthy roster, and needs to hit better to spend more time in the MLB. He is also beginning to run low on minor league options, so that could potentially be a problem in the near future.
And once you remove Wade, Gleyber can shift back to second and DJ can be the utility man the Yankees wanted.
Once more players become healthy, the Yankees will face several tough roster decisions. But, Brian Cashman doesn’t make very many bad decisions and you should trust that he will continue to make the right ones.