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Tuesday Notes: Frazier, Potential Rule Changes, Start Times

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Frazier. (Presswire)

Later today the 2019 National Baseball Hall of Fame class will be announced. MLB Network will carry the announcement live at 6pm ET. Spoiler: Mariano Rivera is getting in. Will Mike Mussina? We’ll find out soon enough. Here is the public Hall of Fame ballot tracker and here are some notes to check out.

Frazier cleared for Spring Training

As mentioned by Matt over the weekend, Clint Frazier has been cleared for Spring Training following last year’s battle with a concussion and post-concussion migraines, he announced on Twitter. Pretty great news. A few weeks ago Brian Cashman said Frazier was expected to be cleared for on-field work before camp opened and that is exactly what happened. Clint has been hitting off a tee and playing catch for a few weeks now. Now he can take everything a step forward.

Frazier, 24, hit .311/.389/.574 (170 wRC+) with ten homers in 48 Triple-A games last season. He went 9-for-34 (.265) with three doubles in four separate MLB stints. My guess is the Yankees will have him start the season back in Triple-A to get regular at-bats for at least a few weeks. There is an open bench spot though, and it wouldn’t take much for Frazier to claim it. If he does, Clint could find himself starting in left field before long. I think the Yankees hope it happens by midseason.

MLB, MLBPA meet over potential rule changes

Last week MLB and the MLBPA met to discuss potential rule changes for the upcoming season, report Ken Rosenthal (subs. req’d) and Tom Verducci. The league is again focusing on pace-of-play matters. Among the items the two sides discussed:

  • A pitch clock (18 seconds with the bases empty, 20 seconds with men on base)
  • Reducing the number of available mound visits from six to five
  • Limiting defensive shifts
  • An extra-inning tiebreaker rule for Spring Training and the All-Star Game

I can’t imagine being against a runner at second base to begin extra innings in Spring Training and the All-Star Game. Those games are meaningless. Heck, they usually call spring games a tie after nine innings anyway. Just don’t do it in regular season games. Also, I am against limiting defensive shifts. Let teams be creative. Besides, Travis Sawchik found that hitters are starting to adjust to the shift. Give them time to figure it out.

As for the pitch clock, I am all for it. There is too much standing around between pitches. Fix that. At this point many MLB pitchers have used a pitch clock in Double-A and Triple-A, so it wouldn’t require that big of an adjustment. MLB proposed a pitch clock last year, so, even if the MLBPA rejects it again this year, commissioner Rob Manfred can implement it unilaterally. It’s unclear if he’ll do that though. Pace of play is not baseball’s biggest issue. Hardly. It can be improved though, so improve it.

Yankees announce 2019 start times

Earlier this month the Yankees announced individual game start times for the 2019 regular season. You can see them all on the official site. Normally I wouldn’t pass this along, but it’s worth mentioning this year because the Yankees will have more 6:35pm ET starts for midweek home games in 2019. They experimented with the early start times last April and May and apparently they worked well, so we’ll see more of them going forward. A breakdown:

  • 43 home games on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday
  • 18 regular 7:05pm ET starts
  • 16 early 6:35pm ET starts
  • Five 1pm ET getaway day starts and one 4pm ET getaway day start
  • Three special occasion 1pm ET starts (Opening Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day)

Those 16 early starts are all in April, May, and September. When the kids are in school, basically. Personally, I love the 6:35pm ET starts. It means less sitting around waiting for the game to start, and getting RAB work (recap, etc.) done earlier. I know I’m in the minority though. Getting to Yankee Stadium after work for a 7pm ET game is tough, especially with the security lines. Instead of missing the first inning, you might miss the first three innings with the early start times. Bummer.

Thoughts on a Rainy Sunday

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(Presswire)

Good Sunday morning, readers. If you’re in the tri-state area, I hope you’re staying dry today and warm tomorrow. Today, I’ll offer a few random thoughts on the Yankees as we sit a little less than a month away from pitchers and catchers reporting.

Clint’s Comeback

This is one of the best Yankee-related tweets of the offseason. I know I’m not alone in this, but I’m incredibly excited for the return of Clint Frazier. He had just about the worst year a player can have last year and seeing him get back into the swing of things is more than enough to bring a smile to my face. Red Thunder The Panther will likely have to start out the year in the minors, but it’s not hard to see him taking over for Brett Gardner as Mike alluded to in the Friday mailbag. While Frazier shouldn’t stand in the way of signing him, one positive thing about the Yankees not signing Bryce Harper is that it keeps Frazier’s future within the organization. I’ve long been a big believer in him and his talent and, if healthy, I think he can establish himself as a big league player this year. Good luck in 2019, Clint. We’re rooting for you.

Playoff Pitching Prowess

Bobby is completely right when he says that the Yankees have one of the best rotations in baseball going into 2019. I’ve harped on this before, but the talent in the Yankee rotation is almost astounding. At peak levels, Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka, and James Paxton are aces. J.A. Happ and CC Sabathia as back end starters are great–an experienced, proven lefty and a borderline Hall of Famer? Hard to beat that. Paired with an elite bullpen, the Yankees’ pitching staff could make noise in the playoffs. There’s just one catch: they need to win the division to do that.

The Yankees are a damn good team and will likely win well north of 90 games, but will it be enough? They haven’t won a division title since 2012 and have played in three of the last four wild card games. Despite similar talent in the rotation at times, they’ve been unable to use it properly in a series because of that one game playoff.

If the Yankees manage to beat out Boston for the division title this year, they’ll finally be able to set their rotation the way they want and not have to worry about a gassed bullpen heading into the start of the ALDS. A top three of Severino, Tanaka, and Paxton is more than formidable in any series, especially a short one, and throwing Happ and/or Sabathia as long men out of the bullpen can help, too. Winning the division is much easier said than done, but it’s something the Yankees need to do to fully exploit the pitching talent they have.

(Jim McIsaac/Getty)

The Andujar Endgame 

At this point, it seems clear that the Yankees are hitching their third base wagon to Miguel Andujar. For good reason, they clearly believe in his bat. They also likely think that he can improve on defense or that they can mitigate his poor fielding through substitutions and lineup shuffling. But given how they treated him in the field in the playoffs, how long can we really buy that? Playing a significant amount of time at DH or a new position like first would probably cut down on the value Andujar has as a third baseman, even a bad one. On the other hand, his bad defense does the same thing the more he spends time at third.  And, with that aforementioned treatment in mind, are we sure that Andujar is most valuable to the Yankees as a third baseman or as a potential trade piece?

Obviously, anything can happen at any time and the Yankees could sign Manny Machado and deal Andujar at a moment’s notice, but I’m not holding my breath for that one. Hell, I’m not even waiting for it, and I’m barely bothering to hope for it.

One More Time

Despite what I said in the last bit, there’s still a part of me in disbelief that neither one of Machado or Bryce Harper isn’t a Yankee (or both!). I’ve seen people–mostly writers–make the argument that the Yankees don’t necessarily need either player because of how good they were last year, but that’s a half-truth.

Yes, the Yankees won 100 games, but it still wasn’t enough to win the division and avoid being embarrassed in the playoffs. Yes, they will win lots of games with the roster as currently constructed and could, conceivably, win the World Series with it. No, having the most talent doesn’t guarantee anything. But it helps.

The Yankees were good last year, and at times great. They have a solid young core with some good veterans mixed in. This is exactly the team and exactly the time to push over the edge in a big way. They’ve added to the team with good pieces so far, but adding great ones in Machado and/or Harper would go a long way towards helping win number 28.

It’s undeniable that the team has been improved. But it’s also undeniable that it hasn’t been improved as much as it could’ve been.

DotF: Prospects head home as winter ball seasons wrap up

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The 2018 winter ball regular season is over. The various Caribbean leagues wrapped up their regular seasons over the weekend and the postseason is now getting underway. For us, this will be the final DotF post until the 2019 minor league regular season begins in a few months. The minor league season begins April 4th, one week after the Major League season begins. DotF will return then. Here are some notes before we get to the final performance update until the regular season:

  • OF Clint Frazier (post-concussion migraines) is expected to be cleared for on-field activity by Spring Training, Brian Cashman told Bryan Hoch. “I’ve been slowly hitting, throwing, working out. For the most part, I’m ramping up to start doing some overhand BP, just trying to get the timing right, get the facility work out. I’m pretty much full tilt whenever I’m ready to go,” said Frazier during a recent YES Network interview (video link).
  • Baseball America (subs. req’d) named ten players who could have a breakout 2019 season if they stay healthy. OF Estevan Florial is among them. “The strikeouts and pitch recognition issues are red flags for Florial, but he also broke the hamate bone in his right wrist in May—a possible mitigating factor in Florial’s season, especially given the lack of game power despite above-average raw power. Being a year removed from that injury and facing Double-A pitching for the first time will make 2019 a pivotal year for Florial,” says the write-up.
  • The MLB.com crew listed one breakout prospect for each team in 2019. RHP Albert Abreu got the nod for the Yankees. “If healthy in ’19, Abreu has three pitches — a fastball, breaking ball and changeup — that all grade out as plus and could help him quickly climb through the Yankees’ system,” says the write-up.
  • Jonathan Mayo ranked the top 15 prospects traded this offseason. LHP Justus Sheffield (No. 1), RHP Erik Swanson (No. 4), OF Dom Thompson-Williams (No. 7) all made the list. The Yankees sent those three to the Mariners in the James Paxton trade.

Arizona Fall League

  • IF Thairo Estrada: 19 G, 19-for-80 (.238), 9 R, 2 2B, 7 RBI, 4 BB, 15 K, 1 CS, 1 HBP (.238/.282/.263)
  • OF Estevan Florial: 21 G, 13-for-73 (.178), 10 R, 2 2B, 2 3B, 8 RBI, 12 BB, 29 K, 2 SB, 1 CS (.178/.294/.260)
  • 1B Steven Sensley: 21 G, 15-for-76 (.197), 4 R, 3 2B, 1 3B, 9 RBI, 4 BB, 26 K, 1 CS, 2 HBP (.197/.256/.263)
  • RHP Jordan Foley: 7 G, 7 GS, 19.2 IP, 20 H, 20 R, 20 ER, 19 BB, 20 K, 2 HR, 1 HB, 2 WP (9.15 ERA and 1.98 WHIP) — the Yankees traded him to the Rockies soon after the AzFL season ended
  • RHP Hobie Harris: 9 G, 15 IP, 14 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 7 BB, 16 K, 1 HR, 2 WP (4.20 ERA and 1.40 WHIP)
  • RHP Matt Wivinis: 11 G, 12 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 6 BB, 14 K, 1 HB, 1 WP (1.50 ERA and 1.00 WHIP)
  • RHP Kyle Zurak: 9 G, 9.1 IP, 16 H, 15 R, 12 ER, 10 BB, 3 K, 3 HR, 3 WP (11.57 ERA and 2.79 WHIP)

[Read more…]

Bryce Harper and the fallacy of having too many outfielders

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(Scott Taetsch/Getty)

Last week at the Winter Meetings, Brian Cashman and Scott Boras had a weird little back-and-forth in the media about free agent Bryce Harper. Cashman said the Yankees don’t need an outfielder and thus don’t need Harper. Boras more or less laughed that off. He wants the Yankees involved for leverage purposes, if nothing else, and of course Cashman is going downplay interest in any free agent.

“At no point all winter have I said I am looking for an outfielder. The Harper stuff, I am surprised you are still asking,” said Cashman to George King. “I have Judge, Stanton, Ellsbury, Gardner, Frazier, Hicks. Ellsbury will be healthy and Frazier will be healthy (but even if we) take them out, I have Hicks in center and Stanton, who is athletic as hell, as the DH because Judge is in right and I have Gardner in left.”

“I’ve never heard the Yankees say (they don’t need an outfielder),” Boras shot back to Ken Davidoff. “As far as the Yankees and what discussions I, Hal (Steinbrenner), and Cash have had, I will leave that to our own … The Yankees are very adept. They’re smart. They are going to do something, and I think they can earnestly tell you that right now they’re not doing it and have every intention of doing something else when it’s best for them to do it.”

On paper, the Yankees do not need an outfielder. Aaron Judge and Aaron Hicks are locked into two of the three outfield spots. Brett Gardner is more of a platoon guy and a part-time player at this point of his career, but, even then, the Yankees have Giancarlo Stanton for the third outfield spot. Jacoby Ellsbury is owed a ton of money and Clint Frazier is a former top prospect who could very well claim an everyday outfield job by midseason.

The outfield — and thus Harper — does not appear to be a priority at this point. Now that J.A. Happ is back on board, the Yankees need a middle infielder and bullpen help more than anything. That is an oversimplification, however, and it completely ignores Harper being a just turned 26-year-old star. I think he’s a generational talent. Players who hit .279/.388/.512 (139 OPS+) with 184 (!) homers and +27 WAR through their age 25 season are extremely rare.

As far as I’m concerned, Harper (and Manny Machado) is the type of player you bring in no matter what. You sign him when you have the chance because the chance to sign a player like this doesn’t come around often, and you make the roster work around him. Four things derail this “the Yankees don’t room in the outfield for Harper” fallacy that somehow came to exist:

  1. Gardner can easily be moved to the bench to open up left field.
  2. Cashman himself admitted Ellsbury may not be ready for Opening Day after hip surgery.
  3. Frazier is coming back from concussion issues and remains unproven at the MLB level.
  4. There is life beyond 2019.

Imagine passing on a talent like Harper because you believe you already have six Major League caliber outfielders, and three of them are Gardner, Ellsbury, and Frazier? Goodness. Gardner is best used in moderation these days and he was moved into a bench role following the Andrew McCutchen trade this year. He can be moved to the bench in deference to Harper too. Ellsbury? Frazier? Who knows. The Yankees can’t count on them for anything at this point.

I mean, we all watched this past season, right? The Yankees went into Spring Training with the exact same outfield depth chart as the one they have right now, except Ellsbury and Frazier were healthy, and they had Billy McKinney too. Lots of outfielders! Nine games into the season Jace Peterson was starting in left field. Nine games. Depth at even the deepest positions can evaporate quickly.

That fourth point seems to be a forgotten one too. Whoever signs Harper is not just signing Harper for 2019. He’s getting multiple years. Maybe as many as 10-12 years. Both Hicks and Gardner will be free agents next offseason, and, in two offseasons, Ellsbury will be a free agent and Stanton could opt out of his contract. It is possible if not likely the Yankees will be looking for two everyday outfielders in eleven months. No room for Harper? Please.

And let’s not forget about the first base option. That doesn’t only apply to Harper either. Judge and Stanton are quite literally giants and who knows how their legs will hold up over the years? Running around the outfield at that size doesn’t seem like something they’ll be able to do long-term. First base (or DH) could be their ultimate destinations, further creating a need in the outfield. Point is, there are a lot — a lot — of ways to clear outfield space for Harper.

I don’t believe Cashman was being sincere when he listed six outfielders as evidence the Yankees don’t need Harper. The Yankees have to downplay their interest in Harper because, if they don’t, Boras will take them to the cleaners. Cashman knows the Yankees can fit Harper into their outfield. The question, as always, is money. Are the Yankees willing to spend what it takes? If yes, the “we have too many outfielders” talking point will disappear in a hurry.

DotF: Albert Abreu, Nestor Cortes wrap up winter ball stints

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The Arizona Fall League season wrapped up nearly a month ago now, but the various Caribbean winter league seasons are still going strong. Here are some minor league notes, including a pair of injury updates, before we get to the performance updates:

  • OF Clint Frazier (concussion) has resumed baseball activities, he announced on Twitter. Hooray for that. Here’s some video. Frazier said he’s been at it for a few weeks now and that is good news. Seems to me he’s on track to be a full participant in Spring Training.
  • RHP Ben Heller (Tommy John surgery) either has started throwing off a mound as part of his rehab or will begin doing so shortly, according to his Twitter feed. Heller had surgery to repair his elbow ligament and also remove a bone spur from his elbow in April. He’s probably looking at a May or June return to game action.
  • The Yankees have announced the OF Tyler Hill trade. The Tigers selected him in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 Draft last week then sent him to New York for cash considerations. “He’s a super athlete and is an under-the-radar baseball player,” said a scout to Kevin Kernan.
  • Triple-A Scranton will host the 2020 Triple-A All-Star Game at PNC Field, the team announced. It is the second Triple-A All-Star Game in Scranton and the first since the ballpark was renovated in 2012. Scranton hosted the 1995 Triple-A All-Star Game as a Phillies affiliate.

Arizona Fall League (stats are final)

  • IF Thairo Estrada: 19 G, 19-for-80 (.238), 9 R, 2 2B, 7 RBI, 4 BB, 15 K, 1 CS, 1 HBP (.238/.282/.263)
  • OF Estevan Florial: 21 G, 13-for-73 (.178), 10 R, 2 2B, 2 3B, 8 RBI, 12 BB, 29 K, 2 SB, 1 CS (.178/.294/.260)
  • 1B Steven Sensley: 21 G, 15-for-76 (.197), 4 R, 3 2B, 1 3B, 9 RBI, 4 BB, 26 K, 1 CS, 2 HBP (.197/.256/.263)
  • RHP Jordan Foley: 7 G, 7 GS, 19.2 IP, 20 H, 20 R, 20 ER, 19 BB, 20 K, 2 HR, 1 HB, 2 WP (9.15 ERA and 1.98 WHIP)
  • RHP Hobie Harris: 9 G, 15 IP, 14 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 7 BB, 16 K, 1 HR, 2 WP (4.20 ERA and 1.40 WHIP)
  • RHP Matt Wivinis: 11 G, 12 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 6 BB, 14 K, 1 HB, 1 WP (1.50 ERA and 1.00 WHIP)
  • RHP Kyle Zurak: 9 G, 9.1 IP, 16 H, 15 R, 12 ER, 10 BB, 3 K, 3 HR, 3 WP (11.57 ERA and 2.79 WHIP)

[Read more…]

Taking stock of the 2019 Yankees with two months to go until Spring Training

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Where does Bird fit in? (Omar Rawlings/Getty)

At the moment the Yankees are a little more than halfway through their offseason. It has been 68 days since their ALDS Game Four loss and there are 58 days to go until pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training. Hooray for being closer to Spring Training than the ALDS. Baseball is approaching.

The Yankees have been fairly busy this offseason, most notably adding James Paxton and re-signing several players (Brett Gardner, J.A. Happ, CC Sabathia). They also added some depth pieces through waiver claims and minor trades. Still on the offseason to-do list is find a Didi Gregorius replacement and also bolster the bullpen. That’s the short version. There are still other needs as well.

With the Winter Meetings over and the Yankees slightly more than halfway through their offseason, I figured this was as good a time as any to take a step back and examine the current state of the roster. The projected 25-man Opening Day roster, that is. Here’s what we know right now:

Catcher Infielders Outfielders Rotation Bullpen
Gary Sanchez 1B Luke Voit LF Brett Gardner J.A. Happ Dellin Betances
2B G. Torres/OPEN CF Aaron Hicks James Paxton Aroldis Chapman
SS G. Torres/OPEN RF Aaron Judge CC Sabathia Chad Green
3B Miguel Andujar OF Giancarlo Stanton Luis Severino Jonathan Holder
Masahiro Tanaka OPEN
BENCH DISABLED LIST OPEN
Austin Romine Didi Gregorius LIMBO OPEN
OPEN Ben Heller Jacoby Ellsbury OPEN
OPEN Jordan Montgomery Sonny Gray

Also on the 40-man roster: RHP Albert Abreu, RHP Domingo Acevedo, RHP Chance Adams, RHP Parker Bridwell, RHP Luis Cessa, RHP A.J. Cole, RHP Domingo German, RHP Joe Harvey, RHP Tommy Kahnle, RHP Jonathan Loaisiga, LHP Stephen Tarpley, C Kyle Higashioka, IF Hanser Alberto, 1B Greg Bird, IF Thairo Estrada, UTIL Tyler Wade, UTIL Tim Locastro, OF Clint Frazier.

That is a sneaky number of OPEN spots! I count seven. Four in the bullpen, two on the bench, and one at either second base or shortstop. The Yankees of course have in-house options for those seven OPEN spots and, in some cases, the in-house options are preferable to spending on a back of the roster player(s). Why spend money on a utility infielder who is no lock to perform better than Wade or Albert or Locastro, you know?

There are 18 healthy players on the 40-man roster who are not part of my projected big league roster in that table. We can drop those 18 players into one of five buckets. Let’s do exactly that.

1. Going to the minors (4). I think we can safely assume Abreu, Acevedo, Higashioka, and Estrada are going to begin 2019 in the minors. Higashioka is the third catcher and both Abreu and Acevedo have development remaining. They’re not MLB ready. Estrada missed basically the entire 2018 season with various injuries and needs to catch up on lost at-bats. The Yankees have plenty of other infield options.

2. Out of options (6). Six of those 18 players can not be sent to the minors next year without passing through waivers: Alberto, Bridwell, Cessa, Cole, German, and Kahnle. Chances are a few of these guys will be gone before Spring Training begins — the Yankees still have to open a 40-man spot for Happ, for example — but they’re on the roster right now, so they get dropped in this bucket.

Being out of options does not guarantee a player an MLB roster spot but it can be a tiebreaker. If, for example, the final bench spot comes down to Alberto or Wade, it could go to Alberto because he can’t be sent down and Wade can. Give the Yankees a truth serum and I think they’d tell you they want German (long man/spot starter) and Kahnle (middle reliever) to shove in Spring Training and grab bullpen spots. But, if Bridwell or Cessa or Cole appear to be better options, then they’ll get the Opening Day bullpen assignments.

3. Other bullpen candidates (4). Adams, Harvey, Loaisiga, and Tarpley are bullpen candidates in addition to those out-of-options arms. Tarpley strikes me as most likely to win an Opening Day roster spot simply based on the fact he impressed enough in September to get an ALDS roster spot. Also, he and Chapman are the only lefty relievers on the 40-man roster, and Chapman’s the closer. He’s not going to be brought into a sixth inning matchup situation. Left-on-left relievers are largely disappearing from baseball, but Tarpley could crack the Opening Day roster.

Tarpley. (Getty)

My hunch is the Yankees want Loaisiga to go to Triple-A to begin next year. He impressed in his four-start cameo this summer (not so much in September) but the kid has never pitched in Triple-A and he has 196 career innings to his credit. I don’t think the Yankees would hesitate to carry Loaisiga in their bullpen next year if he’s one of their best options — he has a scary injury history and you might as well get whatever you can out of him before he gets hurt again — but, in a perfect world, they’d be able to send him to Triple-A for more tune-up work.

Adams and Harvey are straight up bullpen candidates. Surely the Yankees hope to have better options come Spring Training, but, if they don’t, Adams and especially Harvey could win bullpen jobs. Adams might be at a disadvantage given his ability to start. The Yankees could send him to Triple-A to remain stretched out as the sixth starter and go with someone else in the bullpen. Adams wouldn’t be the first guy to lose out on a big league bullpen gig because the team wants stash him in Triple-A as a starter.

4. Second base/shortstop options (2). Assuming Estrada is indeed ticketed for Triple-A, the top in-house second base/shortstop candidates aside from Alberto are Locastro and Wade. I expect the Yankees to add a middle infielder at some point between now and Spring Training, but, if they don’t, those are the internal options. Locastro and Wade (and Alberto). Seeing how Wade was the Opening Day second basemen this year, and Locastro is more of an outfielder who can play second base than the other way around, I think Wade would be the guy right now. If the season started today, Wade and Gleyber Torres would be the starting middle infielders. That’s what I think.

5. Other bench candidates (2). We’re down to two names: Bird and Frazier. Two former top prospects who have lost a lot of time to injuries in recent years. We know all about Bird’s problems. Last year’s oblique injury and this year’s concussion issues have limited Frazier to 745 plate appearances and 182 total games the last two years. That’s a real bummer. Had he been healthy this past season, Clint could’ve filled in for Judge in August and who knows, perhaps he plays well enough to win the 2019 left field job outright and convince the Yankees to move on from Gardner.

As for Bird, gosh, I don’t know what the Yankees will do with him. Voit has clearly jumped him on the first base depth chart, but the Yankees do love Bird, and would it really shock anyone if they carried him on the bench next year? I mean, they did this year, right? It’s one thing to do it in August and just buy time until rosters expand on September 1st. It’s another to do it on Opening Day. The Yankees are an eight-man bullpen/three-man bench team and using two of those three bench spots on a backup catcher and a backup first baseman seems … unwise.

The x-factor here is Ellsbury. He’s coming back from major hip surgery and Brian Cashman is already hedging against Ellsbury being ready for Opening Day, but, if he is ready, he might get a bench spot by default. I think it is far more likely the Yankees will release Ellsbury than carry him on the roster next year, but what do I know? If he’s healthy and Frazier needs Triple-A time after all the injuries, carrying Ellsbury as the reserve outfielder could very well be in the cards. As for Gray, the other guy in limbo, he’s a goner. He’ll be traded at some point.

* * *

To me, Locastro is the under-the-radar guy to watch. He can play almost anywhere, he’s a .307/.402/.443 (128 wRC+) hitter in 471 career Triple-A plate appearances, he’s a great runner (169-for-208 career stealing bases, an 81% success rate), and he doesn’t strike out much (career 11.5% strikeouts). I’m not saying I want Locastro on the Opening Day roster. I’m just saying he’s currently the odds on favorite to be this year’s “no one expected him to make the team but he did” guy.

Anyway, we had seven OPEN spots in our original table and this is how I think the Yankees would fill them if the season started today, which thankfully it does not.

Catcher Infielders Outfielders Rotation Bullpen
Gary Sanchez 1B Voit LF Gardner Happ CL Chapman
2B Torres/Wade CF Hicks Paxton SU Betances
SS Torres/Wade RF Judge Sabathia SU Green
3B Andujar OF Stanton Severino MR Holder
BENCH Tanaka MR Kahnle
C Romine DISABLED LIST MR Tarpley
IF Alberto Ellsbury Heller LG Cessa
UTIL Locastro Gregorius Montgomery LG German

That leaves the out-of-options Bridwell and Cole out in the cold — the Yankees really seems to like Cessa — Loaisiga and Frazier getting regular playing time in Triple-A, and Bird in Scranton. As much as the Yankees like (or liked, once upon a time) Bird, I think they’re at the point where they need to see health and production before giving him a roster spot. That Voit is around as a viable first base alternative makes this even more likely.

Would the Yankees play Wade at second base and Torres at shortstop, or the other way around? Either way works, really. I think I’d prefer Wade at short and Torres at second because second base is Gleyber’s likely long-term position and he still has only 132 career games worth of experience at the position. My preference, whether the Yankees go internal with Wade (nah) or bring in a middle infielder from outside the organization (yup), is to keep Torres at second base. I’d have no problem with him at short. Second would be my preference though.

Anyway, this is all a very long way of me saying the Yankees still have some unresolved roster spots, maybe more than anyone realized. The middle infield is unsettled, two bench spots are unclaimed, and there are four open bullpen spots. It’s easy to see why the Yankees want two relievers, right? Yes, they can fill some of those spots internally and I’m sure they will. Filling all of them internally seems like a non-option though. The good news is there’s lots of offseason remaining. The bad news is the Yankees still have a sneaky large amount of work to do this winter.

The Other Other Guys [2018 Season Review]

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Drury. (Tom Szczerbowski/Getty)

Twenty-three different position players came to the plate at least once for the Yankees this year, and we here at River Avenue Blues endeavor to give you a little something about each and every one of them in this series of reviews. These are the guys that opened the season in the organization and, for a variety of reasons, ended up playing relatively minor roles.

Brandon Drury

The Yankees have acquired quite a bit of talent from the Diamondbacks over the last five years; so much so that a deal between the two teams feels like an automatic win for the good guys. They’ve made five deals in that span, with the Yankees acquiring Brandon McCarthy, Martin Prado, Didi Gregorius, Tyler Clippard, and Drury, and giving up Vidal Nuno, Peter O’Brien, Shane Greene, Vicente Campos, Taylor Widener, and Nick Solak (the last two in the deal for Drury). That’s 17.3 WAR in, and 3.4 WAR out, for those of you scoring at home.

But I digress.

Drury was acquired by the Yankees in February as a part of a three-team trade with the Rays and Diamondbacks. The aforementioned Solak went to Tampa, and Widener went to the desert; and both spent the entirety of 2018 at Double-A in their respective organizations. It’s worth noting that both performed well in Double-A, to be sure, but neither is a standout prospect.

For his part, Drury opened the season as the Yankees third baseman, starting seven of the team’s first eight games and pinch-hitting in the other. He hit a more than serviceable .217/.333/.391 (101 wRC+) in that span, and it seemed as though the team had found a perfectly adequate infielder. And when he was placed on the disabled list with migraines on April 7, he was expected back in relatively short order.

It didn’t work out that way, of course. Miguel Andujar took over at the hot corner in Drury’s absence, and hit the ground running. And when Drury’s stint on the disabled list was over on May 14, he was optioned to Triple-A Scranton, where he would spend the next six-plus weeks tearing the cover off of the ball. It was clear that he didn’t belong there, but it was also clear that they didn’t have room for him on the big club.

Drury was called back up on June 29, and bounced around the infield for ten days before being sent back down. He only hit .136/.174/.182 in that stretch, so it was difficult to fault the Yankees. He came back up on July 20, and was essentially done as a Yankee on July 24, when he exited the game after being hit in the hand with a pitch. Drury was dealt to the Blue Jays (along with Billy McKinney) for J.A. Happ a couple of days later.

All told, Drury hit .176/.263/.275 (49 wRC+) in 57 PA in pinstripes. Injuries and superior options at second and third base hindered his chances of finding a role with the team before he really had a chance, and his bags were packed at the deadline. He followed that up by hitting .154/.241/.231 (33 wRC+) with the Blue Jays, albeit in just 29 PA as his season ended early due to a fracture in his left hand.

Clint Frazier

(Duane Burleson/Getty)

The 2017-18 off-season could not have been much fun for Frazier, who spent his time seeing his name in trade rumors, recovering from an oblique injury, and getting a much-publicized haircut. And seeing the Yankees add Giancarlo Stanton to an already crowded outfield picture was probably a bit disconcerting, as well. I don’t want to editorialize too much, but I can’t help but feel that he was relieved to start playing baseball again when February rolled around.

Unfortunately, Spring Training wasn’t any better, as Frazier suffered a concussion after crashing into the outfield wall, and missed the first several weeks of the season as a result. He was activated from the disabled list on May 1 and optioned to Triple-A, where he hit .362/.423/.702 in 52 PA before being called-up for a double-header on May 19. He started one game, going 1-for-2 with two walks, and was sent back down to Triple-A.

Frazier spent the next two months bouncing between Triple-A and the show; he obliterated the minor leagues, posting a .311/.389/.574 slash line in 216 PA, and was adequate in 41 big league PA, posting a 113 wRC+. Unfortunately, the lingering post-concussion effects never really let up, and his season was over in August. And given how mightily the Yankees struggled to fill the void left by Aaron Judge’s injury, Frazier missed a big opportunity, to boot.

Frazier’s status is one of the low-key but still important storylines of this off-season. He’s still only 24 with oodles of talent, but he hasn’t been able to stay healthy over the last two years, and concussions are tricky at best. Moreover, the Yankees still have a crowded outfield, even if Brett Gardner hadn’t re-signed. Frazier is ostensibly healthy and resting now, but this may well be another winter of trade rumors.

Kyle Higashioka

(Mike Stobe/Getty)

Higashioka entered the 2018 season as the team’s third-string catcher, and the expectation that he wouldn’t have much of anything to do in the majors this year barring some calamity. There was a calamity, of sorts, in Gary Sanchez’s injury-riddled and disappointing season, which resulted in Higashioka spending about three months on the Yankees roster. Unfortunately for him, that meant a lot of sitting on the bench if deference to Austin Romine.

The 28-year-old backstop spent most of the first three months of the season in Triple-A, where he struggled mightily. He slashed just .196/.272/.337 through 52 games, which was a far cry from his strong performances there in 2016 (131 wRC+) and 2017 (113 wRC+). There was no clear path to playing time for Higashioka for most of this time, and he certainly wasn’t forcing the issue.

When Sanchez hit the disabled list with a groin injury on June 25, Higashioka was called-up. He served in a timeshare with Romine, starting nine of the team’s nineteen games in this stretch, and he slashed an intriguing .167/.242/.500 in 33 PA. Higashioka had the first three hits of his major-league career during this stint … all of which were home runs.

Higashioka was sent back down when Sanchez returned from the DL, and was recalled when Sanchez aggravated the groin injury a few days later. He’d go on to spend the rest of the season with the team, picking up eleven more starts along the way. Higashioka finished the season hitting .167/.241/.319 (51 wRC+) in 79 PA.

There were some reasons to be excited about Higashioka after his dominance of Triple-A in 2016, but that ship has likely sailed at this point. He’ll be 29 in April, and the team clearly prefers Romine off of the bench. That doesn’t mean that he can’t be a useful bench piece – it just might not be for the Yankees.

Billy McKinney

(Joel Auerbach/Getty)

McKinney was acquired alongside Gleyber Torres way back in 2016, and was poised for a real opportunity with the Yankees when Frazier, Aaron Hicks, and Jacoby Ellsbury went down with injuries. He earned his first big league start (and hit) on March 30 … and was placed on the DL with a left shoulder strain after crashing into the wall on March 31.

By the time McKinney was activated on May 24, the Yankees outfield rotation was set, and he headed to Triple-A. He flashed some power there, slashing .226/.299/.495 (120 wRC+) with 13 HR in 234 PA, but his tenure with the team ended before he could claw his way back to the majors when he was sent to Toronto in the Happ trade.

McKinney spent his first month with his new organization in the minors, but he was called-up on August 18 (against the Yankees), and spent the rest of the year starting for the Blue Jays. He hit .252/.320/.470 (114 wRC+) in 128 PA down the stretch, and should have one of the corner outfield spots locked-up for 2019.

Jace Peterson

Not-so-great baserunning, Jace. (Jim McIsaac/Getty)

Peterson spent a whopping 112 days in the Yankees organization, a tenure that included one game in Triple-A and three at the highest level. That was long enough to have a play for the team’s highlight reels, though, in the form of this excellent catch against the Orioles:

Peterson was claimed off of waivers by those same Orioles on April 24, and his Yankees career was over. He did hit .300 with the team, though (in 11 PA), so he has something to tell his grandchildren one day.

The 28-year-old utility player did find a good home in Baltimore, though, playing all over the field and appearing in 93 games. He hit just .195/.308/.325, but he stole 13 bases in 15 attempts … so, there’s that.

Shane Robinson

(Patrick McDermott/Getty)

The aforementioned injuries to Clint Frazier, Ellsbury, and Judge as well as the trade of McKinney paved the way for Robinson to make 17 starts for the Yankees this year. That in and of itself is a fine argument both for how necessary depth is, and how quickly it can disappear. And it haunts me to this day.

Robinson was signed by the Yankees way back in February to serve as Triple-A depth. When he was signed, he was something like ninth or tenth on the organization’s outfield depth chart, and for good reason. The now-34-year-old was a Quadruple-A player, having spent the previous eight years as an up-and-down guy for the Cardinals, Twins, and Angels, racking up a .226/.294/.297 line in 795 PA along the way. He’s the sort of player every organization needs, but doesn’t really want to see at the highest level.

He was called-up in early April for a two-game cup of coffee, going 1-for-3 with two walks in two games before being sent back down. He spent the rest of April through late-July in Triple-A (and missing all of June), posting a .628 OPS in 192 PA. But Judge’s injury and McKinney’s trade mere days beforehand forced the Yankees hand, and Robinson was recalled on July 28.

Robinson played in 23 of the team’s Judge-less games, starting sixteen. He hit .130/.167/.217 in that time, which thankfully (mercifully?) came to an end when Andrew McCutchen was acquired on August 31. Robinson spent the rest of the season in purgatory, and became a free agent on October 10.