Brian Cashman: Eduardo Nunez Will Be a Utility Player

Via the LoHud Yankees guys, Brian Cashman says that if Eduardo Nunez makes the roster this spring, it will be as a utility infielder, not as the starting catcher or the lead wiener in the hot dog race. This is important because the Yankees do not have hot dog races. This might be news in the sense that MLB Depth Charts has Nunez listed as the DH, but I always took that as a sly comment on the fact that the Yankees do not presently have a proper designated hitter candidate, not a suggestion that the Yankees were actually serious about using him that way.

As the linked article sort-of points out, this sets up a classic "Star Trek" conflict in logic between things the Yankees have said about Nunez: they view him only as a shortstop, but he can only make the roster as a utility player. So ... I guess he's not making the roster, then.

More seriously, this just adds a bit of nuance to the picture. The only utility infielder who can't field will be asked to show that he can, in fact, play all around the diamond without dropping things. If he shows that, he'll make the team. If he doesn't, he won't. The Yankees may view him as purely a shortstop in terms of chances to play every day, but as with many utility infielders, they're willing to hold their noses and let him take a few reps at other positions in an emergency and hope the ball doesn't find him too often.