FanPost

The Coming Roster Crunch

Obviously with Bird, Drury, Frazier and the corpse of Ellsbury returning from injury within the coming weeks the Yankees will inevitably be faced with some tough decisions when it comes to roster composition.

Assuming the Yankees carry 12 pitchers that gives them 4 bench spots. One is automatically given to Romine. Assuming Bird comes back and reassumes his starting 1B spot, and Torres and Andujar stick at 3B and 2B, that leaves 3 remaining spots to be split between Walker, Torreyes, Drury, Austin and Ellsbury.

To start let's do a quick pro and cons with Walker, Drury and Torreyes since they all occupy infield bench positions.

Walker

Pros
- Can play 1B, 2B and 3B
- Career 111 OPS+
- Veteran player with a track record of success
Cons
- Currently playing terrible
- At the point in his career where performance typically drops significantly due to age
- Has no future with the team, currently 32 years old
- The only one here making over $1 million ($4 million salary for 2018).

Drury

Pros
- Can play almost every position on the field
- Yankees hold him in high regard
- May have untapped potential now that his migraine problem may be solved
- Can be optioned to AAA
Cons
- Is not a very good defender
- Migraine issues can resurface
- Was not hitting great before reaching the DL
- OPS+ of 94 till this point in his career

Torreyes

Pros
- Can play 3B, SS and 2B effectively
- Hits for average
- Proven capable of keeping his offensive numbers without regular playing time
- Extremely popular in the club house
- Having a fantastic 2018
- Can be optioned to AAA
Cons
- Little to no power
- Poor OBP skills (never walks)
- Career OPS+ of 86
- Looked terrible in the playoffs last year

When looking at these factors a lot of people simply say option Torreyes or Drury to AAA and leave Walker on the roster. I disagree for several reasons. For one, Walker is currently playing terrible. I really don’t care about his past and career averages, because it’s not as if he’s an offensive force. This is not Giancarlo Stanton we are talking about here where it’s worth waiting to see what he has, it’s Neil Walker who will soon be nothing more than a bench player on this team. You don’t send down a guy like Torreyes who is on fire in favor of a guy who is ice cold just because he was a mediocre hitter prior to this season.

Which leads me to my next point. Walker is used to being a starter, he’s also used to playing primarily 2B. Whereas Torreyes and to a lesser extent Drury have proven capable in their careers of coming off the bench and moving around the infield, most of Walker’s success has come at 2B. I think we can all agree with the way Torres is hitting and fielding, he should be playing as much as possible right now. Walker’s career numbers represent his ability as a starter, primarily playing 2B. He won’t be doing that for the Yankees, and Torreyes has proven to be a far better bench player than Walker thus far this season.

Then there’s the future. Drury is obviously someone the Yankees value, hence why they traded for him. Unless he’s traded it makes little sense to send him down in favor of a guy who is gone after this season. A similar reasoning could be used for Torreyes. Not to mention, Torreyes is killing it. He currently has a 141 OPS+. What kind of message does it send that players that you’re willing to sacrifice a beloved teammate who is doing great so Neil Walker can get some at-bats and continue to hurt the team?

With that said, I think you keep Drury and Torreyes and do your best to find someone to take Walker’s salary. If no one will, DFA him. He’s only making $4M, it’s not a big deal. Drury and Torreyes can cover every position he plays and both have been hitting better than he has.

As for Austin, I think you have to keep him. He’s done amazing at the plate in Bird’s absence, and while he’s a sub-par defender, it’s not as if Bird is Mark Texeria either. With Bird’s health in question I think you have to keep him on the roster for now.

So going forward, with Bird back in play I think the Yankee bench should consist of:

Austin/Bird (they split time at 1B)
Romine
Drury
Torreyes

Austin and Drury can both play emergency OF if needed. You have two starting caliber 1B with Drury and Romine being able to go there in an emergency. Austin/Bird provide home-run power off the bench, and you can now survive any injury to middle infield with ease. Torreyes continues to be a single smashing spark plug and popular with his teammates raising morale.

Am I forgetting someone? O yea, Ellsbury….

In all honesty I think the time has come to release him. But knowing the Yankees, that’s probably not going to happen. Baring a miracle trade, the best bet is to keep him on the DL for as long as possible and then pull him up once roster expand and leave him of the playoff roster. If he must get onto the roster, you obviously have a decision to make between Torreyes, Austin and Drury. If Bird can be the hitter Cashman thinks he is then Austin is the obvious choice to be sent down. Let’s just hope Ellsbury stays away and that doesn’t happen.


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