Yankees Making the Team Meter: Round Two

We are officially a little over two weeks through spring training, which only means two things: we are about halfway to Opening Day, and the latest edition of Yankees making the team meter has arrived!

For those who don’t know all about the Making the Team Meter, here’s what the grading key looks like:

The three categories and colors represent the odds a player has on making the Opening Day roster. Red means it won’t happen, yellow means it could happen, and green indicates that player is a near lock. Pretty simple, right? Good. Let’s start with the pitchers.

Pitching

As you can see, not much has changed from last week, but there were some minor adjustments. Chad Bettis was believed to have a shot at the roster last week, but he has yet to see any action in spring training because of a back injury and the Yankees aren’t sure when he will get in a game. Because of that, I moved him to red as it seems time is running out for him to log enough innings and prove he’s worthy enough for the Opening Day roster.

Along with Bettis, I moved David Hale to red. In 4.1 innings thus far this spring, he has surrendered seven runs on eight hits, and opponents are hitting .364 against him. After running numbers like that, his hopes to make the Opening Day team has diminished. Left-hander Luis Avilan has had a quietly good spring with nine strikeouts in 4.2 frames. He could be a back-end of the bullpen candidate.

Jonathan Holder and Jonathan Loaisiga remain in green. They’ve both been solid, and Loaisiga has made a strong case to become the fifth starter. Other fifth-starter options include Deivi Garcia, Clarke Schmidt and Michael King, though it does seem Schmidt has the best chance out of the three to break camp.

Position Players

Like the pitchers, the list is not that much different from the week prior. However, Rosell Herrera has really made a name for himself over his last few games. The 27-year-old is hitting .435 in 10 games, including four extra-base hits. He’s seen time in both the infield and outfield and as a result of his play and versatility, he’s moved into the yellow as a possibility of making the roster.

Because of Herrera’s exceptional spring so far, Tyler Wade has been bumped down from a “sure thing” to a not-so sure thing. Wade has not performed all that well at the plate during his at-bats to put it nicely. He’s hit to a .080 batting average, along with 11 strikeouts in nine games. As Joe Girardi would say, “it’s not what you want.” He’s probably more likely to make the team than any other player in the yellow, however.

Mike Ford, Clint Frazier and Thairo Estrada continue to duke it out for one of the last few bench spots available. It seems Frazier leads the pack with his .350 batting average through two weeks, but he’ll need to distance himself some more from Ford before we move Red Thunder to green.

Would you change anything about the list? Who do you think has the best chance to make the team? Let us know in the comments section!