Can Aaron Boone handle the Yankees' coming roster crunch? You bet
Kendrys Morales went 3-for-4 in Saturday night's 5-3 victory over the Red Sox at the Stadium, raising his average with the Yankees from .128 to .199. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Didi Gregorius could rejoin the Yankees as soon as Friday in Cleveland, manager Aaron Boone announced Saturday.
That news brought glee to Yankees fans on the Twitterverse. It also caused a bit of teeth-gnashing about how the team is going to fit in not just Gregorius, but also Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton when they return from the injured list.
Well, save your teeth, Yankees fans.
Gregorius plays shortstop, which Gleyber Torres has manned very well this season once Troy Tulowitzki got hurt (notice how no one is mentioning Tulowitzki, who has fallen into the Jacoby Ellsbury/Greg Bird perpetually injured/forgotten-about hole?).
Torres will shift back to second. Easy. But what does that mean for DJ LeMahieu, who has only been the Yankees’ best player this season?
That’s easy, too. The Yankees like LeMahieu as a jack of all trades and they also like to use Luke Voit as a designated hitter. Voila! LeMahieu will simply get more of his at-bats as a first baseman and Voit will be the primary DH for a while.
LeMahieu will also spell 2019 revelation Gio Urshela at third base at times when Boone wants to use the DH spot for someone other than Voit, such as Gary Sanchez.
This all should spell trouble for Kendrys Morales, the veteran first baseman / DH who has been getting far too many at-bats since the Yankees acquired him from the A’s on May 14. But Morales apparently isn’t going to go down without a fight.
Morales, who came in with one hit in his previous 19 at-bats, went 3-for-4 on Saturday in the Yankees’ 5-3 victory over the Red Sox.
Morales went into the game batting .128 (5-for-39) with the Yankees. That was after he hit .204 for Oakland and was designated for assignment.
When the Yankees got the 35-year-old Morales, they said his underlying stats with Oakland indicated he was hitting the ball better than it appeared. They’re saying the same thing now about his time in pinstripes, and they’re right.
According to FanGraphs.com, Morales has hit the ball hard this season, 40.8 percent of the time going into Saturday, which is better than his career mark (35.9 percent). And we’ll assume the Yankees have much more detailed private metrics that tell them Morales might still have some value.
All of Morales’ hits Saturday were line drives to rightfield. So pump that 40.8 percent number up a bit.
“I feel like the numbers don’t reflect how well his at-bats have been, how he’s hit the ball,” Boone said. “I think it you really go back and look at it day-in, day-out, it’s been a lot of hard contact, a lot of lineouts and things like that. The walk’s been in play a little bit. He’s putting the ball in play. I feel like it’s a matter of time before he finds some green grass with it.”
Some folks are also concerned about how the Yankees will manage the ABs when Judge and Stanton return. Judge, we expect back. Stanton, we’ll believe it when we see it.
Again, it’s really not as complicated as it may seem. Boone, in his year-plus on the bench, has proven to be skilled at juggling his regulars to give them enough rest and also get max production.
The starting outfield Saturday included Clint Frazier, who has cemented his prospect/trade bait status by showing a powerful bat (if an extremely suspect glove).
Frazier will eventually be dealt by the Yankees as part of the package that brings them another starting pitcher. Count on it. Even if they sign Dallas Keuchel next week when the former Cy Young Award winner will no longer be attached to draft-pick compensation, the Yankees will probably still have to trade for another starter.
Boone was asked how he’d fit Keuchel into the rotation and acted as if he hadn’t thought a bit about it. We can guarantee you he has.
The Yankees are no more likely to sign Keuchel than five or six other contenders, but if they do, they’ll find room for him. Good pitchers are like dessert — there’s always room for more.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
